Director, Assessment & Referral

Emerald Coast Behavioral Hospital, LLC; Panama City (FL); On-site; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Generous paid time off

Medical, dental, vision

401(k) with company match

SoFi student loan refinancing program

Career development opportunities

Discounted stock plan

Job summary

Emerald Coast Behavioral Hospital, LLC is seeking a Director of Intake/Assessment & Referral to lead a fast-paced admissions team and oversee access to care for adolescents and adults across inpatient and outpatient services in Florida’s Panhandle.

The role requires nursing leadership, regulatory compliance expertise, and strategic oversight of the admission and referral processes, call management, and utilization review.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing is required.
• Active Florida RN Licensure required for RN candidates.
• Three (3) years’ experience in inpatient nursing required; supervisory experience preferred.
• Ideal candidate thrives in a fast-paced work environment with strong team building and understands fiscal responsibilities.

Responsibilities

• Oversee administrative and clinical supervision of the Admissions and Referral Department.
• Develop and implement department objectives, policies and procedures to maintain quality patient care; ensure compliance with Federal and State requirements and accreditation standards.
• Oversee the assessment & referral process to ensure quality assessments, appropriate admissions and referrals; coordinate with admitting physician.
• Oversee telephone triage activities and ensure documentation in computer-based systems.
• Responsible for Utilization Review functions including insurance verification and initial authorization for services.
• Act as liaison between referral sources, patients, families, staff and the public; respond to complaints.
• Collaborate with Director of Quality/Risk Management to address patient safety concerns and implement preventive processes.
• Perform marketing, outreach and development activities to maintain positive relations with community resources.

Skills

Supervisory experience

Regulatory compliance

Fiscal management

Data entry/management

Quality care leadership

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Nursing

Master's degree preferred

Job description

Director, Assessment & Referral

Emerald Coast Behavioral Hospital is seeking a talented and dynamic Director of Intake/Assessment & Referral to join our team of dedicated healthcare professionals!

Emerald Coast Behavioral Hospital provides inpatient treatment services to adolescents and adults at our 86-bed facility in Panama City, FL and outpatient services to adolescents and adults at our four outpatient centers located throughout the Florida Panhandle. Additionally, we offer specialized treatment for active-duty military members through our Military Resiliency Program, specialized chemical dependency treatment and TMS therapy for chronic depression.

Visit us online at: https://emeraldcoastbehavioral.com/

Position Summary:

The Director, Assessment & Referral leads a fast paced team of professionals responsible for the admission/intake process utilizing nursing and therapeutic processes. Builds a customer focused team who provides quality care, establishes standards of practice, provides effective fiscal management, and remains operations focused.

Responsibilities

• Is responsible for the administrative and clinical supervision of the Admissions and Referral Department. Supervises staff in the provision of patient access to care and behavioral health assessment services, including call management, clinical evaluations for level of care, crisis intervention, admissions, and referrals. Ensures departmental adherence to policies and procedures, regulatory compliance, service excellence, and data entry/management. Develops and manages processes related to the efficient and smooth admission and referral processes. May perform Assessment Specialist duties as needed.
• Develops and implements activities related to creating an environment of patient focused care in the Admissions and Referral department by defining and achieving standards for quality patient care to include:
  • Developing and implementing department objectives, policies and procedures to maintain quality patient care. Continuously monitors Federal and State requirements and revises Departmental procedures accordingly. Maintains Joint Commission and CMS accreditation standards.
  • Oversees and monitors the assessment & referral process to ensure quality assessments, appropriate admissions as well as appropriate referrals are provided. Maintain effective lines of communication between the staff and the physician as the staff must work in conjunction with the admitting physician to establish appropriateness of admission, establish clinical diagnosis and treatment.
  • Oversees telephone triage activities. Monitors triage calls and information provided during the telephone triage such as offering assessment, referral information provided, access emergency medical or police services when needed. Ensures documentation of calls into computer-based systems.
  • Responsible for Utilization Review functions to include insurance verification and obtaining initial authorization for services in a timely manner. Responsible for ensuring all insurance documentation is uploaded into system.
  • Acts as a liaison between referral sources, patients, families, staff and the general public as needed. Responds to and investigates referral source, patient, and family complaints.
  • Works in conjunction with the Director of Quality/Risk Management to address patient safety concerns and to implement processes that prevent adverse outcomes.
  • Performs marketing, outreach and development functions to maintain positive and open relations with all community resources.
• Plans, organizes, and manages areas of responsibility to meet the standards set by the hospital and regulatory agencies.
  • Hires, supervises, develops, evaluates, and disciplines staff and and/or monitors supervisors’ management of staff. Ensures staff is knowledgeable and competent to perform duties by providing orientation, training, and continuing education. Meets with staff members on an ongoing basis to review performance and provide feedback, guidance and instruction as needed. Assures appropriate work production and documentation in accordance with policies and regulations through audits, supervision, and goal setting.
  • Reviews performance in area of supervision in relation to established goals to include standards and criteria, audit of deficiencies and follow-up; implements changes to effect continual improvement in services provides; and assures compliance with regulatory and legal requirements.
  • Recommends fiscal or budgetary requirements necessary to maintain service within the department.
  • Prepares schedule and monitors FTE’s and stays within operating budgets. Administers staffing levels of both clinical and non-clinical direct care staff. Monitors staff for adequacy in provision of care. Directs staff rotations and reschedules personnel to meet increased or decreased service demands.
  • Plans, develops and manages the orientation and on-going training for leadership and staff.
  • Produces, creates and provides for quality and timely reports/documentation on a monthly/quarterly basis, as required. Attends daily, monthly, quarterly meetings as expected.
  • Conducts Leadership Q15 audits on a rotation basis and reports findings as assigned. Acts as Administrator on Call on a rotation basis.

Benefit Highlights

• Challenging and rewarding work environment
• Competitive Compensation & Generous Paid Time Off
• Excellent Medical, Dental, Vision and Prescription Drug Plan
• 401(K) with company match and discounted stock plan
• SoFi Student Loan Refinancing Program
• Career development opportunities within UHS and its 300+ Subsidiaries!
• More information is available on our Benefits Guest Website: uhsguest.com

About Universal Health Services

One of the nation’s largest and most respected providers of hospital and healthcare services, Universal Health Services, Inc. (UHS) has built an impressive record of achievement and performance. Growing steadily since its inception into an esteemed Fortune 500® corporation, annual revenues during 2025 were $17.4 billion. In 2026, UHS was again recognized as one of Fortune World’s Most Admired Companies™ and in 2025, was listed in Forbes ranking of America’s Largest Public Companies.

Headquartered in King of Prussia, PA, UHS has approximately 101,500 employees and continues to grow through its subsidiaries. Operating acute care hospitals, behavioral health facilities, outpatient facilities and ambulatory care access points, an insurance offering, a physician network and various related services located in 40 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom. For additional information visit www.uhs.com.

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Qualifications

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing required. Masters Degree preferred.
• Active Florida RN Licensure required for RN candidates.
• Three (3) years’ experience in inpatient nursing required. ER and/or actue behavioral health experience preferred. Three (3) years supervisory experience preferred.
• The ideal candidate thrives in a fast paced work environment, has strong team building skills, and understands fiscal and operational responsibilities.

Employment with Emerald Coast Behavioral Hospital requires successful completion of a Level II background Screening. For additional information on this screening requirement, visit the Florida Care Provider Background Screening Clearinghouse Education and Awareness website at https://info.flclearinghouse.com/

EEO Statement

All UHS subsidiaries are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and teammates. UHS subsidiaries are equal opportunity employers and as such, openly support and fully commit to recruitment, selection, placement, promotion and compensation of individuals without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), genetic information, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.