System Director Patient Relations & Guest Services

To be part of our organization, every employee should understand and share in the YNHHS Vision, support our Mission, and live our Values. These values - integrity, patient-centered, respect, accountability, and compassion - must guide what we do, as individuals and professionals, every day.

Summary

The Director of Patient Experience, Patient Relations, and Guest Services will define the visionary healthcare experience across the care continuum to ensure the delivery of exceptional health care experience to patients, caregivers and families. The director will set the vision and develop the roadmap that will allow Yale New Haven Health and Yale Medicine to remain a leader in the region and set the standard among its peers, for excellent consumer and patient experience. With system wide responsibility, this leader will serve as the executive leader for patient experience across the entire continuum of care, providing direction and counsel to YNHHS/YM leaders, caregivers and teams. The Director will provide the organization with a single point of leadership and will be accountable for implementation and driving tangible results in overall customer experience for YNHHS/YM

Responsible for system oversight and developing visionary strategies for the Department of Patient Relations and Guest Services for Yale New Haven Health System and Yale Medicine. The Director serves as a role model and coach for staff and a liaison between patients, patient families, visitors, hospital staff and medical staff across all delivery networks. This position oversees the grievance and compliment/complaint management processes and partners with key business unit, service line, clinical, and other system leaders to acknowledge, respond to, and resolve complaints and grievances from patients and external customers. Maintaining integrity of patient rights, regulatory requirements, and standardized processes are critical to this role. Is responsible for ensuring YNHHS compliance with CMS condition of participation for patient grievance management and JCAHO regulations related policies that are relative to patient rights, including animal visitations, DHOH, discrimination, LEP patients, etc. This position oversees the function of being continuously ready to uphold the care and service of YNHHS to the Patient Rights and Responsibilities standards in addition to the YNHHS Mission, Vision, and Core Values.

EEO/AA/Disability/Veteran

Responsibilities

1. Develops visionary strategies for patient experience, patient relations, and guest sevices across the Health System and Yale Medicine.
2. Directs the Patient Relations, Guest Services, and Patient Experience departments across the Health System and Yale Medicine.
3. Responsible for dynamic system leadership in managing the direction of Patient Relations, Guest Services, and Patient Experience for YNHHS/YM with emphasis on internal customer relationships and standardization of key processes/standard work, and patient/family advocacy.
4. Manages the Continuous Readiness chapter for Patient Rights and Responsibilities and participates in auditing processes and environments to ensure compliance.
5. Oversees, models, and teaches expert documentation of patient complaints and grievances, following all regulatory requirements set forth by Centers for Medicaid and Medicare (CMS), The Joint Commission, the Department of Health, among other regulatory bodies.
6. Follows, develops, or enhances standard processes related to patient complaints/grievances/compliments and provides recommendations for how YNHHS/YM can learn and improve from patient feedback.
7. Consults with leaders throughout YNHHS in the areas of Patient Relations, Guest Services, and Patient Experience. Develops and maintains collaborative relations with departments across the System.
8. Database Administrator for complaint management. Capturing, analyzing, trending, and reporting of complaint/grievance data for quality improvement purposes to improve the YNHHS Care Signature.
9. Responsible for monitoring industry best practices and formulating innovative ways to adopt strategies based on patient needs
10. Develops and communicates trending reports and patient stories to board of trustees, senior leaders and internal customers across the system to inform strategic decision-making.
11. Develops system policies and procedures, establishes communication plans and serves as an employee and manager resource. Coordinates, writes, publishes and distributes policies and procedures consistently across sites and delivery networks.
12. Establish the patient experience vision and strategy aligned to patient populations; grounded in both analytics-based understanding of needs and business dynamics / brand strategy to optimize experience and loyalty, in collaboration with the Hospital Presidents and Operations Leaders of YNHHS/YM.
13. Plan and execute Voice of the Patient activities with the Experience Team, to continuously adjust to demand expectations, including standardizing the patient journey with improvement opportunities for the patient experience in all touch points, enabling YNHHS to deliver a best-in-class experience.
14. Collaborate with marketing to define who the customer is (patient, consumer and family), and translates this into how the customer experience is defined and the role customer experience has in driving business and growth that will create a customer-centric culture and accelerate business strategy.
15. Lead the measurement capture and optimization of key performance indicators to be implemented to gauge experience, loyalty and Press Ganey/HCAHPS satisfaction effectiveness.
16. Guides the organization toward adopting new technology and other new initiatives in order to move point of care onto digital platform as part of the customer centered changes.
17. Provide a clear understanding of customer analytics and clearly articulate the science and direction behind the data.
18. Develop plan and manage customer experience evaluation through an ongoing process, utilizing insights from analytics, usability audits, and customer research results, including provider standard patient satisfaction metrics.
19. Partner closely with clinical and system leadership to implement new programs, technologies and strategies to improve care delivery across the entire care continuum.
20. Motivate and mentor team members and cultivate a positive environment through managing for results, developing staff and maintaining an in-depth knowledge of YNHHS/YM products, services and regulatory compliance requirements.
21. Manages the annual patient experience budget and resources. Allocates resources (budget and staffing) efficiently and effectively for all experience initiatives.
22. Coordinate innovations and advocate for system wide integration to drive excellent experience, including branded experiences, service offerings and further opportunity identification.
23. Monitor national and industry best practices and trends and tailor strategies to ensure performs as a best-in-class patient experience institution.

EDUCATION:

Master's degree required in Human Services, Human Resources or related field.

EXPERIENCE:

5-7 years of business experience in customer or patient-centric service businesses where he/she has successfully improved the customer experience. 5 or more years of leadership experience leading cross-functional teams and enterprise-wide programs, operating and influencing effectively across the organization and within complex contexts. Healthcare administration/leadership, including the management of staff in supervisory/manager positions. Extensive exposure to patient and/or family issues and concerns. Patient and family centered services or experience with volunteers or volunteer organization preferred.

SPECIAL_SKILLS:

Experience with Social Work, Advocacy, or Healthcare Law and Regulatory Requirements. Knowledge of regulatory requirements related to Patient Rights and Responsibilities. High level demonstrated leadership experience in a healthcare setting. This includes exceptional communication skills; verbal, spoken and written. History of proven exemplary customer service skills. Experience in coaching and mentoring, diffusing difficult and delicate situations and the ability to comfortably have critical conversations. Must have experience in working in a highly diverse environment with a very diverse population. Excellent organizational and management skills. Strong communications skills, written, verbal and public speaking.

ACCOUNTABILITY:

Responsible for the delivery of performance goals in accordance with business plans. This includes: cost, time and quality. Ensures all units in System meet performance standards and addresses shortfalls quickly and effectively. Accountable to ensure that YNHHS and YM Patient Relations departments are in compliance with all pertinent regulatory bodies.

COMPLEXITY:

Leadership of the YNHHS patient experiences - spreading from Westerly, Rhode Island to Greenwich, Connecticut. High level leadership in patient experience administration including working with diverse populations, in unique programs. Must be able to be flexible and comfortable with state-wide travel. High level leadership in Patient Relations administration including working with diverse populations, in unique programs. Must be able to be flexible and comfortable with state-wide travel.

PHYSICAL_DEMAND:

Flexibility in coping with shifting demands on time and energy. Must be able to travel to all delivery care networks.