Vice President, Operations, UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital

The Vice President of Operations reports directly to the President of Western Psychiatric Hospital/Western Behavioral Health Service Line and serves as a key member of the Executive Management Group.  

Specific responsibilities include:

• Collaborates with the President. Recommends, develops and updates strategic, long-range plans to support the philosophy and goals of the institution – specifically related to improving access to care and the implementation of new programs.  
• Provides leadership and direction to departments of environmental services, dietary, lab, PT/OT, pharmacy, and support services. Enables and fosters collaboration among direct reports with the clinical departments of the hospital to ensure a collaborative environment, and efficiency of patient care. Ensures that the hospital meets or exceeds JCAHO or other appropriate standards for accreditation, related to operational departments.  
• Oversees programs that lead and direct staff safety, crisis and emergency management programming for the hospital, and the network of behavioral health services throughout UPMC. Assures all operations of the campus function efficiently and effectively in compliance with all applicable policies and procedures and legal/regulatory pronouncements. Responsible for identification and mitigation of safety risks and hazards that could impact patient and/or staff safety, and escalates risks and hazards to leadership as appropriate.  
• Serves as the primary administrative leader for facilities and construction initiatives for the hospital and facilities of the BH service line. Ensures representation from clinical leaders, as well as timely progress toward completion and communication planning for these projects. Participates actively in UPMC-wide initiatives related to security and safety in facilities activities.  
• Supports the implementation of expansion programs for interventional psychiatry programs within the hospital and across multiple ambulatory locations. Supervises the implementation and expansion of ambulatory provider practice programs, and integrated care programs, designed to expand capacity outside of the hospital's traditional facility license.  
• Completes budget preparation, monitoring and variance reporting including but not limited to productivity, man-hours, operating, capital and revenues. Coordinates timely with CFO and President for budget preparation and monitoring for all areas of responsibility. Achieves and maintains a level of productivity which meets or exceeds the standards established for the facility by the organization. 
• Prepares administrative reports or business plans as directed by the President or other members of the Corporate Management Team or hospital based administrative representatives.  
• Sets clinical, financial, and human resources priorities for improvement in concert with organizational goals. Demonstrates sound fiscal responsibility in the development and management of the department budget and holds staff accountable for the efficient use of resources including but not limited to managing flexible staffing patterns to meet patient care needs. Supports organization-wide initiatives and communications for quality, performance improvement, and innovation.  
• Maintains a professional demeanor and assures high quality services and customer satisfaction consistent with UPMC's commitment to excellence.  
• Maintains a positive attitude and provides excellent customer service characterized by caring, concern and support for the public, supervisors, employees and coworkers.  
• Maintains a high level of confidentiality and integrity.  
• Demonstrates ability to establish and maintain effective medical staff relationships. Supports and oversees the administrative needs for Family Medicine and Primary Care within this specialty hospital.  
• Supports the integration of program development specialists who are responsible for defining and implementing evidence-based behavioral practices in the hospital. Works to facilitate collaboration among these inpatient program specialists, and their respective counterparts in ambulatory practice. 
• As a member of the leadership team, fosters relationships with community partners, stakeholders, and healthcare providers to promote the hospital's services and initiatives. Engages directly with corporate team for representing hospital and service line initiatives in presentations of meeting community health needs – both in planning and in implementation of such programs. Responsible for assuring inclusion and integrity of BH initiatives in this system-wide effort.  
• Actively participates in human resources management for areas of responsibility, including but not limited to the following UPMC policies and procedures, active and timely support of recruitment and selection processes, advocacy for employees, employee engagement, and staff safety. Partners with human resources director and manager to ensure compliance with human resource matters. Provides supervision and mentoring for leadership and professional development to directors and managers for areas of responsibility. Completes performance evaluations timely. 

Educational and Knowledge Requirements

• Master's degree in Healthcare Administration, Business Administration, or a related field. 
• Minimum of 10 years of experience in healthcare operations, with at least 5 years in a leadership role. Strong preference for prior behavioral health hospital experience.  

Leadership Skill Requirements

• Must have superior communication, organization, and interpersonal skills. 
• Action and results-oriented: Ability to establish key goals, drive and track results among multiple decision-makers and stakeholders, and meet deadlines in a fast-moving environment.  
• Ability to build relationships through integrity and trust: Ability to quickly gain the trust and respect of others, drive collaboration, build a team environment, and search for win/win scenarios.  
• Influencing skills: Ability to lead an organization using influence, rather than possessing direct authority of others, being sensitive, yet direct, in both verbal and written communications.  
• Managing complexity: Ability to lead and drive results in a complex organization, achieving alignment between conflicting priorities, initiatives, and people.  
• Possess a collaborative, team-oriented leadership mentality. 

Functional/Technical Skills Requirements

• Communications: Excellent written and verbal communications skills. Ability to take abstract, complex and/or technical information and break it down for a variety of audiences in a way that is meaningful for each audience.  
• Functional oversight: Issue identification, gap analysis, ability to prioritize business needs, and execute solutions. 
• Financial management: Ability to understand financial reports, develop basic financial models, and identify trends, variances, and opportunities. 

 About Western Psychiatric Hospital

UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital (WPH), located in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood, is a nationally recognized leader in mental health care, research, and education. As a cornerstone of UPMC’s Behavioral Health service line, it provides comprehensive psychiatric services through its main hospital and nearly 60 community-based programs. These programs span 10 main locations, providing compassionate, evidence-based care for individuals of all ages throughout western Pennsylvania, north and central Pennsylvania and in nearby counties in Maryland and New York.

UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital is committed to advancing medicine’s knowledge, understanding, and treatment of mental health. As an academic partner of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital and the Department of Psychiatry consistently rank first nationally in psychiatric research funding from the National Institutes of Health.