Job Description
Position Summary:
The Vice President, Surgical Services provides strategic, operational, clinical, and financial leadership for The Guthrie Clinic's integrated surgical and procedural services enterprise across its six-hospital campus health system and affiliated ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs).
Reporting directly to the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (EVP/COO), with a matrix reporting relationship to the Chief Nurse Executive, The Guthrie Clinic, the Vice President is accountable for the performance, growth, quality, safety, access, operational efficiency, workforce effectiveness, patient and physician experience, and financial sustainability of surgical and procedural services across the system.
The Vice President exercises direct operational authority over hospital perioperative directors, ASC operational leaders, system sterile processing leadership, and designated leaders responsible for endoscopy and other procedural areas. The portfolio includes operating rooms, preoperative services, post-anesthesia care units (PACUs), sterile processing departments, ambulatory surgery centers, endoscopy, and other designated hospital-based and ambulatory procedural services.
The Vice President establishes an integrated system-wide operating model that aligns strategic priorities, clinical quality, physician partnership, workforce planning, capacity management, resource allocation, and financial performance. This Vice President is responsible for developing and executing surgical and procedural services strategies that improve patient access, optimize utilization, promote appropriate site-of-care decisions, support physician recruitment and retention, and drive sustainable growth.
In partnership with executive leadership, entity leadership, physician leaders, medical group leadership, and system support functions, the Vice President establishes clear performance expectations, operating standards, governance structures, and accountability mechanisms across all designated service areas. Through disciplined execution, data-driven decision-making, and continuous improvement, the Vice President ensures that surgical and procedural services operate as a cohesive, high-performing enterprise aligned with The Guthrie Clinic's mission, vision, values, and strategic objectives.
Reporting Relationship and Scope
Reports to: Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, The Guthrie Clinic.
Organizational scope: Surgical and procedural services across six hospital campuses and affiliated ambulatory surgery centers.
Direct reports and operational accountability:
• Hospital Perioperative Directors.
• ASC Operational Leaders.
• System Director or designated Leader of Sterile Processing.
• Endoscopy Directors, Managers, or designated Procedural Services Leaders.
• Other system-level surgical and procedural services leaders as assigned.
The Vice President establishes clear reporting relationships, decision rights, performance expectations, and accountability for direct reports. Site leaders are responsible for executing approved system strategies and achieving established operational, quality, workforce, and financial objectives.
The Vice President exercises authority within the organization's approved delegation of authority and governance structure, in coordination with entity executives, physician leaders, medical staff, ASC governing bodies, and other accountable organizational leaders.
Essential Functions and Responsibilities
1. System-Wide Strategy, Leadership, and Governance
• Develops and executes a comprehensive, multiyear surgical and procedural services strategic plan aligned with The Guthrie Clinic's organizational strategy, clinical priorities, financial objectives, and community needs.
• Provides direct operational leadership and accountability for designated surgical and procedural services leaders across all hospitals and affiliated ASCs.
• Establishes clear reporting relationships, decision rights, performance expectations, and accountability mechanisms across the enterprise.
• Creates and leads an integrated system governance and operating structure that aligns executive leadership, entity leadership, physician leaders, and operational teams around shared objectives.
• Establishes system-wide operating standards, policies, performance measures, and management processes within delegated authority.
• Leads regular system surgical and procedural services performance reviews to assess quality, safety, access, capacity, workforce, financial performance, and strategic initiative execution.
• Resolves cross-site operational issues and directs corrective action when established performance expectations are not achieved.
• Ensures that site operating plans align with system priorities while accommodating appropriate differences in clinical capabilities, patient populations, facility requirements, and regional market needs.
• Represents surgical and procedural services in executive planning, organizational transformation, capital planning, and system-wide performance improvement initiatives.
• Fosters a culture of accountability, transparency, collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement.
2. Surgical and Procedural Services Growth and Strategic Development
• Develops and executes strategies to grow appropriate surgical and procedural volume, strengthen market position, improve referral retention, and expand access to services.
• Partners with physician and medical group leadership to evaluate market demand, physician capacity, referral patterns, clinical capabilities, and opportunities for program development.
• Leads the evaluation, development, implementation, and performance monitoring of new surgical and procedural programs, specialties, technologies, and service-line expansions.
• Develops strategies for centers of excellence, specialty program development, and regionalization of services based on clinical quality, patient access, physician capabilities, capacity, and financial sustainability.
• Establishes an integrated site-of-care strategy that appropriately aligns procedures with tertiary hospitals, community hospitals, ASCs, and other appropriate procedural settings.
• Evaluates opportunities to expand ambulatory surgical and procedural services and transition clinically appropriate procedures to lower-cost settings when supported by patient needs, quality, safety, capacity, and applicable requirements.
• Partners with physician recruitment, marketing, business development, and medical group leadership to support surgeon and proceduralist recruitment, retention, referral development, and program growth.
• Develops business plans for new programs and service-line investments, including market analysis, staffing requirements, capital needs, operating assumptions, expected outcomes, and financial projections.
• Monitors program performance and recommends expansion, redesign, consolidation, or discontinuation when appropriate.
• Ensures growth initiatives align with clinical capabilities, workforce availability, facility capacity, and long-term financial objectives.
3. Hospital Perioperative Operations
• Provides direct operational leadership and accountability for hospital perioperative directors and designated perioperative operations across the system.
• Oversees operating rooms, preoperative services, PACUs, and other assigned perioperative functions.
• Establishes standardized operating practices and performance expectations for scheduling, block allocation, staffing, productivity, room utilization, turnover, cancellations, and operational reliability.
• Partners with surgical and anesthesia physician leadership to improve access, scheduling effectiveness, utilization of surgical resources, and physician experience.
• Leads system-wide capacity management and workforce planning to balance inpatient, outpatient, urgent, and emergent surgical demand.
• Ensures effective coordination among operating rooms, preoperative services, PACUs, inpatient units, sterile processing, and other supporting departments.
• Identifies opportunities to reduce avoidable delays, cancellations, unused capacity, and barriers to surgical access.
• Holds hospital perioperative directors accountable for quality, safety, operational efficiency, workforce engagement, budget performance, and execution of approved improvement plans.
4. Ambulatory Surgery Center Operations
• Provides direct operational leadership and accountability for designated ASC operational leaders.
• Establishes system-wide ASC performance expectations encompassing quality, safety, access, patient experience, staffing, productivity, financial performance, and growth.
• Integrates ASC operating and business plans with the broader surgical services strategy.
• Evaluates opportunities to expand ASC capacity, operating hours, specialty offerings, physician participation, and clinically appropriate procedure volumes.
• Partners with ASC medical directors, physician owners where applicable, governing bodies, and entity leadership to align operating strategies and performance improvement priorities.
• Evaluates opportunities to transition appropriate procedures to ambulatory settings based on clinical suitability, patient needs, quality, capacity, and financial sustainability.
• Monitors ASC performance and directs corrective actions to address operational constraints, financial underperformance, staffing challenges, and access barriers.
• Supports compliance with applicable ASC licensing, accreditation, quality, and patient safety requirements in partnership with designated clinical and compliance leaders.
• Ensures appropriate coordination between ASCs and the broader system for patient selection, scheduling, staffing, supply utilization, equipment, and post-procedure care.
5. System Sterile Processing Leadership
• Provides executive oversight of system sterile processing leadership and establishes accountability for sterile processing performance across hospitals and ASCs.
• Develops and implements a system-wide sterile processing strategy that supports surgical demand, instrument availability, case readiness, infection prevention, and efficient resource utilization.
• Establishes consistent standards for instrument reprocessing, workflow, capacity, productivity, quality assurance, and operational reliability in partnership with infection prevention, quality, and clinical leadership.
• Monitors instrument turnaround, tray accuracy, missing instruments, case delays attributable to instrument availability, reprocessing quality, staffing, and other relevant performance indicators.
• Partners with operating room leaders, supply chain, infection prevention, and clinical teams to standardize instruments and processes where appropriate.
• Evaluates opportunities for centralized or regional sterile processing operations, shared resources, technology investments, and capacity improvements.
• Ensures appropriate staff competency, implementation of evidence-based practices, and compliance with applicable regulatory, accreditation, and organizational requirements.
• Holds system sterile processing leadership accountable for corrective action, continuous improvement, and sustained performance results.
6. Endoscopy and Other Procedural Services
• Provides direct operational leadership and accountability for designated endoscopy and other procedural services leaders within the approved organizational structure.
• Oversees the operational performance of assigned procedural areas across hospitals and affiliated ambulatory settings, including scheduling, staffing, capacity, utilization, patient flow, and financial performance.
• Partners with gastroenterology, anesthesia, nursing, and other relevant physician and clinical leaders to improve access, procedural throughput, patient safety, and physician experience.
• Establishes consistent operational standards for scheduling, pre-procedure assessment, procedure room utilization, recovery, turnover, equipment availability, and patient flow, as clinically appropriate.
• Evaluates procedural capacity and demand to identify opportunities for expanded access, improved utilization, additional operating hours, new programs, or redistribution of procedures across sites.
• Ensures coordination of procedural services with sterile processing, supply chain, infection prevention, quality, facilities, and other supporting departments.
• Monitors procedure cancellations, wait times, utilization, staffing productivity, quality outcomes, patient experience, and other relevant performance indicators.
• Integrates operational practices, performance reporting, and resource planning across endoscopy and other designated procedural services while respecting specialty-specific clinical requirements.
• Ensures compliance with applicable regulatory, accreditation, infection prevention, sedation, reprocessing, and patient safety requirements in partnership with designated clinical and compliance leaders.
7. Quality, Patient Safety, and Regulatory Compliance
• Establishes system-wide expectations for clinical quality, patient safety, infection prevention, regulatory compliance, and continuous improvement across all surgical and procedural services.
• Partners with physician leaders, nursing, anesthesia, quality, infection prevention, and other clinical leaders to monitor outcomes and implement evidence-based improvements.
• Ensures appropriate oversight of surgical and procedural complications, infection prevention, medication safety, specimen management, instrument reprocessing, and other relevant safety practices.
• Promotes a culture of transparency, event reporting, learning, and accountability.
• Ensures that quality concerns, adverse events, and performance deficiencies are addressed through appropriate review and corrective action.
• Provides executive oversight for applicable regulatory, accreditation, licensing, and organizational requirements across hospitals and ASCs in partnership with designated entity and clinical leaders.
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