• Job Type: Officer of Administration
• Bargaining Unit:
• Regular/Temporary: Regular
• End Date if Temporary:
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Standard Work Schedule:
• Building:
• Salary Range: $120,000-$140,000

Position Summary

The Assistant Director, Onboarding Operations is the operational lead responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the onboarding service. This role ensures that new providers are efficiently integrated into the organization while meeting all regulatory, credentialing, and compliance requirements. The Assistant Director oversees the department's managers and onboarding specialists. When the Director of Onboarding Services is out or the position is vacant, this Assistant Director serves as the primary leader of the Office of Onboarding Services (OOS).

Key responsibilities include managing strategic planning efforts for the Office of Onboarding Services (OOS), fostering innovation, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to align with business objectives.

The ideal candidate will have a strong background in provider onboarding, faculty affairs coordination, credentialing, systems access and training requirements, change management Lean Six Sigma methodologies, process improvement tools, and leveraging technology to deliver exceptional customer service.

Responsibilities

Onboarding Operations:

• Directly manages a team responsible for onboarding providers to the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S).
• Manages operations related to delivering high levels of service in onboarding, including projects involving new hire customer service, hiring, credentialing, privileging, compliance, digital profile creation, and systems access workflows.
• Provides supervision of centralized onboarding operations, quality assurance processes, and coordination of hiring, privileging, credentialing, and systems access activities, ensuring data integrity, timely payer enrollment, and access to required systems.
• Manages the optimization of provider onboarding protocols and experiences, focusing on reducing processing times and effectively acclimating newly hired providers to VP&S.
• Utilizes business intelligence to anticipate and resolve potential barriers or inefficiencies in onboarding, addressing both technical logistics and customer service needs.
• Ensures ongoing compliance with onboarding standards while minimizing risks to stakeholders through sound judgment and decision-making.
• Oversees the onboarding process for VIP appointments, ensuring a seamless experience for high-profile individuals.
• Reviews and approves TBHs, paper transactions, and new hire paperwork via SharePoint, ensuring timely and accurate processing.
• Audits workflow systems to ensure the team and new hires meet deadlines, maintaining high standards for timely and compliant onboarding processes.
• Resolves escalated onboarding concerns by identifying issues, troubleshooting solutions, and communicating outcomes to all involved parties.
• Serves as a subject matter expert and is accountable for all provider onboarding activities.

System Implementation & Readiness:

• Serve as the primary point of contact and subject matter expert for the development and implementation of systems impacting the Office of Onboarding Services, including credentialing and process management platforms.
• Lead and coordinate all aspects of system implementation projects for the Office of Onboarding Services, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and objectives.
• Develop and execute comprehensive change management strategies, including readiness assessments, communication plans, and training initiatives, to ensure all team members are fully informed, equipped, and confident in using new systems and workflows.

Onboarding Experience:

• Manages the optimization of provider onboarding protocols and experiences, focusing on reducing processing times and successfully acclimating newly hired providers to VP&S.
• Partners with internal stakeholders to ensure a consistent and efficient onboarding experience.
• Develops and implements a robust onboarding and integration program in alignment with industry best practices to meet the organization?s strategic goals.
• Establishes expected standards, policies, and procedures for provider onboarding across the enterprise in collaboration with stakeholder groups, including VP&S executive leadership, clinical leadership, and onboarding partners at Columbia and NYP.
• Establishes benchmarks, designs measures of stakeholder satisfaction, and demonstrates the qualitative and quantitative impact of all initiatives launched, ensuring alignment with overarching organizational strategies.

Payer Enrollment Maintenance and Recredentialing:

• Ensures staff monitor the 36-month re-credentialing cycle for managed care organizations and comply with varying credentialing timelines across CD and non-CD contracts and Medicaid (NY, NJ) revalidations.  
• Ensures staff review and process annual updates, including open enrollment changes and demographic verification, ETIN enrollment, ensuring all provider information remains current and accurate. 

Strategy:

• Applies Lean Six Sigma and other process improvement methodologies to optimize onboarding workflows, design guidelines, and collaborate with departments to build awareness and understanding of best practices.
• Uses data driven insights to analyze and identify opportunities for improvement onboarding processes, ensuring alignment with VP&S objectives and minimizing inefficiencies.
• Monitors provider onboarding trends, data, and service gaps, leveraging this information to make informed strategic decisions and process improvements.
• Uses business intelligence to foresee and resolve potential barriers or inefficiencies in onboarding, measuring impact of both technical logistics and customer service.
• Remains current on matters impacting the medical center, affiliates, and credentialing parties, including but not limited to requirements for government payers and contracted insurance plans.
• Ensures ongoing compliance with local regulatory standards and uses judgement to minimize risks to stakeholders.
• Designs and implements training strategy to ensure department capability to sustain security and optimal workflows for data integrity. Regularly audits Onboarding office to ensure highest quality and meeting of compliance goals.

People:

• Manages and mentors the Onboarding team and promotes accountability, modeling behavior and demonstrating best practices for high levels of customer service, efficiency, and compliance.
• Promotes professionalism and optimized performance with ongoing coaching, training, and feedback.
• Contributes to and supports the development of an organizational culture of well-being, accountability, inclusivity and proactivity.
• Supports leadership with execution of HR strategy: Performance Management, Talent Management, Recruitment & Retention, Succession Planning, Professional Development, and Employee Engagement. Ensures timely submission of HR deliverables.   
• Ensures direct reports understand and comply with local, state, federal and regulatory standards, as they apply to respective job functions. 
• Maintains relationship with stakeholders (Department DA, HR, OFA, MSO, PEG), fostering collaboration and ensuring alignment with the organizational needs.

Other:

• Stays current on matters impacting the medical center, affiliates, and credentialing parties, including requirements for government payers and contracted insurance plans.
• Serves as the primary leader of the Office of Onboarding Services (OOS) when the Director of Onboarding Services is out, or the position is vacant.

Minimum Qualifications

• 5 years related experience
• Bachelor's degree required or equivalent in education and experience. Master's degree preferred.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master?s Degree Management/business administration, healthcare administration, human capital management or related field.
• Experience in a centralized provider onboarding service or similar model strongly preferred.
• PROSCI or equivalent Change Management Certification.
• Certification in Lean, Six Sigma, IHI, or other process improvement methodology.
• Demonstrated experience in leading teams to successfully implement large-scale process improvements.
• Demonstrated experience in outpatient and/or hospital operations.

Other Requirements

• Bachelor?s degree in business, healthcare management, organizational development or related field.
• A minimum of 5 years in provider onboarding, credentialing, faculty affairs coordination, change management and/or process improvement.
• Strong proficiency in provider hiring requirements and required documentation.
• Strong proficiency in credentialing protocols, including processes for Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), State Medicaid, and third-party payers.
• Strong understanding of health care industry, regulatory compliance requirements for providers and relevant performance improvement tactics.
• Strong proficiency and/or understanding of project management including executing technical and operational project activities with cross-functional teams.
• Strong sense of teamwork and collaboration.
• Strong interpersonal skills.
  • Exceptional communication skills, both written and verbal
  • Ability to translate complex data to a simplified format and clearly articulate messages to a variety of audiences
  • Ability to establish and maintain strong relationships
  • Ability to influence others and move toward a common vision or goal
• Ability to successfully prioritize multiple responsibilities and projects.
• Excellent investigative skills.
• Strong analytical skills and attention to detail.
• Excellent time management skills.
• Proficient in the following: Microsoft Office applications, including Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint.

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.

About Columbia University

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