Director Destination Care Operations

Job Summary and Responsibilities

As our Director of Destination Care Operations, you will serve as the strategic leader for our high-acuity patient programs, driving operational excellence for patients traveling from across the U.S. and international markets for specialty care. You will oversee the end-to-end patient journey, ensuring a concierge-caliber experience from the initial inquiry through to post-discharge. By partnering with clinical leadership, financial stakeholders, and external partners, you will optimize workflows and grow referral volumes, positioning our facility as a premier destination for complex medical services.

Every day you will lead a high-performing team by fostering a culture of service excellence, adaptability, and continuous improvement. Your focus will be on the seamless integration of intake, registration, and financial counseling workflows, ensuring both operational efficiency and fiscal responsibility. You will conduct regular patient and family rounding to identify service gaps, implement process improvements, and provide hands-on leadership as the escalation point for complex, time-sensitive patient matters, all while maintaining rigorous data integrity and reporting standards.

To be successful in this role, you will hold a Bachelor’s degree in Healthcare Administration, Business, or a related field, accompanied by at least 5 years of progressive leadership experience within a complex, matrixed healthcare environment. You must demonstrate a proven track record in managing destination care, specialty referral, or international patient service programs. We are looking for an adaptable leader with strong process improvement skills, the ability to influence without direct authority, and a deep commitment to delivering culturally informed, high-touch care to diverse patient populations.

• Oversees the day-to-day operational performance of the destination care program, ensuring consistent and high quality service delivery across all phases of the patient journey. Oversees referral intake and coordination workflows, ensuring timely and accurate routing, follow-up, and communication with referring providers and patients.
• Ensures patients, families, and referring partners experience seamless, concierge-caliber service from initial contact through post-discharge follow-up; conducts regular patient and family rounding to assess experience, identify service gaps and recovery opportunities, reinforce service standards, and gather patient stories that reflect the destination care experience.
• Delivers and ensures culturally informed service, communication, and care coordination across diverse domestic and international patient populations. Partners with clinical leadership and clinical advisory resources to support patient care operations and ensure the clinical needs of the destination care population are addressed. Identifies and leads process improvement and workflow optimization initiatives to advance operational efficiency, service quality, and patient satisfaction; develops and maintains operational protocols and standards that support consistent program delivery.
• Supports the development and expansion of the destination care program, including identifying opportunities to grow referral volume, expand service line access, and strengthen the program’s market position. Supports market activation and outreach efforts in collaboration with strategy partners to advance destination care program visibility and referral growth; performs other duties as assigned to support organizational objectives.

Job Requirements

Minimum

• Bachelor's degree in Healthcare Administration, Business, or a related field, and
• 5 or more years of progressive leadership experience in healthcare or patient services operations, and
• ​Experience managing and developing teams in a complex, matrixed healthcare organization, with direct accountability for program​ performance​ outcomes, and
• Experience​ delivering high-​touch, patient-​centered​ services for​ complex or​ high-acuity​ patient​populations,including​ programs such​ as transplant,​ oncology,​ specialty​ referral, or​ equivalent​ tertiary or​quaternary care​ settings

Licensure and Certifications

• Certified Case Manager (CCM), or
• Lean Six Sigma Blackbelt Certification (LSSBB), or
• Project Management Professional or
• Registered Nurse: AZ (RN:AZ)

Preferred

• Master's degree in Healthcare Administration, Business, Nursing, or a related field is strongly preferred, and
• 7 or more years of progressive leadership experience in healthcare or patient services operations, and
• Clinical background including Registered Nurse (RN) licensure or equivalent clinical operations experience, and
• Experience in a dedicated destination care, international patient services, or specialty referral program at an academic medical center or large health system, and
• Experience building or expanding programs, including policy and operational protocol development, and
• Experience preparing and delivering financial and operating performance reports and presentations for leadership, and
• Experience with referral management, patient access, financial counseling, registration, or admissions workflows.

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Training

• Strong team leadership skills with a demonstrated ability to develop,coach, and hold teams accountable. Ability to travel domestically and internationally as needed.
• Strong organizational navigation skills; able to establish credibility and build productive peer relationships quickly across clinical, operational, and financial functions, lead through influence without direct authority, and drive results across functions.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver and oversee culturally informed service and communication across diverse domestic and international patient populations.
• Proven ability to build and maintain collaborative relationships with physicians, executives, clinical leadership, referral sources, patients, and families. Knowledge of high-touch service standards and service recovery for complex, high-acuity, or high-profile patient populations.
• Strong process improvement skills; able to identify workflow gaps, design operational solutions, develop and maintain protocols and service standards, and lead change effectively.
• Ability to synthesize and analyze data from multiple sources, exercise sound judgment under ambiguity, and make well-reasoned operational decisions in a fast-paced, evolving environment.
• Strong presentation and communication skills; communicates directly, transparently, and proactively with leadership and across all levels of the organization conveying complex operational and program information clearly and credibly to diverse audiences including physicians, executives, and external partners, and surfacing issues and program status early rather than waiting to be asked.
• Maintains current knowledge of destination care, specialty referral, and healthcare operations trends; applies industry insights to inform program strategy, identify improvement opportunities, and contribute to cross-site collaboration and national destination care initiatives.

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Where You’ll Work

Hello Humankindness: Join a Legacy of Healing at Saint Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center (SJHMC) 

Ready to make a real difference? Join SJHMC in Phoenix AZ., a 571-bed nonprofit founded by the Sisters of Mercy over 125 years ago. We're more than a hospital; we're a global destination for life-changing care, embracing patients with humankindness.

Here, your calling will flourish. We're not just a workplace; we're a community dedicated to a mission of service.

Leaders in Specialized Care:

• Barrow Neurological Institute (BNI): A world-renowned center for groundbreaking neurological research and innovative treatments.
• Norton Thoracic Institute (NTI): A national leader in advanced thoracic care with pioneering surgical techniques.
• Level I Trauma Center: One of Arizona's busiest ERs, providing immediate, comprehensive care for critically injured patients 24/7.

Why SJHMC?

• Culture of Excellence & Well-being: We care for our people, fostering professional and personal growth.
• Community & Collaboration: Be part of a network committed to global health and well-being.
• Join a Legacy, Shape a Future: Over 20% of our patients travel internationally for our specialized care.

This is an invitation to join a family of dedicated professionals at the forefront of medical innovation, united by the power of humankindness.