Director, Center for Behavioral Health
19 days ago
Georgetown
Job Description Director, Behavioral Health Transfer Center Salary Range: $89,900 – $130,000 (negotiable) Additional Compensation: Signing bonus available Schedule: 24/7 operational leadership (some weekends required) Position Summary The Director of the Behavioral Health (BH) Transfer Center provides strategic and operational leadership for a centralized, multi-facility behavioral health access and transfer operation. This role is accountable for clinical decision-making, service-level performance, regulatory compliance, and team development in a fast-paced, high-acuity environment. Serving as the subject-matter expert for behavioral health transfer operations, the Director ensures timely, appropriate patient placement while building trusted relationships with facilities, physicians, and referral partners. Key Responsibilities • Lead all daily operations of the BH Transfer Center, overseeing remote RNs and non-clinical staff, • Ensure clinically appropriate, timely transfers across all age groups and levels of care, • Manage service levels in partnership with Workforce Management, Finance, and executive leadership, • Monitor and improve KPIs including response times, acceptance rates, bed utilization, and throughput, • Ensure compliance with EMTALA, CMS, Joint Commission, HIPAA, and state regulations, • Audit transfer calls, admission packets, and level-of-care determinations, • Serve as escalation point for complex or high-risk cases, • Collaborate with CEOs, Directors of Nursing, Directors of Assessment, and medical leadership, • Lead hiring, onboarding, coaching, and performance management of transfer center staff, • Identify operational gaps and drive process improvement across systems and workflows, • Partner with IT, HR, Training, and Quality teams to enhance service delivery Qualifications Education • Bachelor’s degree required, • Master’s degree strongly preferred (Nursing, Social Work, Psychology, Healthcare Administration, or related), • Licensed clinician (RN, LCSW, LPC, etc.) preferred Experience • 5+ years in behavioral health or hospital operations, • 3+ years in leadership or management, • Experience managing or building a behavioral health or hospital transfer/admissions center preferred, • Experience leading high-volume, telephonic clinical programs Licensure • Current Compact (Multistate) RN license (if RN) Core Competencies • Strategic leadership of centralized access and transfer operations, • Behavioral health clinical operations expertise, • Real-time triage and decision-making under pressure, • Data-driven performance management using KPIs and dashboards, • Systems thinking across EMRs, call management, and bed management tools, • Calm, effective crisis leadership, • Team development and culture building rooted in accountability and empathy