Job Details: Director of Physician Practice Support

Description: Community Health Systems (CHS) affiliates lease, operate or own more than 130 hospitals in 28 states, with an aggregate of nearly 18,700 licensed beds.
The Director of Physician Practice Support is responsible for assisting and consulting with the administration of the Group's clinic operations to ensure accomplishment objectives. This key leader will report to the Vice President of Physician Services covering the Western facilities. Division IV includes 430 physicians at twenty-four hospitals in Alaska, Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
- Coordinate, direct and supervise all activities of the group's clinics including: accounting, computer systems, human resources and materials management.
- Participate in the development and marketing of new products and services.
- Participate in the selection, development and management of staff; develop and implement personnel policies and practices.
- Provide oversight for the clinics' evaluation and negotiation of managed care contracts and operations in conjunction with the Corporate Business Development Department.
- Coordinate and monitor the medical activities to ensure cost effective and high quality health care services are provided to patients.
- Interact with the administrative and medical staff to promote and ensure regulatory compliance.
- Review and resolve any operational problems and recommend policy changes to the Vice President of Physician Services.
- Provide support to the Division President and Chief Executive Officer in the preparation, implementation and monitoring of budgets.
- Resolve problems relating to staffing, utilization of facilities, equipment and supplies.
- Represent the group and Community Health Systems at professional and public meetings and conferences as requested, and facilitate communication through the proper channels of information.

CANDIDATE QUALIFICATIONS
The section below outlines the qualifications and selection criteria for the ideal candidate for the Director Physician Practice Support position.

Education, Licensure, & Certifications
- A Bachelor's degree is required and graduate degree (MHA or MBA, etc.) is preferred.
- MGMA Membership and/or ACMPE Certification preferred

Experience
- Three years of management experience in a physician practice setting. Ideally, some experience in either the hospital owned or private practice setting as well.
- Requires a thorough understanding of medical practice management, JCAHO standards, how private and hospital owned physician practices operate, legal aspects of physician contracting (Stark, compliance, private inurement, fraud & abuse, etc.)
- Knowledge of government regulations and reimbursement requirements.
- Extensive experience with physician incentive compensation plans and negotiation of physician contracts. Ideally, this would include more than one specialty.
- Demonstrated leadership in a practice management environment with strong financial and reimbursement experience.
- Knowledge of healthcare finance and budgeting, and a track record of success in implementing and/or overseeing programs of quality improvement, resource management and managed care.
- Significant skill in communicating with and relating to physicians, including the ability to establish a productive and cohesive partnership with physicians. Understanding the driving forces in the marketplace impacting specialty physicians. One who genuinely likes and enjoys working with physicians.
- Knowledge and understanding of medical practice development, group practice operations, physician joint venturing, managed care and network development.
- Intimate knowledge of the day-to-day operations of physician practice management. Key areas include establishing productivity standards, improving physician practice productivity, managed care contracting, physician billing and collections, , physician relations and scheduling and referral tracking management.
- Experience in a hospital system or a complex hospital environment is preferred.
- Extensive experience with computers, systems and applications.

Personal Characteristics
- Relates well to people at all levels in the organization and develops strong positive relationships based on trust.
- Someone who is energetic, genuine, enjoys working with people at all levels of the organization and has a good sense of humor.
- Has a strong customer focus and operates with a positive philosophy.
- Someone who has the highest level of honesty and integrity.
- Someone who values the mid-level manager and is energized by educating, inspiring and/or mentoring those managers.
- The successful candidate will have a hands-on management style with a zest for day-to-day operations. He/she will also be 'results oriented' in his/her approach to problem solving.
- He/she will be someone who has a high level of 'personal ownership' in the future success of the departments in which they belong. Has a strong attention to detail and is self directed.
- Someone who has an approachable style that can work effectively with employees at all levels.
- Strong communication skills are necessary, particularly verbal and listening communication skills; candidates must be articulate and able to provide fresh, creative ideas and solutions.
- Self confident, mature, personable, and diplomatic.
- Strong organizational skills and a commitment to accurate and timely data; good follow through skills and responsiveness.
- Someone who is energized by working with physicians and other individuals that provide care in the ambulatory care setting.
Please e-mail melanie_pitts@chs.net

Posting Date: May 7 08