Director Behavioral Health - Portland, OR

Calling All Esteemed Leaders! Are you a behavioral health leader who is passionate about advancing quality care, developing high-performing teams, and strengthening access to behavioral health services across the continuum of care? Do you thrive in complex healthcare environments where operational excellence, regulatory compliance, workforce development, and community collaboration are essential to success? If so, we invite you to explore this leadership opportunity with Providence.

The Role

The Director of Behavioral Health assumes 24-hour administrative responsibility for the operational, clinical, and fiscal management of all behavioral health services within their scope through direct or indirect reporting lines. Ensures compliance with all regulations (county, state, and federal requirements) and regulatory bodies, and oversees all regulatory body on-site surveys and investigations.

Builds and maintains a strong and collaborative work environment for a large multidisciplinary behavioral health team of psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, licensed professional counselors, marriage and family therapists, chemical dependency counselors, peer support personnel, and administrators while fostering positive and collaborative relationships with ministry medical and specialty care teams to ensure quality and appropriate care outcomes for patients with behavioral health conditions. Seeks, develops, and maintains relationships with community-based providers and organizations and works collaboratively with the Regional Behavioral Health team to develop, implement, and regularly assess novel programs and services in support of Ministry and local strategic plans and action plans.

The Director of Behavioral Health may have oversight of service lines in outpatient, hospital outpatient departments, or within the acute ministry as assigned by the Senior Director of Behavioral Health.

What You’ll Do

• Dynamically and strategically adjusts complement of clinical and administrative staff to support changing patient census and acuity. Allocates staff resources to ensure adherence to productivity goals and processes. Provides formal recommendations to Regional Behavioral Health Leadership regarding workforce planning, recruitment and retention of well-trained and competent caregivers. Ensures ongoing professional development of the caregiver workforce. Bears direct responsibility for the services and programs overseen annual budget and ensures strict budgetary compliance and strategic utilization of all local resources.
• Oversees development and monitoring of the BH annual budget for the assigned services lines and provides recommendations for budgetary increases/reductions to manage changing climate of behavioral health care directly to the Senior Director of Behavioral Health. Develops and implements practical strategies to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and improve quality of care. Adheres to the operating and capital budgets of multiple cost centers and regularly evaluates direct and indirect costs. Monitors financial reports for budgetary compliance of multiple cost centers. Collaborates with Regional Behavioral Health Senior Director to rapidly effect operational changes to address variances in budget. Collaborates closely with the Senior Director of Behavioral Health to ensure cost-effective, superlative care delivery across multiple clinical services/programs. Develops and oversees quality-assurance and quality improvement programs of the Ministry BH services and programs overseen. Communicates clearly and efficiently with a diverse population of internal and external stakeholders, including Ministry executive leadership, clinical and administrative workforce, and patients as directed by Senior Director of Behavioral Health.
• Facilitates meetings with key service line stakeholders and community partners as needed to develop BH strategies, execute on identified collaborations to improve patient throughput and outcomes, in collaboration with the Regional Senior Director of Behavioral Health. Works closely with the inpatient Behavioral Health Managers and Director, Emergency Department BH Manager and Director, and inpatient Medical Leadership teams to achieve program, quality, and financial goals while maintaining the highest safety standards as necessary in positive furtherance of assigned services lines.
• Assesses effectiveness and efficiency of delivery of services. Develops and implements programmatic plans. Integrates the behavioral health services into the continuum of care, as appropriate to service line needs; provides leadership and direction in accordance with the organizational and departmental goals and objectives. Provides direction, guidance, and assistance to Behavioral Health Core leaders and caregivers through initiation and support of quality management activities, ensuring adherence to hospital and regulatory requirements. Communicates updates to the Senior/Executive leadership team in collaboration and at the direction of Regional Behavioral Health. Initiates service line corrective action when necessary. Develops strategic plans and ensures their successful implementation, including maximizing access to treatment services and improving efficiencies while maintaining quality outcomes and the patient care experience.
• Bears chief responsibility for representation to ensure service line compliance with regulatory standards, policies, and procedures and rapidly responds to all regulations and directives of The Joint Commission, Oregon Department of Public Health, and Center for Medicare Services. Serves as the facility's subject-matter expert for current and future legislative directives on behavioral health in collaboration with Regional Behavioral Health Leadership. Interprets regulatory requirements for quality management and coordinates processes to support requirements. Directs development and implementation of quality and utilization standards across the continuum of care. Develops and monitors performance-improvement, safety, quality, and regulatory practices. Works closely with Quality and Risk Management to ensure compliance with all safety and quality standards. Bears chief responsibility for investigation and response in all formal grievances. Bears chief responsibility for managing and interpreting service goals, patient-satisfaction metrics, and quality outcomes to assigned service line caregivers.
• Exhibits a comprehensive understanding of service demands for a diverse and expansive marketplace. Possesses a demonstrated ability to cultivate strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders in collaboration with Regional Behavioral Health. Establishes and cultivates healthy and productive professional relationships with providers and other stakeholders. Supports contracting, provider-relations, marketing, and other organizational services as directed by the Senior Director of Behavioral Health. Establishes and cultivates professional relationships with other community hospitals, agencies, professional organizations, and academic institutions. Collaborates effectively with community organizations in support of joint best practice models. Supports the Ministry's access, growth and viability through community outreach and engagement.

What You’ll Bring

Education & Credentials

• Master's Degree in Nursing, Psychology, Social Work, or Counseling.

• Required upon hire: Psychologist License (Facility Managed), or Registered Nurse License (Facility Managed), or Clinical Social Worker License (Facility Managed), or Professional Counselor License (Facility Managed), or Marriage and Family Therapist License (Facility Managed).

Experience & Expertise

• 6 years of management experience within a behavioral healthcare setting, preferably in a hospital setting.

• Progressive leadership experience in a behavioral health setting.

• Knowledge of social service agencies and state and county regulations as they relate to patient treatment, patient rights and patient confidentiality, and other legal and/or ethical issues.

• Comprehensive knowledge of federal, state, and local regulatory standards.

• Subject matter expert in behavioral health.

Professional & Leadership Capabilities

• Strong management abilities, including time and resource management.

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.

• Sound decision-making and problem-solving skills within various situations.

• Demonstrated achievements in management and caregiver development.

Why Join Us?

• Behavioral Health Leadership: Provide operational, clinical, and fiscal leadership for behavioral health services across assigned service lines and care settings.

• Multidisciplinary Team Environment: Lead and support a diverse team of psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, counselors, peer support personnel, and administrators.

• Quality & Regulatory Excellence: Advance quality improvement, patient safety, regulatory compliance, and behavioral health best practices across the continuum of care.

• Community & Strategic Impact: Partner with community organizations, providers, ministry leaders, and Regional Behavioral Health leadership to support access, growth, innovation, and service development.

Ready to Shape the Future of Healthcare?

If you are a behavioral health leader with a passion for clinical excellence, workforce development, quality improvement, and community partnership, we encourage you to apply and help advance behavioral health services across Providence.

The full pay range is listed in accordance with applicable law. Final compensation will be determined based on qualifications, experience, organizational compensation alignment, and the approved hiring department budget for the position. This position may also be eligible for incentive compensation and benefits.

At Providence we believe in the importance of human connection and the impact of in-person collaboration towards team cohesion and caregiver engagement. Further, we want our leaders to live in or near the communities we serve.  Therefore, leaders applying for this role will be required to work a hybrid schedule, which consists of three days onsite, two days remote and live within a reasonable commuting distance to the ministry or service area they support and lead.