Manager Referral CORE

Nebraska Medicine; United States; Hybrid; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Tuition assistance

Clarkson College discount

Career advancement opportunities

Job summary

Nebraska Medicine is seeking a Manager of Referral CORE and the Centralized Referral Scheduling Team to lead enterprise-wide efforts that transform how patients access specialty care. This role blends operations, analytics, technology and people leadership to drive innovative referral and scheduling solutions across the organization.

You will collaborate with physicians, operational leaders and IT to improve patient access, support digital transformation, and create a reliable referral

Qualifications

• Minimum five years in referral management, project management, information technology or related leadership experience in ambulatory healthcare.
• Bachelor's degree in business administration, health care administration, nursing or related field required.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills; ability to facilitate conversations and lead teams.
• Ability to lead, motivate, and direct a workgroup; strong problem-solving and stakeholder management.
• Preferred: experience in Epic/One Chart, digital transformation, Lean/Six Sigma methodologies.

Responsibilities

• Plan, coordinate, and support Access Innovations projects with a primary focus on Referral CORE initiatives.
• Collaborate with division director to create and maintain the Referral CORE strategic roadmap.
• Lead specialty-specific referral guidelines and analyze data to inform recommendations for Medical Directors.
• Provide project management support ensuring milestones and deadlines are met across multiple stakeholders.

Skills

Referral management

Project management

Leadership

Healthcare operations

Data analysis

Education

Bachelor's degree in business administration/health care administration/related field

Tools

Epic EMR

IT tools

Job description

Serious Medicine is what we do. Being extraordinary is who we are. Every colleague plays a key role in upholding this promise to our patients and their families.

Shift: First Shift (United States of America) Manager Referral CORE

Are you passionate about transforming healthcare access? As Manager of Referral CORE and the Centralized Referral Scheduling Team, you will lead enterprise-wide initiatives that improve how patients connect to specialty care. This role combines operations, strategy, analytics, technology, and people leadership to drive innovative referral and scheduling solutions across Nebraska Medicine. You’ll collaborate with physicians, operational leaders, and technology teams to improve patient access, advance digital transformation, and create a highly reliable referral management program that supports organizational growth and an exceptional patient experience.

Details: Manager Referral CORE Candidate must live in Nebraska or Iowa. This is a hybrid position, must be able to work on campus. Preferred consideration will be given to applicants with project management experience in information technology, industrial engineering, supply chain, or healthcare quality improvement. Resume REQUIRED for consideration.

Why Work at Nebraska Medicine?

Together. Extraordinary. Join a team that values your skills, delivering exceptional care through collaboration. Leading Health Network Work with the region’s top academic health network, partnering with UNMC to transform lives through education, research, and patient care.

Dignity and Respect

We value all backgrounds and experiences, reflecting the communities we serve.

Educational Support

Enjoy up to $5,000/year in tuition assistance, a 35% discount at Clarkson College, and career advancement opportunities with covered educational costs. Enjoy support for your personal growth within the organization, from those just starting their healthcare careers to those who are years down the path. Be part of something extraordinary at Nebraska Medicine!

The Manager of Referral CORE will serve as the organization-wide leader overseeing Ambulatory referral management for all ambulatory specialties and targeted clinical programs.

Responsibilities

Include planning, coordinating, facilitating, advising, and supporting various projects within Access Innovations, with a primary focus on Referral CORE (Coordinating Optimal Referral Experiences). Collaborate with the division director to create the Referral CORE strategic roadmap. Independently lead specialty-specific referral guidelines, collect and analyze data, and prepare recommendations for Medical Directors and physician access champions per specialty. Provide comprehensive project management support to ensure successful implementation of Referral CORE programmatic processes and quality improvement initiatives, meeting all milestones and deadlines on time. Act as the primary point of contact for all Referral CORE strategic initiatives, ongoing maintenance, and organizational optimization. Lead projects ensuring collaboration with multi‑disciplinary stakeholders, including division chiefs, chairs, medical directors, providers, executive directors, directors, administrators, managers, subject matter experts, Epic/One Chart, Training, and relevant external collaborators. Stay current on national referral best practices and raise them to the Access Innovations division director and medical director for prioritization and sequencing.

Lead Epic IT project work through referral guidelines, orders, work queue design and build, and new functionality implementations collaborating directly with operational and IT One Chart leadership teams and staff. Align Referral CORE work with organizational strategic initiatives throughout Nebraska Medicine to achieve key results and targets. Create and maintain a goal‑oriented climate of cross‑team collaboration for effective problem solving, conflict resolution, and support for organizational values and standard work. Provide operational leadership by supporting, guiding and mentoring the Centralized Ambulatory Referral Scheduling team supervisor through the managing of daily operations of the Centralized Ambulatory Referral Tea. Ensure all staff receive training for technical and customer service competency, complete quality assurance assessment to maintain high quality across the Centralized Ambulatory Referral Scheduling Team. Develop and revise departmental guidelines, policies and procedures, educate staff, and assure compliance with private, state, and federal regulations. Ensure standardized training and onboarding of new employees, along with cross‑training of current staff to additional specialties. Establish productivity metrics for the centralized referral scheduling team aligned with organizational KPIs and targets, such as volume of referrals touched daily/weekly, % of patients contacted within 3 business days of referral and % referral conversion to appointment. Promote team building, staff development, and participation to engage employees in delivering high‑value, patient‑oriented services and solutions. Continuously assess opportunities to improve team efficiency and effectiveness, aligning specialty cross‑training with programmatic changes and ambulatory growth. Collaborate with ambulatory operational leadership teams to provide excellent patient services. Foster an environment that promotes our organizational iTEACH values.

Required Qualifications

Manager Referral CORE

• Minimum of five years referral management, project management, information technology or progressive work experience in ambulatory healthcare to include two years of leadership required.
• Bachelor's degree in business administration, health care administration, nursing or related field required.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including ability to facilitate conversations and understand role as facilitator required.
• Ability to lead, motivate, and direct a workgroup required.
• Self‑starter, capable of creative and timely problem solving and managing multiple demands required.
• Strong interpersonal, team‑oriented skills in communicating and working with the internal team and key internal and external stakeholders required.
• Ability as a leader to be self‑critical and transparent in identifying weaknesses and shortcomings in implementation efforts, which are inevitable to any implementation effort; being able to identify these is essential to developing effective quality improvement efforts required.
• Advanced leadership and managerial skills, with the ability to create and maintain a goal‑oriented climate of cross‑team collaboration for effective problem solving, conflict resolution, support for organizational values and standard work required.
• Demonstrates broad and comprehensive knowledge of patient access and referral management workflows and policies and the ability to incorporate national best practices in complex and/or unprecedented situations across multiple functional areas required.
• Advanced skills in developing and implementing strategic plans, evaluating, and developing staff competencies, facilitating workflow improvements, and organizing multi‑department operations required.
• Ability to translate strategy into operational process and workflows required.
• Thorough knowledge of patient access and referral management related metrics and the ability to leverage analytics and synthesize data required.
• Demonstrates sound, responsive decision‑making and problem‑solving skills required.
• Ability to address problems which are highly varied, complex and often nonrecurring, requiring gathering input from multiple sources to find innovative and creative solutions required.
• Demonstrates excellent oral and written interpersonal communication skills to convey complex information clearly and concisely to all levels of staff and management required.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience leading large‑scale organizational transformation initiatives, including culture change, continuous improvement, and enterprise‑wide process redesign in complex healthcare environments preferred.
• Proven ability to influence without authority and build strong, trust‑based relationships with executive leaders, physicians, operational leaders, IT partners, and external stakeholders to align priorities and drive sustainable change preferred.
• Experience in advanced project management, practice management, capacity management, Epic (or comparable EMR), digital transformation, or formal quality improvement methodologies (e.g., Lean, Six Sigma, PDSA) preferred.
• Strong understanding of end‑to‑end referral management workflows, national best practices, referral guidelines, work queues, demand/capacity optimization, and performance management preferred.
• Demonstrated success leveraging data, analytics, and performance dashboards to drive strategic decision‑making, prioritize improvement initiatives, and measure impact at the organizational level preferred.
• Experience leading interdisciplinary and cross‑functional teams through ambiguity and change, fostering engagement, accountability, and continuous learning preferred.
• Ability to translate organizational vision and strategy into scalable operational models, standardized workflows, and technology‑enabled solutions across multiple specialties or service lines preferred.
• Experience partnering closely with IT and clinical informatics teams to design, implement, optimize, and sustain EMR builds and technology solutions aligned with organizational goals preferred.
• Demonstrated capability to balance standardization with clinical autonomy, serving as a strategic counterbalance when customization requests conflict with access, quality, or system integrity preferred.
• Master’s degree in Business Administration, Healthcare Administration, Nursing, or a related field, or equivalent advanced leadership training, preferred.

Nebraska Medicine is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, marital status, sex, age, national origin, disability, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity and protected veterans’ status. Nebraska Medicine includes two hospitals, the state's largest and highest rated Nebraska Medical Center and Bellevue Medical Center, along with more than 70 primary care and specialty clinics. Nebraska Medicine and our research and education partner, the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), share the same mission: to lead the world in transforming lives to create a healthy future for all individuals and communities through premier educational programs, innovative research and extraordinary patient care. Every colleague plays a key role in upholding our promise of "Serious Medicine, Extraordinary Care" to our patients and their families. Working with Nebraska Medicine means committing to meaningful, impactful work that will elevate the success of your fellow colleagues and will help our patients and their families feel comfortable, confident and cared for.