Senior Director of Operations and Patient Experience

Community Dental Care; Sulphur (LA); On-site; USD 125,000 - 175,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, life insurance

Paid time off

401(k) match

Job summary

Community Dental Care in Minnesota seeks a Senior Director of Operations and Patient Experience to provide strategic and hands-on leadership across its five dental clinics. The role focuses on optimizing patient access, experience, and revenue-cycle performance while driving continuous improvement.

The ideal candidate will lead front-end operations, collaborate with Finance, Clinical, IT, and HR, and develop teams to enhance patient care and financial sustainability.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration, business, public health, or related field.
• 7+ years of progressive healthcare operations leadership experience.
• Experience leading multiple locations and distributed teams.
• Strong understanding of patient access, scheduling, revenue cycle, claims, denials, and collections.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic and hands-on leadership for patient experience and front-end revenue-cycle operations across all five clinic locations.
• Partner with organizational leadership to support patient experience, access, growth, and financial sustainability.
• Optimize scheduling, registration, recalls, waitlists, cancellations, and patient follow-up to maximize patient access and clinic capacity.
• Establish patient experience service standards that promote access, responsiveness, and clear communication.

Skills

Systems thinking

Leadership

Process improvement

Data analytics

Communication

Change management

Collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration

Master’s degree in healthcare administration

Job description

Job Details

Job Location: Maplewood (Maplewood clinic), MN 55109, Position Type: Full Time, Salary Range: $125,000.00 - $175,000.00 Salary/year, Job Category: Management, Join our team as Senior Director of Operations and Patient Experience! This senior leadership role provides strategic and hands-on leadership across Community Dental Care’s five dental clinics. The Senior Director of Operations and Patient Experience leads efforts to strengthen operational excellence, patient access and experience, revenue-cycle performance, people development, and technology-enabled improvement. This role ensures the patient journey - from scheduling and registration through treatment completion and payment - is efficient, consistent, accessible, and patient-centered. The ideal leader is equally comfortable working at the strategic level and engaging directly with clinic teams to identify problems, implement solutions, and measure results.

Who We Are

Community Dental Care is Minnesota's largest provider of comprehensive dental care for people of all ages on public programs. We operate five clinics across the state, including the Twin Cities, Rochester, and Buffalo.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic and hands-on leadership for patient experience and front-end revenue-cycle operations across all five clinic locations
• Partner with organizational leadership to support patient experience, access, growth, and financial sustainability
• Optimize scheduling, registration, recalls, waitlists, cancellations, and patient follow-up to maximize patient access and clinic capacity
• Establish patient experience service standards that promote access, responsiveness, clear communication, accurate patient information, and a positive patient experience
• Develop systems to monitor patient feedback, identify opportunities for improvement, and ensure timely follow-up and resolution
• Ensure processes effectively support patients facing financial, transportation, language, technology, or other barriers to care
• Lead front-end revenue-cycle operations, including scheduling, registration, eligibility and benefits verification, authorizations, patient and insurance information intake, claims submission, and patient payment processes
• Partner with Finance, Billing, Clinical, and other leaders to address barriers to reimbursement and collections and improve revenue-cycle performance
• Establish and monitor operational and revenue-cycle KPIs; use data to identify trends, drive accountability, and measure results
• Create a culture of continuous improvement by identifying bottlenecks, duplication, errors, and unnecessary administrative work
• Standardize best practices and develop clear workflows, policies, and standard operating procedures across all clinics
• Lead cross-functional improvement initiatives from assessment through implementation and measurement, engaging frontline employees in identifying problems and developing solutions
• Identify and implement opportunities to use technology, automation, AI, analytics, and other tools to improve efficiency, accuracy, productivity, and patient experience
• Partner with IT and organizational leadership to evaluate and implement technology solutions while ensuring appropriate training, change management, and responsible use of AI and automation
• Lead, coach, and develop team members and managers to improve performance, accountability, and customer service
• Establish clear goals, expectations, and consistent management practices while supporting employee engagement, training retention, career development, and succession planning in partnership with HR
• Build a culture that balances accountability, employee support, teamwork, and service excellence
• Ensure operational practices comply with applicable federal and Minnesota requirements, payer requirements, contracts, and organizational policies
• Partner with Clinical and Compliance leaders on quality, patient safety, privacy, documentation, audits, and risk management
• Serve as a key member of the leadership team and translate organizational strategy into measurable operational priorities
• Partner with Clinical, Finance, HR, IT, and other leaders on organizational planning, growth, infrastructure, and process improvements
• Recommend investments in people, technology, infrastructure, and processes that support a scalable, patient-centered, and financially sustainable operating model
• Travel regularly among Community Dental Care’s five Minnesota locations

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration, business, public health, or a related field; equivalent experience may be considered
• 7+ years of progressive healthcare operations leadership experience, preferably in dental, community health, nonprofit, safety-net, or other mission-driven healthcare settings
• Experience leading multiple locations and geographically distributed teams
• Strong understanding of healthcare revenue-cycle operations, including scheduling, registration, eligibility, claims, denials, collections, and accounts receivable
• Demonstrated success improving processes and implementing standardized workflows across multiple sites
• Experience developing and managing clinic managers and frontline teams
• Strong understanding of patient access, scheduling, productivity, and patient experience
• Ability to use data and KPIs to drive decisions, accountability, and continuous improvement
• Experience implementing technology, automation, or other tools to improve operations
• Strong communication, change-management, problem-solving, and organizational skills

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in healthcare administration, business, public health, or a related field
• Dental practice operations or dental revenue-cycle experience
• Experience with Medicaid/public programs and uninsured or self-pay populations
• Experience in an FQHC, community dental program, nonprofit, or safety-net healthcare organization
• Experience with dental practice management and EHR systems
• Experience implementing AI, automation, RPA, analytics, or other emerging technologies in healthcare
• Experience leading operational transformations, clinic openings, or organizational growth

Skills & Abilities

• Systems thinker who understands how operations, staffing, clinical workflows, technology, revenue cycle, and patient experience intersect
• Strong leadership, coaching, mentoring, and people-development skills
• Strong process improvement and project management skills
• Ability to analyze operational data and performance metrics to identify problems and measure results
• Strong change-management and problem-solving skills
• Ability to build collaborative relationships across departments and locations
• Ability to use technology, automation, and AI pragmatically to improve work and reduce administrative burden
• Excellent communication, organization, and customer-service skills

What We Offer

• Meaningful work where your contributions make an impact, supported by a collaborative team committed to growth and success
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and life insurance coverage
• Paid time off and holiday pay to support work-life balance
• 401(k) retirement plan with a generous company matching contribution

About Us

At Community Dental Care, we provide high-quality dental care in a caring, culturally respectful manner. Our team of more than 300 employees is committed to our mission and seeks to make a meaningful difference in the lives of others. We value our staff and equip them with the tools and training needed to be successful.

Community Dental Care is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We recognize that our diversity makes us stronger and empowers us to serve our patients in a culturally sensitive manner.

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