Careers in Quality

Director, Service Excellence - Behavioral Sciences Campus (BSC)

Position Summary:

UTHealth Houston’s Behavioral Sciences Campus (BSC) is seeking a Director, Service Excellence to execute an exceptional patient experience program. This newly created position will report directly to the Chief Quality Officer and will work closely with the guest services department and executive leadership team to enhance and reimagine the patient experience.

UTHealth Houston’s Behavioral Sciences Campus is at an important juncture in its evolution. Already recognized as a regional leader in psychiatric and behavioral health services, the opening of a brand new, state-of-the-art academic psychiatric hospital, The John S. Dunn Behavioral Sciences Center, combined with the nearby UTHealth Houston Harris County Psychiatric Center, position UTHealth Houston Behavioral Sciences Campus as the largest academic psychiatric hospital in the country with 538 beds combined between the two facilities.  The new John S. Dunn Behavioral Sciences Center, a 253,000 square-foot facility with 264 new inpatient beds, enhances UTHealth Houston’s ability to address significant gaps in mental health services and attain statewide and national prominence in the areas of excellent patient care, innovation, education and increased research initiatives. The expanded Behavioral Sciences Campus accommodates multiple patient populations and levels of treatment with access to medication management, group and individual therapy, and educational and life skills training.

The Director of Service Excellence will have the opportunity to develop a customer focused patient experience program for the BSC from infancy to execution. This incoming leader will have the fortuity to make a significant impact on the culture of the facility and be a champion for patients and families. Candidates should have seven (7) years of experience in patient relations or customer relations, preferably in a healthcare setting (candidates with experience in other industries will receive due consideration). The ideal must possess strong interpersonal and communication skills and take great pride in building relationships.

Position Key Accountabilities:

1. Works with executives, managers and staff to strategize and identify initiatives for meeting patient experience goals set by the facility.
2. Walks through the patient experience to produce a “gap analysis” on areas of opportunity.
3. Leads cross-functional teams in designing patient experiences that are effective and operational for the behavioral health environment. 
4. Creates content for patient experience training and conducts training sessions accordingly.
5. Tracks effectiveness on milestones, deliverables and ROI on specific new patient experience initiatives.
6. Interprets patient experience data to create “report cards” that show improvement on new designs, programs or initiatives.
7. Meets with different internal or external sources to plan what mediums are best suited to maximize training and impact on positive patient experiences.
8. Meets with managers and service-line administrators, following up on action plans to improve patient experience.
9. Performs other related activities that are requested to improve the patient experience.
10. Uses observation and other methodologies to review issues, obstacles and opportunities for patient experience
11. Maintains accountability for compliance with external agency requirements related to patient satisfaction.
12. Performs other duties as assigned.

*This role will be onsite and based in Houston, Texas. Candidate would need to be willing to relocate, if necessary.

Certification/Skills:

Expert level ability to teach, lead and motivate others. Ability to analyze and present statistical data. Experience with Microsoft Office (including Outlook, Word, Excel, and Power point), databases, including EHR and related systems.

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Healthcare Administration, Business Administration or related field, Master's degree preferred.

Minimum Experience:

Seven (7) years of experience in patient relations/patient engagement consultation and/or management or customer relations experience. May substitute required experience with equivalent years of education beyond the minimum education requirement.

Physical Requirements:

Exerts up to 20 pounds of force occasionally and/or up to 10 pounds frequently and/or a negligible amount constantly to move objects.

Security Sensitive:

This job class may contain positions that are security sensitive and thereby subject to the provisions of Texas Education Code § 51.215