Overview

Description

The Vice President, Patient Services & Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) is the senior nursing executive responsible for clinical nursing practice, patient services, quality, safety, and workforce strategy across the Emory Healthcare Physician Division and serves as the enterprise Chief Nursing Officer for Virtual Care across the health system.

This role provides executive leadership and operational oversight for all nursing and patient care services delivered within Physician Division settings, including ambulatory, outpatient, procedural, specialty, and clinic-based environments, while holding system-wide accountability for centralized virtual nursing and virtual care delivery across Emory Healthcare.

The VP/CNO is a key member of executive leadership, participating in short- and long-term strategic planning, advancing innovative models of care, and ensuring nursing and patient services are aligned with enterprise priorities, balanced scorecard goals, regulatory requirements, and accreditation standards.

This role partners closely with physician, APP, operational, quality, digital, and enterprise leaders to deliver high-reliability, patient-centered, value-driven care across physical and virtual care environments.

Executive Nursing & Patient Services Leadership

1. Serve as the Chief Nursing Officer, accountable for nursing practice, care management, patient care delivery, and professional standards across all division clinical settings
2. Provide executive leadership for clinical quality, patient safety, experience, workforce strategy, and operational performance
3. Establish and maintain professional nursing practice models, governance structures, and accountability frameworks
4. Ensure daily clinical operations and care delivery remain the primary focus, supporting safe, effective, and efficient patient care

Strategy, Performance & Financial Stewardship

1. Lead nursing and patient services strategy aligned with enterprise goals, quality priorities, and balanced scorecard performance metrics
2. Oversee staffing models, skill mix, and workflow optimization to support access, sustainability, and value-based care
3. Translate data and analytics into measurable performance improvement across clinical, operational, and workforce domains
4. Accountable for achieving quality, safety, patient experience, workforce, and cost objectives

Quality, Safety & Regulatory Compliance

1. Ensure compliance with all regulatory, licensure, and accreditation standards across the Physician Division and Virtual Care environments
2. Maintain continuous readiness for surveys and audits through standardized processes and monitoring
3. Lead patient safety initiatives, risk mitigation strategies, and quality improvement efforts across all care settings

Workforce & Professional Practice Leadership

1. Provide executive oversight of the nursing workforce, including recruitment, retention, licensure, certification, competency validation, and professional development
2. Foster a culture of accountability, engagement, continuous learning, and professional excellence
3. Mentor and develop nursing leaders and interdisciplinary partners

Enterprise Collaboration & Representation

1. Partner with physicians, APPs, operational leaders, digital health, finance, HR, and quality leaders to advance integrated care delivery
2. Represent nursing and patient services in enterprise-level strategy, governance, and innovation initiatives
3. Support the academic, research, education, and care missions through interdisciplinary collaboration

Additional Duties as Assigned

Travel: Travel between Emory Affiliated locations may be required.
Work Type: Hybrid employee - splits time between working remotely and working in the office.

MINIMUM REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Master's degree in Nursing or related field required
• Minimum seven (7) years of progressive senior nursing leadership experience
• Demonstrated experience leading enterprise clinical operations, quality, workforce strategy, and virtual care initiatives
• Licensure
  • Active, unencumbered Registered Nurse (RN) license in Georgia or eligibility to practice in Georgia
  • For Virtual Care settings: Active, unencumbered eNLC RN license within 60 days of hire
• Certification
  • Nurse Executive certification (NE-BC, NEA-BC, CENP) or comparable (CNML, CENP) required within one (1) year of entry into role
  • Basic Cardiac Life Support (BCLS) through the American Heart Association

Skills, Abilities & Knowledge (required)

1. Demonstrated leadership in physician-led, multi-specialty clinical environments
2. Strong financial and operational acumen
3. Excellent written and verbal communication skills
4. Proven effectiveness as a strategic partner, facilitator, coach, and systems thinker
5. Expertise in process improvement, performance analytics, and change management

Preferred Qualifications

• Doctoral degree preferred
• Senior nursing leadership experience within a large, complex health system or multi-specialty physician enterprise

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS: (Medium-Heavy) 36-75 lbs, 0-33% of the work day (occasionally); 20-35 lbs, 34-66% of the workday; (frequently); 10-20 lbs, 67-100% of the workday (constantly); Lifting 75 lbs max; Carrying of objects up to 35 lbs; Occasional to frequent standing & walking; Occasional sitting; Close eye work (computers, typing, reading, writing); Physical demands may vary depending on assigned work area and work tasks.

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS: Factors affecting environment conditions may vary depending on the assigned work area and tasks. Environmental exposures include, but are not limited to: Blood-borne pathogen exposure; Bio-hazardous waste Chemicals/gases/fumes/vapors; Communicable diseases; Electrical shock; Floor Surfaces; Hot/Cold Temperatures; Indoor/Outdoor conditions; Latex; Lighting; Patient care/handling injuries; Radiation; Shift work; Travel may be required; Use of personal protective equipment, including respirators; environmental conditions may vary depending on assigned work area and work tasks.