Head of Clinical Programs and Operations

The Head of Clinical Programs & Operations is a strategic and operational leader responsible for planning, implementing, and optimizing Backpack Healthcare's clinical services across virtual and school-based care settings. This includes psychotherapy, psychiatry, and diagnostic evaluations for ADHD and Autism. This role ensures the delivery of high-quality, outcomes-driven mental health care for youth and families while aligning clinical operations with organizational goals, regulatory standards, and evolving community needs.

This leader oversees provider performance, patient engagement, cross-functional coordination between clinical service lines, and clinical workflow execution to ensure exceptional access, retention, and clinical outcomes. The Head of Clinical Programs & Operations partners closely with The Head of Residency & Education, clinical supervisors, and quality assurance to ensure services are effectively delivered, compliant, and scalable across regions.

Key focus areas include workforce productivity, treatment adherence, clinical documentation compliance, and client retention. The role is accountable for converting assessments into active care episodes, improving client progression toward treatment goals, and using data to drive decision-making and continuous improvement.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS

• Program Oversight & Development
• Collaborate on the planning, design, and rollout of new clinical programs.
• Ensure alignment with evidence-based practices, compliance standards, and community needs.
• Clinical Operations Management
• Oversee provider caseload balancing and productivity.
• Streamline workflows to optimize access, reduce no-shows, and improve timeliness of care.
• Own the implementation, and continuous improvement of clinical workflows, processes, and policies across all service lines and care settings.
• Oversee day-to-day clinical operations for psychotherapy ensuring efficient team collaboration across states and departments.
• Coordinate with the Head of Residency to support shared goals, define success metrics, and uphold quality standards.
• Monitor caseload distribution, clinician productivity, and other performance metrics
  

Financial Stewardship & Cost Management

• Partner with Finance and Revenue Cycle teams to collaborate on the clinical P&L, optimize service line profitability, and forecast workforce costs tied to volume and payer mix.
• Identify and drive opportunities to reduce operational inefficiencies, streamline workflows, and control clinical costs without compromising care quality.
• Monitor and report on clinical KPIs tied to cost drivers (e.g., utilization rates, documentation lag, incomplete sessions, no-show rates, productivity gaps).
• Ensure strategic hiring aligns with revenue projections and staffing needs by geography, licensure type, and service demand.
• Performance & Quality Assurance
• Monitor KPIs such as documentation compliance, attendance patterns, treatment completion rates, and clinical outcomes.
• Partner with QA and compliance to ensure adherence to internal and external audit standards.
• Implement dashboards, workflows, and QA systems that monitor clinical documentation, compliance, and adherence to care protocols.
• Workforce Leadership & Supervision
• Support clinical supervisors and program managers in driving performance and professional development.
• Monitor licensure progression, supervision compliance, and performance management
• Partner with the Education team and People Operations to enhance, standardize, and scale the clinical onboarding and training experience across all clinician roles, including therapists, PMHNPs, and psychologists.
• Optimize onboarding workflows to ensure clear role expectations, systems access, supervisor alignment, and early-stage support are in place for all clinical hires.
• Collaborate to refine training content that includes EMR and telehealth platform usage, documentation standards, compliance requirements, MBC integration, and organization-specific protocols.
• Support the development and refinement of role-specific onboarding pathways for W2, 1099, and PRN clinicians that account for licensure type, clinical setting (school-based vs. virtual), and service line (therapy, psychiatry, evaluation).
• Ensure coordination with the Residency and Fellowship programs to provide seamless onboarding for early-career clinicians transitioning to clinical roles post-training.
• Monitor onboarding success metrics (e.g., time to first session, time to full caseload, documentation compliance, initial quality review) and provide insight to drive continuous improvement.
• Participate in feedback loops with new clinicians, supervisors, and cross-functional teams to identify training gaps and opportunities for iteration.
• Contribute to workforce planning efforts including hiring targets, staffing models, FTE capacity planning, and retention strategies.
• Data-Driven Decision Making
• Use dashboards and operational reports to drive initiatives and adjust workflows.
• Analyze conversion rates, dropout patterns, and regional or specialty performance variances.
• Cross-Department Collaboration
• Collaborate with intake, psychiatry, technology, and school-based teams to ensure seamless service delivery.
• Partner with Product and Innovation to optimize EMR workflows, clinical tools, and telehealth platforms to reflect evidence-based practice and clinician usability.
• Identify operational friction points and support cross-functional efforts to resolve them through automation, process redesign, or technology improvements.
  
  

EXPECTATIONS

QUANTITATIVE

• Clinical Productivity Compliance = ≥ XX% of clinicians meet weekly visit targets (e.g., 24/wk for FTE therapists)
• Documentation Timeliness = ≥ XXX% of clinical notes completed within 24 hours
• Time-to-Productivity = ≤ 7 days from start to first session; ≤ XXXX days to full panel
• Claims Submission = > 95% submission within 24 hours
• Care Delivery: ≥XX% treatment completion rate among clients.
• Documentation Compliance = ≥ XX% documentation compliance within 48 hours.
• Client Retention & Engagement: = ≤ 10% dropout rate within the first 30 days of care.
  
  

QUALITATIVE

• Cross-Functional Leadership - Demonstrates effective collaboration across Clinical, Product, People, Education, and Compliance teams
• Operational Execution - Translates clinical strategy into efficient, scalable systems that work across care settings and licensure types
• Culture & Values Alignment - Models professionalism, inclusivity, and a commitment to equity-minded care and leadership
• Change Management - Leads clinical teams through periods of growth, change, or complexity with clarity, resilience, and empathy
• Training Excellence - Drives continuous improvement in clinical onboarding and training through collaboration and feedback
• Strategic Insight - Proactively identifies risks, inefficiencies, or emerging needs and provides actionable, data-informed recommendations
• Clinical Quality Stewardship - Champions documentation accuracy, MBC use, care coordination, and outcome-driven care delivery across disciplines
  
  

POSITION QUALIFICATIONS

Minimum Qualifications:

• Advanced clinical degree (e.g., PMHNP, PhD, PsyD, MD, LCSW, LPC, LMFT) with unrestricted licensure.
• Minimum of 3 years of leadership experience, in virtual healthcare strategy, or systems-level behavioral health transformation.
• Proven success designing and launching digital or tech-enabled clinical initiatives (e.g., clinical content systems, supervision platforms, outcome dashboards).
• Experience overseeing multi-stakeholder projects involving compliance, technology, education, and grant funding.
• Strategic thinker with a systems orientation and the ability to bridge innovation with scalable infrastructure.
• Outstanding collaboration, communication, and cross-functional leadership skills.
  
  

COMPETENCIES

• Integrity – Communicates accurate, factual information openly; able to exercise a broad understanding of situations, giving the benefit of the doubt to others and a change to articulate concerns or interest; cares about outcomes, willing to go to considerable effort in order to make a valuable difference; demonstrates responsibility through the use of care and foresight in carrying out a task; and understands what is needed and provides effective solutions to remedy the situation by responding promptly to requests and accommodating accordingly.
• Professionalism – Demonstrates a desire to build and maintain a reputation as a professional—to learn the ropes, to follow advice of a trusted mentor and to seek training and development for personal growth; conveys confidence in their organization role and self; acts responsibly and fair in all work activities; acts within a developed personal code of ethics that includes legal, ethical and honest intent; follows all company policies and procedures; and shows poise and calm to workers during tough situations and when making high-pressure decisions.
• Initiative- takes charge, shows a willingness to get things done and take responsibility; readiness to embark on bold new adventures, implements a new strategy or plan to solve a problem or improve a situation.
• Dependability & Reliability – inspires full confidence from co-workers and leadership that one will get the support or assistance required; will complete tasks in a complete and appropriate manner, competently and consistently; attends shifts as scheduled and avoids calling-out whenever possible.
• Resilience – Cultivates a belief in the ability to cope with any problem or issue; promotes a sense of community, support and connected-ness in the workplace; seek reward and empowerment through being helpful to others; cultivate positive emotions and an attitude of survivorship that activates strength to get through hardship, promote learning through challenging experiences.
  
  

WORK ENVIRONMENT

• Typical remote healthcare environment
• Up to 25% travel required