Regional Palliative Practice Manager

Job Summary: The Regional Practice Manager is responsible for leading the daily operations of the palliative care team, including Nurse Practitioners, Registered Nurses, and Medical Assistants. This role supports high-quality, patient-centered care by creation, implementation, and monitoring of efficient workflows, strong team engagement, effective collaboration with hospice teams, and strong relationships with community partners. The Practice Manager works closely with all practice managers in the Palliative program to ensure alignment, consistency, and collaboration across regions, while supporting consistent achievement of operational and clinical key performance indicators.

Essential Functions:

• Responsible for creating a regional work environment such that the clinicians can succeed in delivering high-quality care and financial metrics are met.
• Oversees day-to-day practice operations for the palliative care team, ensuring timely, coordinated, and compassionate patient care.
• Provides operational leadership and support to Nurse Practitioners, Registered Nurses, and Medical Assistants.
• Builds and maintains strong working relationships with hospice teams, referral partners, providers, physician leaders, clinical leaders and internal stakeholders.
• Monitors and improves key performance indicators, including hospice referrals, days to first Nurse Practitioner visit, visit completion rates, documentation timeliness, and patient satisfaction.
• Supports referral management processes to ensure patients are connected to the appropriate level of palliative or hospice care.
• Monitors staffing utilization, productivity, and labor resources to ensure efficient and cost-effective operations while maintaining high-quality patient care.
• Assists with budget planning and resource allocation by identifying operational efficiencies and opportunities to optimize practice performance.
• Monitors provider productivity, visit volumes, and caseload distribution to support operational and financial goals.
• Partners with leadership to identify opportunities for process improvement, cost containment, and sustainable program growth.
• Promotes clear communication between palliative care and hospice.
• Maintains staffing schedules, coverage plans, and workflow processes that support timely visits and efficient team operations.
• Responsible for monitoring, analyzing, and improving operational and clinical performance through the following key metrics:
  1. Increase appropriate referrals to hospice through collaboration, education, and relationship-building with providers and care teams.
  2. Reduce the number of days from referral to first Nurse Practitioner visit through efficient scheduling, triage, and workflow coordination.
  3. Achieve high visit completion rates while minimizing scheduling delays and missed visits.
  4. Maintain timely, accurate, and compliant clinical documentation in accordance with organizational and regulatory standards.
  5. Monitor provider productivity, patient caseloads, and schedule utilization to ensure equitable workload distribution and efficient operations.
  6. Track referral volume and referral response times to improve patient access to palliative care services.
  7. Support high patient and family satisfaction through responsive communication, reliable care coordination, and exceptional service.
  8. Improve employee engagement through regular communication, coaching, recognition, and removal of operational barriers.
  9. Monitor staff retention, attendance, and engagement to promote workforce stability and professional development.
  10. Ensure pilot projects, quality improvement initiatives, and operational programs are implemented successfully through effective planning, communication, accountability, timeline management, and follow-through.
  11. Monitor operational dashboards and performance reports to identify trends, develop action plans, and drive continuous improvement.
  12. Support responsible management of staffing resources and labor utilization while maintaining high-quality patient care and meeting organizational financial objectives.
• Leads team huddles, staff meetings, and follow-up activities to support alignment, accountability, and shared goals.
• Ensures compliance with organizational policies, documentation standards, regulatory requirements, and patient privacy expectations.
• Fosters a positive, accountable, and highly engaged team culture. This includes coaching staff, supporting professional development, encouraging collaboration, resolving operational concerns, and promoting a work environment where team members feel informed, valued, and empowered to provide excellent care.
• Ensures internal and external education, training and activities for self and staff to promote personal and professional growth and to ensure staff competency is maintained at all times.
• Seeks to promote knowledge of palliative care and hospice philosophies and articulates and promotes the NorthStar Care Community vision, mission, and values within the community.
• Upholds the NorthStar Care Community Code of Conduct, policies, procedures, protocols and processes and all regulatory and legal requirements.
• Models the NorthStar standards to care for every person, every time, 100% of the time.

Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in healthcare administration; equivalent healthcare leadership experience may be considered.
• Minimum of three (3) years of experience in healthcare operations, practice management, hospice, palliative care, home-based care, or a related clinical environment.
• Prior experience supervising clinical or administrative staff preferred.
• Knowledge of palliative care and hospice care principles is preferred.
• Strong understanding of interdisciplinary care coordination, patient access, referral management, and healthcare workflows.
• Proficiency with electronic health records, scheduling systems, reporting tools, and standard office technology.
• Operational leadership and process improvement skills, with the ability to lead and motivate interdisciplinary clinical teams.
• Proven data-driven decision-making and KPI management skills preferred.
• Strong customer service orientation with patients, families, providers, and referral partners.
• Ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced healthcare environment.
• Commitment to compassion, accountability, teamwork, and continuous improvement.
• Excellent communication, organization, problem-solving, and relationship-building skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, sound judgment, effective organizational, prioritization and follow-through skills, attention to detail, tact, dependability, emotional intelligence, the ability to maintain confidentiality and promote positive, constructive relationships with communication and collaboration at all levels required.
• Must be able to read, write and speak English fluently and be able to communicate orally and in writing in internal and external relationships for all essential job functions.
• The physical demands of the position include: vision, effective speech and hearing for extensive telephone contact; repetitive motion; traveling; driving or riding in motor vehicle; standing, sitting, walking, bending, reaching, and stretching; lifting up to twenty-five (25) pounds unassisted and the ability to assist in lifting patients using appropriate lifting techniques and/or devices.
• Proof of current tuberculin testing required. Patient contact will not be allowed until tuberculin clearance is documented.
• Must have reliable transportation to be able to travel and maintain the rigors of a busy schedule. Frequently works variable hours/days; activities and workload may require extended days.
• Must be eligible to work in the United States.

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