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Executive Director Hospice and Palliative
Full Time Evergreen, CO, US
2 days ago Requisition ID: 1017
Salary Range: $145,000.00 To $175,000.00 Annually
Summary:
The Executive Director provides overall fiscal, operational, strategic, and community leadership for Mount Evans Hospice, Inc, a mission-driven hospice and palliative care organization, in Evergreen, CO serving the mountain and foothill communities. Reporting directly to the Board of Directors, this role is accountable for organizational sustainability, quality, growth, regulatory compliance, philanthropic partnership, and achievement of the organization’s mission.
The Executive Director leads local operations while partnering closely with the local Shared Services Department and Philanthropy Team. The position ensures these functions are aligned with clinical and business priorities, appropriately resourced, accountable for results, and integrated into an effective organization-wide strategy.
The Executive Director serves as the organization’s chief executive and principal liaison to the Board of Directors, staff, medical community, donors, volunteers, referral partners, and broader community. The Executive Director has ultimate responsibility for the organization’s fiscal stewardship, operational performance, strategic direction, regulatory readiness, culture, and mission impact.
Essential Functions:
Board Governance and Strategic Leadership
- Report directly to the Board of Directors and serve as its primary staff liaison.
- Partner with the Board Chair and Board committees to develop meeting agendas, provide timely and meaningful reporting, support governance processes, and facilitate informed decision-making.
- Translate the Board-approved mission, vision, and strategic plan into measurable organizational priorities, annual operating goals, and leadership accountability.
- Provide regular reports to the Board regarding financial performance, census and utilization trends, quality outcomes, compliance, workforce metrics, philanthropy, community relationships, strategic risks, and progress toward organizational goals.
- Advise the Board of emerging opportunities, financial and operational risks, regulatory developments, market conditions, and significant organizational decisions.
- Support Board recruitment, orientation, education, engagement, succession planning, and committee effectiveness.
- Ensure that Board policies, bylaws, governance requirements, and conflict-of-interest standards are followed.
- Cultivate a leadership culture that reflects the organization’s mission, values, ethical commitments, and community responsibility.
Fiscal Leadership and Financial Stewardship
- Hold primary accountability for the organization’s financial health, sustainability, and appropriate stewardship of all resources.
- Lead the annual budgeting process in collaboration with finance, Shared Services, program leaders, and the Board Finance Committee.
- Monitor operating performance, cash flow, revenue cycle performance, productivity, labor costs, payer mix, accounts receivable, capital needs, and financial forecasts.
- Ensure timely review of monthly financial statements, variance analyses, dashboards, and corrective action plans.
- Establish and maintain appropriate financial controls, approval processes, purchasing practices, reserve policies, and risk-management practices.
- Ensure accurate and timely completion of annual audits, tax filings, cost reports, grant reporting, and other financial or regulatory submissions as applicable.
- Oversee the development and execution of financial recovery, cost-containment, staffing, growth, or investment strategies when performance does not meet plan.
- Partner with finance and Shared Services leadership to ensure payroll, accounts payable, billing, reimbursement, financial reporting, information systems, contracts, and other administrative functions support local operational priorities.
- Present financial recommendations to the Board that clearly identify assumptions, risks, alternatives, and mission implications.
Operational Leadership
- Provide executive oversight for hospice and palliative care operations, including clinical services, patient access, referral development, quality, compliance, administrative operations, and community engagement.
- Ensure local operations are appropriately staffed, efficiently designed, patient-centered, and aligned with organizational goals.
- Establish and monitor key performance indicators, including census, admissions, length of stay, average daily census, patient and family satisfaction, quality measures, productivity, turnover, referral conversion, response times, and financial performance.
- Promote continuous improvement through disciplined review of operational data, root-cause analysis, corrective action planning, and staff engagement.
- Ensure the organization has effective systems for intake, admissions, clinical documentation, scheduling, staffing, care coordination, billing, quality reporting, and patient/family communication.
- Evaluate service lines, market opportunities, partnerships, and program enhancements that advance mission impact and financial sustainability.
- Oversee local facility, safety, emergency-preparedness, technology, and business-continuity planning.
- Ensure operational decisions balance quality of care, workforce sustainability, patient access, community need, and financial stewardship.
SharedServices Oversight
- Oversees the local Shared Services Department to ensure administrative and infrastructure functions are responsive to organizational needs and aligned with Board-approved priorities.
- Establish clear service expectations, communication pathways, performance standards, and accountability mechanisms between local operations and Shared Services.
- Collaborate with Shared Services leaders on finance, human resources, payroll, benefits, information technology, data analytics, revenue cycle, compliance, legal, procurement, facilities, and other applicable support functions.
- Advocate for local operational requirements while maintaining consistency with shared policies, systems, controls, and organizational standards.
- Identify gaps in shared-services support, escalating material risks or service concerns promptly and constructively.
- Ensure that local leaders use shared systems, reporting tools, and administrative processes effectively and consistently.
- Participate in planning and prioritization related to technology, process improvement, staffing infrastructure, capital investments, and enterprise initiatives.
Philanthropy and Community Engagement
- Partner with the Philanthropy Team and Board to advance charitable giving, donor stewardship, grants, planned giving, community partnerships, and fundraising initiatives.
- Ensure philanthropy goals and campaigns are aligned with the organization’s mission, strategic plan, service priorities, and financial needs.
- Serve as a visible ambassador to donors, foundations, community organizations, healthcare partners, civic leaders, and other stakeholders.
- Participate actively in donor cultivation, stewardship, fundraising events, grant opportunities, and relationship-building efforts as appropriate.
- Support the development of compelling cases for support that communicate the organization’s patient and family impact, community benefit, workforce needs, program priorities, and future vision.
- Collaborate with philanthropy leadership to identify restricted and unrestricted funding opportunities, including support for charity care, bereavement, volunteer services, patient assistance, education, capital needs, and innovative care programs.
- Ensure proper stewardship, documentation, acknowledgment, and use of charitable gifts in accordance with donor intent, organizational policy, and applicable law.
- Provide the Board with meaningful reporting on philanthropy activity, donor engagement, fundraising performance, grants, and strategic opportunities.
- Oversees payer and vendor contract management for the organization and ensures timely follow up on renewals and negotiations.
- Reviews and approves the marketing and communication plans and strategies for the organization.
- Reviews and approves all internal and external communication and reports to the board, board committees and partners.
Quality, Compliance, and Risk Management
- Ensure compliance with all applicable federal, state, local, accreditation, payer, privacy, employment, and nonprofit requirements.
- Maintain readiness for surveys, audits, accreditation reviews, complaint investigations, and other regulatory oversight activities.
- Partner with clinical, compliance, quality, and Shared Services leaders to maintain effective quality assessment and performance improvement activities.
- Ensure the organization maintains policies, procedures, training, documentation practices, and internal controls necessary to support safe, compliant care.
- Review significant compliance concerns, incidents, grievances, patient safety events, litigation risks, privacy matters, and corrective action plans.
- Promote an organizational culture in which staff can raise concerns without fear of retaliation and where leaders respond promptly, respectfully, and transparently.
- Ensure appropriate insurance coverage, emergency preparedness, cybersecurity awareness, business continuity, and enterprise risk-management processes.
Leadership, Culture, and Workforce Development
- Recruit, develop, coach, evaluate, and retain a high-performing leadership team.
- Create clear role expectations, measurable goals, and accountability for direct reports and department leaders.
- Foster an inclusive, respectful, mission-centered culture that values compassion, teamwork, innovation, professional growth, and responsible stewardship.
- Partner with human resources and Shared Services to support workforce planning, compensation strategy, succession planning, employee engagement, retention, performance management, and labor-cost management.
- Ensure leadership practices support staff well-being and resilience in the emotionally demanding hospice and palliative care environment.
- Promote interdisciplinary collaboration among clinical, operational, administrative, philanthropic, volunteer, and community-facing teams.
- Communicate organizational priorities, performance, changes, and decisions clearly and consistently to staff and stakeholders.
- Model ethical leadership, sound judgment, accountability, professionalism, and a commitment to equitable care.
Reporting Relationships
Reports To: Board of Directors
Key Collaborative Relationships:
- Board Chair and Board Committees
- Shared Services Department leadership
- Medical Director(s) and clinical leadership
- Finance, revenue cycle, human resources, compliance, information technology, legal, and facilities partners
- Community providers, hospitals, physicians, long-term-care communities, payers, donors, foundations, volunteers, and regulatory agencies
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration, business administration, nursing, public health, nonprofit management, finance, or a related field required.
- Master’s degree in healthcare administration, business administration, public health, nursing, or related discipline preferred.
- At least 5 years of progressively responsible leadership experience in hospice, palliative care, home health, healthcare, nonprofit administration, or a closely related field.
- At least 5 years of senior operational, executive, or general-management responsibility with direct accountability for budgets, staffing, performance outcomes, and strategic initiatives.
- Demonstrated experience working with a governing Board of Directors, Board committees, or comparable governance structure.
- Demonstrated ability to manage operating budgets, financial forecasts, financial statements, cash-flow considerations, and performance-improvement initiatives.
- Knowledge of hospice and palliative care operations, reimbursement, regulatory requirements, quality standards, and interdisciplinary care delivery preferred.
- Experience with philanthropy, donor engagement, grants, nonprofit fundraising, or community partnership development strongly preferred.
- Experience working in a shared-services, matrixed, multi-site, or system-affiliated environment preferred.
- Valid driver’s license and ability to travel locally as needed
Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
- Strong executive judgment and ability to make timely, mission-centered decisions in complex and changing circumstances.
- Demonstrated financial acumen, including budget development, variance management, productivity analysis, reimbursement awareness, and strategic financial planning.
- Ability to interpret operational, clinical, workforce, quality, philanthropy, and financial data and translate it into action.
- Strong understanding of nonprofit governance, fiduciary responsibility, and Board communication.
- Ability to build trusted relationships with clinicians, employees, board members, donors, volunteers, referral partners, and community leaders.
- Excellent written, verbal, presentation, and facilitation skills.
- Ability to lead through influence in a shared-services or matrixed organizational environment.
- Demonstrated commitment to regulatory compliance, ethical practice, privacy, patient rights, and quality improvement.
- Ability to manage competing priorities while remaining accessible, visible, decisive, and accountable.
- Commitment to compassionate, culturally responsive care for patients and families facing serious illnesses.
Performance Expectations
Success in this role will be measured by the Executive Director’s ability to:
- Maintain strong financial performance, liquidity, budget discipline, and long-term organizational sustainability.
- Achieve Board-approved strategic, operational, quality, and philanthropy goals.
- Deliver high-quality, compliant, compassionate hospice and palliative care.
- Maintain positive patient, family, employee, volunteer, donor, and community-partner relationships.
- Build a stable, engaged, accountable leadership team and workforce.
- Strengthen referral relationships, market presence, access to care, and community trust.
- Ensure effective collaboration with Shared Services and Philanthropy teams.
- Provide the Board with accurate, timely, transparent, and decision-useful information.
- Advance the organization’s mission while safeguarding its reputation, resources, and future capacity to serve.
Governance and Shared Services Clarification
The Executive Director is accountable to the Board of Directors for the organization’s overall fiscal performance, operational effectiveness, mission fulfillment, compliance, and strategic execution. Shared Services and Philanthropy personnel may have functional reporting relationships elsewhere in the organization; however, the Executive Director is responsible for ensuring that local services, priorities, resource allocations, and performance expectations are aligned with the organization’s Board-approved strategy and operating plan.
The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable the individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
- Work is generally performed in an indoor professional office environment.
- Travel locally for meetings, events, and interactions with members of the community.
- The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.
Physical Activities:
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
- While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and hear. Ability to stand, sit, walk, talk, reach with arms and hands, have good manual dexterity, use hands and fingers to operate a computer and telephone.
- Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
- Travel throughout the community occasionally.
- Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds at times.
Equal Employment Opportunity Statement
Mount Evans Hospice, Inc. is an equal-opportunity employer committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and mission-driven workforce. We welcome qualified candidates who share our commitment to exceptional hospice and palliative care, compassionate service, responsible stewardship, and respect for the dignity of every patient and family.