This role provides enterprise-level clinical and operational leadership for hospice services across various settings, including private homes, assisted living communities, skilled nursing facilities, hospitals, and general inpatient settings. Reporting to the Executive Director of Hospice, the Director ensures the delivery of safe, high-quality, patient- and family-centered care while maintaining compliance with federal and state regulations, Medicare Conditions of Participation, accrediting standards, and organizational policies. The position partners closely with the Medical Director, physicians, Quality, Compliance, Human Resources, Finance, and Business Development to support clinical excellence, regulatory compliance, community relationships, and sustainable growth.
Responsibilities
Provide overall strategic and operational leadership for hospice clinical services across all locations and levels of care, ensuring services align with organizational goals and priorities
Direct and develop clinical leaders responsible for nursing, social work, hospice aides, spiritual care, bereavement, volunteer services, and clinical support operations
Ensure patients receive safe, timely, coordinated, and person-centered care consistent with the plan of care, physician orders, regulatory requirements, and organizational standards
Oversee the full patient care continuum, including admissions, assessments, recertifications, transfers, discharges, deaths, changes in level of care, and complex patient escalations
Monitor census, patient acuity, staffing, productivity, visit completion, workflow, service intensity, and barriers to care; take timely corrective action when needed
Serve as the senior clinical resource for complex cases, symptom management, ethical concerns, clinical decision-making, and care delivery escalation
Partner with the Hospice Medical Director and attending physicians to strengthen clinical decision-making, eligibility, symptom management, and continuity of care
Ensure effective interdisciplinary team processes, care planning, documentation, communication, and handoffs across clinical teams and levels of care
Lead quality, compliance, risk management, and survey readiness, ensuring adherence to Medicare Conditions of Participation, CHAP, Georgia requirements, accrediting-body standards, and organizational policies
Monitor patient satisfaction, clinical outcomes, incidents, complaints, grievances, documentation compliance, and other quality indicators; lead performance-improvement initiatives as needed
Establish and maintain high standards for clinical documentation, assessments, plans of care, recertifications, orders, and interdisciplinary records
Use clinical and operational data to identify trends, improve outcomes, increase efficiency, and strengthen accountability
Oversee workforce planning, including recruitment, onboarding, competency validation, coaching, performance management, professional development, retention, and succession planning
Millions of jobs, with real people getting hired every day
200,000+
New jobs added daily
7,000,000+
Verified job listings
1,000,000+
Tailored applications submitted
Ensure appropriate staffing and skill mix based on census, acuity, geography, admissions, and service demands, including 24/7 clinical coverage
Provide senior clinical leadership during emergencies, service disruptions, significant incidents, staffing challenges, and other high-risk events
Establish effective operational, financial, and resource-management processes while balancing quality, access, productivity, and cost
Partner with Finance/Revenue Cycle, Human Resources, Quality, Compliance, and Business Development to support organizational and clinical objectives
Identify opportunities to improve care-delivery models, workflows, technology, training, and services based on evidence, performance data, and patient needs
Support responsible growth by ensuring clinical capacity, staffing, readiness, and service quality align with referral demand and market expansion
Develop and maintain strong relationships with physicians, referral sources, facilities, community partners, patients, families, and caregivers
Represent hospice clinical operations in organizational leadership activities and selected community and partner engagements
Foster a culture of excellence, accountability, teamwork, integrity, respect, innovation, professional development, and exceptional patient and family service
Success in this role will be measured through patient and family satisfaction, clinical quality and patient safety, regulatory, CHAP compliance and documentation, staffing, retention and workforce development, productivity, operational efficiency and cost management, census growth and service utilization, referral source and community relationships, program development and strategic growth, and strategic leadership and organizational performance
CHAPS patient and caregiver experience scores meet or exceed national averages, with strong satisfaction results, timely communication, and effective complaint resolution
Hospice Care Index, HOPE, PEPPER, and SSVI performance meets or exceeds applicable national benchmarks and remains within acceptable risk thresholds
Maintain strong clinical outcomes, patient safety, and continuity of care, including greater than 85% compliance with timely visits during the last days of life and missed or delayed visits below 15%
Maintain compliance with Medicare, CHAP, Georgia, and organizational requirements, including continuous survey readiness and timely corrective-action plans
Ensure clinical documentation is accurate, complete, timely, and compliant with regulatory and billing requirements
Maintain appropriate staffing and skill mix while fostering employee engagement, competency, professional development, and leadership growth
Achieve annual employee turnover below 20% and improve retention beyond employees’ first year
Ensure clinical productivity, staffing effectiveness, resource utilization, and cost management meet agency expectations while maintaining high-quality, cost-conscious care
Maintain average length of stay, live discharges, service utilization, care-plan effectiveness, and other key performance indicators within established agency targets while supporting sustainable census growth
Build and maintain strong relationships with referral sources, physicians, facilities, community partners, patients, families, and caregivers to support growth, access, and continuity of care
Ensure clinical staffing and capacity support targeted growth
Identify and implement new service offerings, care-delivery models, workflows, technology, and improvement initiatives based on patient needs, performance data, and market demand
Align clinical operations with organizational priorities through data-driven decision-making, continuous process improvement, innovation, effective resource management, and collaboration across departments
Requirements
Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Nursing, Health Science, or a related field
A valid Georgia professional license is preferred
5–10 years of progressive management and leadership experience in home health, hospice, geriatrics, or a related healthcare environment
5–10 years of experience in hospice healthcare leadership, administration, regulatory compliance, or care management
Demonstrated expertise in budget development, financial management, productivity, and operational performance with the ability to design systems that support measurable outcomes
Strong knowledge of healthcare management principles, regulatory requirements, care delivery practices, and home health/hospice operations and marketing
Proven ability to lead, supervise, motivate, and develop teams while fostering accountability and achieving organizational goals
Exceptional interpersonal, communication, organizational, and relationship-building skills, with the ability to effectively collaborate with individuals from diverse backgrounds
Demonstrated initiative, integrity, enthusiasm, diplomacy, sound judgment, and problem-solving ability
Proficiency with computers, email, internet navigation, electronic systems, online HR platforms, and training programs, with the ability to independently learn and utilize new technology
About the Company
Caring for Atlanta for over 78 years, Visiting Nurse Health System is a leading, non-profit provider of home healthcare, long-term care at home, hospice, and palliative care services. The company prides itself in helping patients and their loved ones receive care at home following an illness, surgery, or hospital stay. Its vision is to be the first choice for patients, families, payers, and other healthcare providers when they need home healthcare services, aiming to achieve and maintain exemplary patient and employee satisfaction levels. VNHS is dedicated to continuing its investment in strong community partnerships, providing coordinated care solutions, developing a top-performing workforce, and innovating technologies to improve affordability and access to patient care. The organization strives to be a place where healthcare professionals prefer to work and can grow professionally. The company's four core values are Respect & Integrity, Excellence, Stewardship, and Care.
Visiting Nurse Health System is Georgia's solution to healthcare and aging services in the home.
