Chief CRNA – Atrium Health Greater Charlotte Market

Position Overview:

Atrium Health, a nationally recognized healthcare system based in Charlotte, North Carolina, has engaged InTrust Partners to lead a national search for a newly created Chief CRNA role for its Greater Charlotte Market. Across the Greater Charlotte Market, Atrium Health operates 13 acute care facilities and 10 ambulatory sites with a combined 2,636 licensed beds, 148 ORs, and 32 procedure rooms. The Chief CRNA is a highly visible, top-level leadership role responsible for providing operational and strategic oversight of the CRNA practice for the entire Greater Charlotte Market that currently employs more than 350 CRNAs. 

The Chief CRNA reports directly to Chris Bowe, the President of Atrium Health’s Greater Charlotte Market, and works in close collaboration/alignment on CRNA daily operations and execution of key CRNA strategies with Thomas Wherry, MD, Physician Lead, Anesthesia Services, Atrium Health-Greater Charlotte Market (including Anesthesiologists & CRNAs). 

The Chief CRNA will lead the development and execution of clinical best practices, quality, efficient operations, and maintaining fiscal responsibility for CRNA services for the market. The Chief CRNA will champion a team-based model of care and define the strategy for CRNA recruitment and retention, coverage, and performance. In addition, the Chief CRNA will participate in the development of strategies for continuous quality improvement, effective and efficient OR utilization, and development of clinical policies and procedures. The Chief CRNA will build and manage a unified and high-performing facility-based CRNA team with a performance-oriented and accountability culture and ensure service continuity and timely delivery of exceptional care and best practices in anesthesia at both acute and ambulatory facilities across the Greater Charlotte Market. The Chief CRNA will lead by example and establish an exceptional work culture grounded in collegiality, teamwork, trust, communication, patient-focused quality, and collaboration. The Chief CRNA will serve as a subject matter expert in CRNA operations, and related clinical care, and be responsible for developing business process models and approaches to optimize and enhance operational and fiscal results across the division and various markets. 

Atrium Health is fortunate to offer, in collaboration with the University of North Carolina (UNCC) Charlotte, an accredited School of Nurse Anesthesia, and the Chief CRNA will play a critical role in continuing the high rate of success in recruiting graduates from this school, along with attracting top CRNA talent from across the nation. The Chief CRNA will provide the necessary mentorship and educational opportunities for CRNAs to enjoy fulfilling careers at Atrium Health and ensure that CRNAs have a voice and are always represented at the senior leadership level. The Chief CRNA will gain an in-depth understanding of the range of current anesthesia care provided at each location to bridge cultures and bring an innovative systems approach to perfecting the anesthesia care model that will ensure appropriate staffing levels, lessen practice variation, ensure quality, reduce waste, and improve overall efficiency and excellence in daily operations, while creating a great place to work.

Atrium Health seeks an experienced CRNA leader who will quickly establish credibility with all constituencies and lead with a business-minded, system-level approach to providing anesthesia services to a wide range of surgical and procedural services across diverse markets. The successful candidate will be business savvy and possess proven executive level communication and listening skills, proactive problem solving skills, and be skilled in the establishment and measurement of key metrics that will drive consistent anesthesia care delivery outcomes. The Chief CRNA will be nimble and proactive in responding to changes in the market and will play a significant leadership role in anesthesia care for Atrium Health. 

In summary, the ideal Chief CRNA candidate will be an experienced, innovative, yet pragmatic anesthesia executive-level leader skilled in sound business practices and positive change management who brings proven operational and strategic expertise gained in high volume, medically diverse, complex, multi-facility health systems. The Chief CRNA will demonstrate the ability to build genuine and trusted collegial relationships across the entire system with a successful track record of creating a world-class experience for both patients and clinical providers. The successful candidate must have a passion for excellence and be a service-minded, patient-driven servant leader with an unfailing commitment to the organization’s mission, vision, and core values, and always lead with genuine respect, humility, energy, and passion. 

Key Relationships:

Reports to: The Chief CRNA reports directly to Chris Bowe, the President of Atrium Health’s Greater Charlotte Market, and works in close collaboration/alignment with Thomas Wherry, MD, Physician Lead, Anesthesia Services, Atrium Health’s Greater Charlotte Market, on CRNA management, operations, and execution of key CRNA strategies. 

Direct reports: 4 CRNA Market Directors and 1 Chief CRNA Recruitment Liaison

Other Key Relationships:

The Chief CRNA will work closely with the Anesthesia Governance Board (via Dr. Tom Wherry, the Physician Lead of Anesthesia Services). The Anesthesia Board is comprised of Chris Bowe, President of Atrium Health’s Greater Charlotte Market, Jeffrey Kneisl, MD, Advocate Health Southeast Region Chief of Surgery, and Rodney Ball, Advocate Health Southeast Region Chief Financial Officer. 

Additional key relationships include Matthew Benshoff, MD, leader of Northeast Anesthesia and Pain Specialists, Jenny Dhingra, MD, Chair of the Executive Leadership Team of Scope Anesthesia of North Carolina, the Greater Charlotte Market CNE, Greater Charlotte Market Facility Executive Leaders, Atrium Health Medical Group, Atrium Health Quality Team, Human Resources, Compliance, and other Key Leadership across the Atrium and Advocate.

Major Responsibilities (Including Key Initiatives During the First Year):

• Quickly integrate and get to know the organization, build credibility, and establish open and honest communications. Develop trusting and collaborative working relationships with multiple key constituents to include the administrative and anesthesia leaders, Anesthesiologists, CRNAs, and physicians across the markets.

• Develop a solid understanding of Atrium Health’s Greater Charlotte Market and the facilities where anesthesia services are provided. Gather insights into the current culture of each location and how anesthesia services are provided, to include staffing models and recruitment needs, equipment/space needs, and collaboration efforts across the facilities.

• Lead efforts to unify all CRNAs working within Atrium Health’s Greater Charlotte Market to become one team with a single, system-wide culture that ensures the most efficient and cost-effective staffing and consistent use of evidence-based best practices, and a team-based model of care. Serve as the voice of all CRNAs to senior-level leadership, ensuring that their ideas, needs, and concerns are heard and understood. Regularly provide information to CRNAs on organizational vision, decisions, and changes.

• Lead and collaborate on efforts to ensure service continuity at facilities whether due to workforce constraints or emergency situations ensuring ability to perform at an appropriate level of patient care. Right-size the CRNA team to minimize costs and develop checks and balances that support efficient, cost-effective workforce management.

• Strategically collaborate with leadership on Atrium Health growth initiatives, and continually assess CRNA staffing needs to meet these Atrium Health growth plans. 

• Participate in the development of recruitment and retention strategies for anesthesia advance practice providers including attendance of recruiting events and development and support of SRNA affiliation relationships. Fully leverage the School of Nurse Anesthesia to maintain a continuous pipeline of new CRNA talent.

• Participate in and support the establishment and maintenance of continuous quality improvement and risk management programs to meet Advocate Health, hospital, and regulatory body requirements for anesthesia services.

• Lead and participate in initiatives for maintaining and improving operating room efficiency and procedural workflows by routinely evaluating facility efficiency reporting and analytics with Facility Advanced Practice Anesthesia Provider leadership for oversight of schedule and call coverage models.

• Collaborate on the development and process adoption for standardizing patient care and operational throughput in the OR including but not limited to participation in certain surgical improvement initiatives (i.e. PAT, ERAS, throughput). 

• Participate in the review, evaluation, and selection of anesthesia service line related supplies, equipment, hardware, software, and reporting.

• Host, create agendas and create meeting cadence for meetings/calls necessary for dissemination of information, completion of administrative tasks, and growth and development of anesthesia team members.

• Regularly meet with facility and market leadership and other key stakeholders to ensure clinical and operational alignment.

Supervisory/Management Responsibilities

• Lead, hire, manage, and as necessary train a team of high-performing facility-based anesthesia advanced practice provider leaders.

• Establish, measure, and evaluate clinical standards of care, annual performance metrics with the necessary reporting capability from the anesthesia advanced practice provider leadership level down to the individual provider performance.

• Provide conflict management resolution when necessary while striving to maintain a healthy work environment.

• Oversee compliance adherence of all Time and Attendance Management policies for the purpose of tracking and recording PTO and submission of time management/attendance to the payroll department.

• Assist with corporate credentialing and compliance to maintain appropriate licensure, certification, and privileges for the entire anesthesia advanced practice provider team.

• Holds facility advanced practice anesthesia provider leaders accountable toward compliance with facility medical staff bylaws, rules and regulations, hospital policies and procedures, and facility department policies and procedures.

• Participate in the development of new hire orientation of advanced practice anesthesia providers and the creation of clinical and operational onboarding checklists and evaluation tools in conjunction with Advocate Health departments as necessary.

• Evaluate for approval facility advanced practice anesthesia provider leader’s requests for staffing support to include availability of incentive compensation, over-time, and locums provider usage to ensure compliance with Advocate Health policies and ensure maximum fiscal stewardship.

• Collaborate with the Atrium Health-Greater Charlotte Market Anesthesiology Leaders for approval of additional FTE requests by the Anesthesia Governance Board.

• Participate in the development and oversight of the Atrium Health-Greater Charlotte Market’s Advance Practice Anesthesia Provider budget, including the participation in any related re-occurring meetings, providing explanations for variances in the expected performance and identifying opportunities for improvement.

• Responsible for ensuring compliance and reporting any real or suspected violation of the corporate compliance program, company policies and procedures, harassment, or other prohibited activities in accordance with the reporting policies of the company by the Advanced Practice Anesthesia Provider team.

Leadership Characteristics & Critical Success Competencies:

• Highly credible leader who can effectively balance administrative and clinical responsibilities.

• Strong, visionary, inspirational leader who is a system thinker and can artfully convey a long-term vision yet is equally skilled at operationalizing a detailed plan to achieve that vision; energetic, yet pragmatic and results oriented.

• An entrepreneurial minded leader who has demonstrated leadership experience to guide the enhancement and future growth of anesthesia services.

• Successful prior experience recruiting and retaining CRNAs to create a singular unified culture; highly engaged and interactive with the team and enjoys mentoring others. Proven team-building expertise with record for recognizing team and individual accomplishments and creating an environment conductive to staff development, continual learning, and advancement.

• Highly approachable and compassionate; a record of promoting a culture of teamwork, respect, and honesty; professional and personal demeanor characterized by integrity, graciousness, humbleness, genuineness, sincerity, and a deep commitment and passion for the organization’s growth and performance,

• Superior communication skills and politically astute, yet not political, with the ability to foster strong collegial and productive working relationships with all key constituents.

• Direct experience and proven ability to oversee and manage operational performance of multiple sites of care within a complex, heavily matrixed organization to ensure balanced attention to the achievement of key operational and financial goals and high-quality, patient-centered care; possesses comprehensive understanding of clinical operations and how to maximize efficiencies and service experience for both patients and providers.

• Proven analytical and financial management skills, including demonstrable skill in controlling labor costs and managing multi-million dollar budgets. Must be able to collect, monitor, and interpret internal and external data to assess and improve performance as compared to budgeted targets and national benchmarks.
• Experience in competitive markets with health systems and knows the role a flagship facility plays within a growing, advancing system and can facilitate effective collaboration of all facilities in the market to achieve a common set of goals and objectives.
• Quality-centric with leadership skill to lead the orchestration and implementation of quality and performance improvement processes.

• A leader who is able to thrive and succeed in an organization that is growing and changing rapidly and who can effectively motivate and lead during changing times.

• A continual learner who remains informed on the strategies, best clinical practices, and healthcare trends needed to remain competitive, stay ahead of the curve, and proactively prepare for the future. 

Education, Professional Certification & Experience Requirements:

A Bachelor’s Degree is required, and a Master’s Degree in Business, Healthcare Administration, or Nursing is preferred. Certification as a Registered Nurse Anesthetist by the NBCRNA is required.

A minimum of 10 years experience as a Registered Nurse Anesthetist by the NBCRNA is required, with a minimum of five years’ experience in a senior leadership role overseeing a team of CRNAs in a large acute care setting. A strong understanding of hospital operations and experience in healthcare administration, preferably in hospital based physician services and/or healthcare consulting, is a plus.

About Atrium Health - Greater Charlotte Market

Atrium Health’s Greater Charlotte Market includes a wide range of facilities and services located throughout the Charlotte metro area and beyond, encompassing a total of nine counties. The market is subdivided into four geographic areas: Central (includes downtown Charlotte), North, West, and South. Across the Greater Charlotte Market, Atrium Health currently operates 13 IP acute care hospitals (including one Level 1 Trauma Center and two Level Three Trauma Centers) with a combined 2,636 licensed beds and 10 ambulatory sites. All facilities together operate a total of 148 operating rooms and 32 procedure rooms. Total case volume for CY 2023 for the Greater Charlotte Market:

• Total IP Operating Room Cases: 34,611
• Total OP & ASC Cases: 102,159
• Total Non-Operating Room Cases: 56,457

TOTAL CASES: 193,227

Atrium Health has partnered with two anesthesia groups to provide physician anesthesia services across the Greater Charlotte Market. Scope Anesthesia of North Carolina provides anesthesia services to Atrium Health facilities located in the Central, West, and South Areas, and Northeast Anesthesia and Pain Specialists provides anesthesia coverage to Atrium Health facilities located in the North Area. 

In 2019, Atrium Health announced a $1 billion capital investment plan to improve and expand facilities in the Charlotte region with the goal of ensuring the system could keep pace with the growing needs of the community. The strategic facilities master plan includes construction, renovation, and land acquisition of numerous developments across the healthcare system’s footprint. Current projects underway that will be completed in the near future include:

• Atrium Health CMC Campus Expansion: A new 1.1 million square-foot facility on the campus of the health system’s flagship that is scheduled to open in 2027. The facility will offer 38 ORs and16 procedure rooms.

• Atrium Health Lake Norman: In May 2023, Atrium Health broke ground on its newest hospital, 170,000 square-foot facility in Cornelius, NC, that is expected to open in 2025. The new hospital will have 30 beds, maternity suites and services, a 4-bed ICU, 2 ORs, and 1 C-section room. Additionally, there will be an 8-treatment room, 24/7 emergency department and helipad. 

• Wake Forest School of Medicine – Charlotte: Wake Forest School of Medicine will open its second campus on a 20-acre site in midtown Charlotte, less than three-quarters of a mile from Atrium Health CMC. The initial class of first-year M.D. students is anticipated to begin their education in 2024.

• Atrium Health Advanced Radiation Therapy: Soon to open on Atrium Health’s midtown campus, this $70 million dollar facility will provide a state-of-the-art facility with the latest generation radiation therapies for children and adults with complex tumors. The facility will be the first site in the Charlotte area to offer two treatments: proton beam therapy, a form of highly precise radiation therapy, and gamma knife radiosurgery, a non-invasive treatment for brain lesions.

About Atrium Health Overall:

Originally founded in 1940, Atrium Health (formerly Carolinas HealthCare System) has grown into one of the nation’s leading health systems and is a widely recognized leader in shaping health outcomes. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Atrium Health encompasses a vast network of locations to includes everything ranging from hospitals to clinics, urgent cares to diagnostic centers, and doctors’ offices to cancer treatment centers. Atrium Health offers comprehensive care to families and communities across North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and beyond.

Atrium Health is repeatedly recognized locally and nationally for its commitment to delivering world-class healthcare. Year after year, the system is recognized by many top third-party rating organizations in the industry, including U.S. News & World Report, Truven and the National Research Corporation. Atrium Health continues to be in the spotlight for delivering high levels of patient safety and quality care across all categories, ranging from best children's hospital to excellent patient experience. From System-wide HIMSS and Stage 7 status to facility-specific Magnet and Truven recognitions, care teams across its many locations are recognized for their achievements and contributions to the advancement of medicine and healthcare.

In May 2022, Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health announced plans to combine and create Advocate Health, making it the nation’s third largest nonprofit integrated health system with more than $28B in annual revenue. Headquartered in Charlotte, while maintaining a strong presence in the Chicago and Milwaukee areas, Advocate Health is comprised of 68 hospitals and more than 1,000 care sites. With approximately 155,000 teammates, Advocate Health now serves nearly 6 million patients annually across six states including North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Wake Forest University School of Medicine located in Winston-Salem, NC, is the academic core of the combined entity and will drive medical education, research, and innovation across all of Advocate Health.

Key Attractors to the Role:

• Join one of the Southeast’s largest and most distinguished health systems in a highly strategic and impactful leadership role with direct responsibility for impacting care delivery, provider experience, patient satisfaction, and outcomes in for Atrium Health’s Greater Charlotte Market.
• Become part of a talented, engaged, and exceptionally passionate team of physicians, clinical staff, and administrative leaders dedicated to excellence and desiring to advance Atrium Health.
• Reside in and become a part of a one of the nation’s fastest growing cities. Charlotte offers a superb quality of life, a multitude of inviting neighborhoods, excellent schools, and recreational activities. 

The Locale—Charlotte, North Carolina:

The Charlotte, North Carolina region is composed of 16 counties and is located in the heart of the Southeast. It lies within the Southern Piedmont of North Carolina, along the state’s border with South Carolina. Charlotte is the largest and most accessible city between Washington, D.C. and Dallas, TX with a combined statistical area population of over 2.5 million residents. It is the second-largest city in the southeastern United States, just behind Jacksonville, Florida, and it is the third-fastest growing major city in the nation.

Nearly 60 percent of the country’s population lives within a two-hour flight of Charlotte, and the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport is the 14^th largest airport in the nation and serves as the national hub of American Airlines. 

Charlotte is the home to the corporate headquarters of Bank of America and the east coast operations of Wells Fargo, which along with other financial institutions makes it the second-largest banking center in the United States. Microsoft’s East Coast headquarters are also located in Charlotte. Charlotte has nine Fortune 500 companies in its metropolitan area, and it has become a major base of energy-oriented organizations making it known as “Charlotte USA—The New Energy Capital.” In the region there are more than 240 companies directly tied to the energy sector including Duke Energy, Fluor, Siemens Energy, Toshiba, and Westinghouse. The Charlotte Center city has seen remarkable growth over the last decade. Numerous residential units continue to be built uptown, including over 20 skyscrapers under construction, recently completed, or in the planning stage. Forbes has named Charlotte among its list of Best Places for Business and Careers. Carolinas HealthCare System is Charlotte’s top employer, followed by Wells Fargo and Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools.

Residents of Charlotte like to play as hard as they work, and there is an endless list of cultural, outdoors, and sports/recreational offerings that appeal to all members of the family. For action -packed fun, there’s NASCAR’s Charlotte Motor Speedway, the U.S. National Whitewater Center for whitewater rafting and other outdoor, and the rip-roaring coasters at Carowinds. Among Charlotte’s notable sports attractions are the NFL Carolina Panthers, the NBA Charlotte Hornets, the USL Charlotte Independence, two NASCAR Sprint Cup races and the NASCAR Hall of Fame, and the Wells Fargo Championship. Charlotte has a humid subtropical climate allowing for year-round enjoyment of the great outdoors. The area features over 200 parks, numerous lakes including Lake Norman--the largest man-made lake in North Carolina, hiking and biking trails, and much more. Within just a few hours’ drive are the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina and the sunny beaches of the Outer Banks.

For additional information on Atrium Health and the Charlotte metro area:

https://atriumhealth.org/

http://www.charlottesgotalot.com

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For more information or to confidentially discuss this position, please contact:

Brian Aston, Senior Partner & Founder

Kate Schmitz, Senior Search Consultant 

864-608-1750 | KSchmitz@InTrustPartners.com

INTRUST PARTNERS EXECUTIVE SEARCH & CONSULTING