What are the responsibilities and job description for the Assistant Vice President, Surgical Services position at Ardent Health?
Overview
Responsibilities
Qualifications
Ardent Health is a leading provider of healthcare in communities across the country. With a focus on consumer-friendly processes and investments in innovative services and technologies, Ardent is passionate about making healthcare better and easier to access. We are driven by our purpose of caring for people: our patients, our communities and one another.
Located in Brentwood, Tennessee, Ardent has earned a reputation as one of the industry’s strongest and most innovative healthcare systems. Our facilities and clinics are consistently recognized among healthcare’s best employers. We recognize each hospital and clinic is as unique as the community it serves. We strive to maintain strong community ties through advisory boards, contributions, charitable care, education and outreach.
Ardent includes:
- 30 hospitals
- 280 sites of care
- 4,281 beds
- 24,000 team members
- 8,200 nurses
- 1,800 aligned providers
- 5.8M annual provider encounters
- 421 medical residents
Ardent makes considerable investments in people, technology, facilities, and communities, producing high quality care and extraordinary results. From newly constructed facilities and expanded services, to lifesaving technology and outstanding opportunities for employees, Ardent is committed to providing its hospitals and clinics the tools needed to succeed.
We believe it is this mix of corporate support and local autonomy that equips our teams for success.
POSITION SUMMARY:
The AVP, Surgical Services works in partnership with hospital, health services, and clinical leaders to enhance the operational, quality, patient‑safety, and financial performance of Operating Rooms, procedural areas (including endoscopy, interventional procedural spaces, and sterile processing), and Ambulatory Surgery Centers across the enterprise. This role ensures consistent delivery of high‑reliability surgical care, margin growth, and best‑practice standardization across all markets. The ideal candidate will have a strong business acumen, clinical background, robust leadership skills, and a passion for operational excellence and innovation in perioperative care.
Responsibilities
- Oversees and standardizes workflow optimization for preop, intraop, postop, endoscopy, procedural areas, and sterile processing to drive throughput and access growth.
- Creates and leads systemwide perioperative governance councils for decision-making, policy standardization, and performance monitoring.
- Partners in the enterprise strategy to expand ASC footprint, including feasibility studies, approvals, openings, and operational setup.
- Partners with corporate & region leaders to improve systemwide surgical services financial performance including margin, EBITDA, expense management, productivity, and supply utilization across ORs, procedural areas, and ASCs.
- Partners with CFOs on ASC P&L performance, annual budgeting, forecasting, and performance improvement plans.
- Leads enterprise-wide case-costing strategies and ensures alignment of supply, implant, and device usage to financial targets.
- Partners with supply chain to reduce variation, manage vendor contracts, and drive standardized preference card optimization.
- Works in partnership with clinical leaders to improve quality and safety outcomes across all surgical and procedural settings, including SSI rates, surgical complications, wrong‑site surgery prevention, and adherence to national clinical standards.
- Establishes standardized enterprise OR quality dashboards and drives continuous improvement using Lean and High Reliability Organization (HRO) methodologies.
- Partners with facility COO & OR Director to lead initiatives improving on‑time starts, turnover times, care variation reduction, and patient experience scores.
- Develops and enforces systemwide OR and ASC governance structures, including scorecards, KPIs, and reporting standards.
- Leads annual capital planning for surgical and procedural services across the enterprise.
Qualifications
Education & Experience:
- Master’s degree in Nursing, Healthcare Administration, Business Administration, or a related field.
- 7 years of progressive leadership experience in surgical or perioperative services.
- Experience overseeing multiple facilities or departments within a healthcare system, preferred.
- RN, NP, PA, or other relevant clinical licensure, preferred.
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:
- Demonstrated success in improving surgical operations, efficiency, and clinical quality.
- Strategic thinker with strong business acumen and clinical expertise.
- Excellent leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills.
- Data-driven decision-maker with a strong focus on quality improvement and patient outcomes.
- Knowledge of regulatory requirements and best practices in surgical services.
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