Clinic Director

Clinic Director

Columbia River Health | Boardman, Oregon
Permanent or Interim Leadership Opportunity
Permanent Salary: $90K to $100K annually, plus benefits
Interim compensation: Depending on experience and engagement structure

Please Apply Through RSS

This opportunity is being managed in partnership with Rural Staffing Services. If you learned about this role through RSS, please submit your application through our process rather than applying directly to Columbia River Health.

RSS works closely with the organization and tracks candidate introductions, so applying directly does not create a separate or faster path. Applying through both channels can create confusion and may delay the process.

By applying through RSS, you allow us to properly represent you, communicate directly with the leadership team, advocate for your candidacy, and support you throughout the process.

At Rural Staffing Services, we are building a more transparent, honest, and human approach to rural healthcare recruitment. Our fees are intentionally reasonable and designed to remain accessible to rural healthcare organizations, and there is never a cost to the candidate.

This model only works when candidates who discover an opportunity through RSS honor that connection and apply through RSS.

Please apply through Rural Staffing Services so your candidacy can be handled clearly, professionally, and with the full support of our team.

This Is More Than a Clinic Director Role

Columbia River Health is seeking a highly experienced Clinic Director who can bring structure, accountability, operational discipline, and steady leadership to a growing rural health organization.

This is not an entry-level leadership opportunity.

The organization needs someone who has already led complex clinic operations, understands how to establish clear expectations, and is comfortable holding people accountable while still developing and supporting the team.

The successful leader will know how to evaluate what is working, identify what is not, strengthen operational systems, and ensure that policies and expectations are consistently followed.

This opportunity may be structured as:

• A permanent Clinic Director role
• An interim leadership engagement
• An interim-to-permanent opportunity
• A focused interim assignment for an experienced leader who enjoys stabilizing operations and mentoring internal employees

For the right person, this is an opportunity to make an immediate and lasting difference.

Why Boardman, Oregon

Boardman is located along the Columbia River in northeastern Oregon. The area offers wide-open landscapes, river access, parks, outdoor recreation, and the connected feel of a rural community.

The region is shaped by agriculture, industry, transportation, and the Columbia River. Boardman is within reach of Hermiston and the Tri-Cities, providing access to additional shopping, services, dining, and regional travel while preserving a quieter small-town lifestyle.

This is a community where healthcare access matters deeply and where strong clinic operations have a direct effect on patients, families, employers, and the broader region.

About Columbia River Health

Columbia River Health is a nonprofit community health organization dedicated to providing high-quality, compassionate, patient-centered healthcare to all.

The organization traces its roots to a local physician's determination not to leave Boardman without medical care. Columbia River Health was established through a federal migrant and community health center grant and now serves more than 3,000 patients from Boardman, Irrigon, Ione, Arlington, Umatilla, Hermiston, and surrounding communities. Its staff includes bilingual English- and Spanish-speaking team members.

Columbia River Health provides primary care, pediatric care, women's health, behavioral health, patient outreach, laboratory services, radiology, vaccinations, pharmacy services, financial assistance, and support navigating Medicaid and healthcare coverage.

The organization's values include:

• Community
• Compassion
• Excellence
• Integrity
• Respect
• Transparency

Its mission is grounded in making compassionate, high-quality healthcare available close to home.

What You Will Do

As Clinic Director, you will provide hands-on operational leadership across the clinic and help ensure that people, workflows, policies, and resources are aligned with the organization's mission.

Key responsibilities are expected to include:

• Providing day-to-day operational oversight of clinic services and staff
• Establishing clear expectations, responsibilities, and performance standards
• Holding managers and employees accountable in a fair, direct, and consistent manner
• Strengthening communication between leadership, providers, clinical teams, and administrative staff
• Evaluating current workflows and correcting operational breakdowns
• Ensuring policies and procedures are current, practical, understood, and consistently followed
• Improving patient flow, scheduling, access, service delivery, and the overall patient experience
• Supporting clinic managers, medical assistant leads, and other operational leaders
• Coaching and mentoring employees who are developing into greater leadership responsibility
• Addressing performance concerns promptly and professionally
• Creating greater consistency across departments and roles
• Supporting provider productivity and reducing avoidable operational barriers
• Monitoring staffing needs, coverage, workload, and employee performance
• Helping leadership establish and track meaningful operational metrics
• Partnering with Human Resources on recruitment, onboarding, performance management, and employee development
• Supporting quality improvement, compliance, safety, and regulatory readiness
• Managing competing priorities without losing sight of patient care
• Building systems that remain strong after the initial work is complete
• Serving as a trusted operational partner to executive leadership

This leader must be willing to step into the details when needed while maintaining a clear view of the organization as a whole.

What You Will Bring

Columbia River Health needs an experienced healthcare operations leader who has successfully managed people, systems, and performance in a clinic environment.

Strong candidates will bring:

• Significant clinic operations leadership experience
• A demonstrated history of leading employees and managers
• Experience creating accountability and improving performance
• Strong knowledge of outpatient clinic workflows and patient access
• The ability to evaluate operations and implement practical improvements
• Experience developing, updating, and enforcing policies and procedures
• Confidence addressing difficult performance and personnel matters
• Strong coaching, mentoring, and employee development skills
• Experience partnering with providers and clinical leadership
• Knowledge of staffing, scheduling, productivity, and workflow management
• Strong communication, organization, and problem-solving abilities
• The judgment to distinguish between issues requiring immediate intervention and those requiring long-term development
• The ability to lead calmly and credibly during periods of change

Strongly Preferred

• Previous leadership experience in an FQHC or community health center
• Experience in rural healthcare
• Knowledge of HRSA expectations and health center operations
• Experience with quality improvement, compliance, and regulatory readiness
• Experience mentoring emerging leaders
• Experience leading operational stabilization, restructuring, or performance improvement
• Bachelor's degree in healthcare administration, business, nursing, public health, or a related field

Equivalent experience will be considered for a deeply qualified operational leader.

The Leadership Style That Will Thrive Here

This organization does not need someone who avoids difficult conversations or waits for accountability to happen on its own.

It needs a leader who can be both supportive and direct.

You may be a strong fit if you:

• Set clear expectations and follow through
• Address concerns before they become larger problems
• Understand that accountability and compassion can coexist
• Know how to earn trust without lowering standards
• Are comfortable coaching both frontline employees and managers
• Can bring order to inconsistent systems
• Communicate honestly and respectfully
• Do not rely on title alone to lead
• Are willing to listen before making changes
• Can make decisions and stand behind them
• Enjoy helping employees become stronger and more capable
• Leave teams and systems better than you found them

This is a role for a seasoned operator who understands that strong culture is built through clarity, consistency, fairness, and follow-through.

Interim Leadership Opportunity

Columbia River Health is also open to an experienced interim leader who can step in quickly, assess operations, establish priorities, and begin strengthening the clinic immediately.

An interim engagement may be especially well suited for someone who enjoys:

• Stabilizing clinic operations
• Rebuilding accountability
• Clarifying roles and expectations
• Strengthening policies and workflows
• Coaching managers and emerging leaders
• Preparing an organization for permanent leadership
• Mentoring an internal employee who may be capable of growing into greater responsibility

Interim compensation and engagement terms will be based on experience, availability, scope, travel requirements, and the anticipated length of the assignment.

Why This Role Matters

Community health centers do more than schedule appointments. They help ensure that people can receive primary care, behavioral health support, preventive services, medication assistance, and compassionate guidance without leaving their community.

Strong operations are what allow that care to happen reliably.

When clinic operations are clear and consistent:

• Patients receive better service
• Providers can focus on care
• Employees understand what is expected
• Managers are better equipped to lead
• Problems are addressed sooner
• Resources are used responsibly
• Trust grows across the organization

This Clinic Director will help create the accountability, systems, and leadership structure needed to support Columbia River Health's mission for years to come.

Compensation and Benefits

Permanent Position

• Annual salary of $90K to $100K
• Comprehensive benefits package
• Full-time leadership opportunity
• The ability to shape clinic operations and organizational culture
• Meaningful work in a mission-driven rural community health organization

Final compensation will depend on the selected candidate's experience and qualifications.

Interim Position

Interim compensation will be structured separately and will depend on:

• Depth of experience
• Scope of responsibility
• Assignment length
• On-site expectations
• Travel and housing needs
• Whether the engagement includes mentoring or succession development

A Place to Lead and Belong

This is an opportunity to do more than manage a clinic.

It is an opportunity to help build a stronger organization, develop people, restore clarity, and ensure that a rural community can continue receiving dependable care close to home.

Columbia River Health is looking for someone experienced enough to recognize what needs to change, strong enough to make those changes, and thoughtful enough to bring people along in the process.

How to Apply

Apply through Rural Staffing Services for confidential consideration and personal support throughout the process.

Please submit your resume along with a brief note describing:

• Your clinic operations leadership experience
• The size and type of teams you have led
• Your experience with accountability and performance improvement
• Any FQHC, community health center, or rural healthcare experience
• Whether you are interested in the permanent role, interim engagement, or either option
• Your availability to begin

Qualified candidates will be contacted directly by RSS for an initial confidential conversation before being presented to Columbia River Health.

Work Where It Matters.
Built for Rural.