Director of Nursing FQHC

Director of Nursing: Federally Qualified Health Center

Public Health Nursing Director I

Granville Vance Public Health | Granville Vance Community Health

Location: Oxford and Henderson, North Carolina

Salary Grade: 77

Salary Range: $80,139–$128,116

Build and Lead a Growing Community Health Center

Granville Vance Public Health is seeking an experienced, collaborative, and forward-thinking nursing leader to serve as Director of Nursing: Federally Qualified Health Center.

This is an opportunity to help shape the nursing and clinical-support infrastructure of Granville Vance Community Health, a newly established Federally Qualified Health Center serving patients throughout Granville and Vance counties. The Director will provide strategic and operational nursing leadership as the organization expands access to comprehensive primary care for patients of all ages, regardless of insurance status or ability to pay.

The successful candidate will combine strong clinical judgment with operational leadership, workforce development, quality improvement, patient safety, regulatory knowledge, and a commitment to accessible, patient-centered care. This leader will work closely with the Health Director, Medical Director, primary care and behavioral health providers, clinical and administrative leaders, and quality and compliance staff to establish effective systems and support sustainable growth.

About Granville Vance Public Health

Granville Vance Public Health is dedicated to promoting health, preventing disease, and improving quality of life throughout the communities it serves. The organization works collaboratively with local, state, and community partners to address public health priorities and support healthier outcomes for residents across the region.

Granville Vance Public Health is a District Health Department with offices in Oxford and Henderson, NC. More online at https://gvph.org/.

About the Role

Reporting to the Health Director and working in close clinical coordination with the Medical Director, the Director of Nursing will lead nursing and clinical-support operations for the health center.

This senior leadership role has primary responsibility for the administrative, supervisory, clinical-operational, quality, patient-safety, and nursing-practice components of the FQHC’s primary care services. The Director will help build the policies, processes, workforce, and clinical infrastructure needed to deliver accessible, coordinated, high-quality care while meeting federal, state, professional, and payer requirements.

The role will oversee patient-centered ambulatory clinical operations, nursing practice, clinical staffing, credentialing and privileging, quality improvement, care coordination, medication systems, referrals and transitions of care, clinical workflows, electronic health record practices, clinic emergency preparedness, and HRSA clinical compliance.

This is primarily a leadership, operational, and supervisory position, but the selected candidate should also be comfortable maintaining a meaningful connection to direct clinical care.

Clinical Service Portfolio

The Director will provide nursing and clinical-operational leadership for services that may include:

• Primary and adult healthcare
• Behavioral health integration
• Clinic-based laboratory and point-of-care testing
• Medication and vaccine management
• Infection prevention and control
• Clinical-support services serving health center programs
• Patient follow-up after hospital and emergency department visits

What You’ll Do

Provide Strategic and Operational Nursing Leadership

• Plan, organize, direct, and continuously improve nursing and clinical-support operations within the FQHC.
• Establish clinical-operational goals and implement changes in response to patient demand, clinical standards, HRSA requirements, payer expectations, and regulatory guidance.
• Plan clinic operations and nursing coverage across Granville and Vance county locations.
• Evaluate patient volume, demographics, healthcare needs, provider capacity, access measures, and clinical workflows to recommend appropriate staffing and resources.
• Adjust appointment capacity, patient flow, triage, throughput, and clinic schedule templates to improve timely access to care.
• Ensure health center services, sites, and hours remain consistent with the organization’s HRSA-approved scope of project.
• Support after-hours clinical coverage and continuity of care for health center patients.

Lead and Develop Clinical Teams

• Supervise assigned nursing supervisors, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, medical assistants, and other clinical-support personnel.
• Recruit, select, orient, assign, coach, evaluate, and develop members of the clinical team.
• Establish clear performance expectations and provide appropriate guidance, accountability, and professional-development support.
• Review staffing assignments, clinic coverage, and team capacity and make adjustments based on patient and operational needs.
• Establish and administer clinical competency-validation processes, including annual skills validation, Basic Life Support currency, delegation, and supervision of unlicensed assistive personnel.
• Ensure employees complete required health center training related to risk management, infection control, HIPAA, clinical quality, and patient safety.
• Create a workplace culture grounded in patient-centered care, transparency, accountability, collaboration, and respect.

Direct Nursing Practice and Clinical Quality

• Develop and maintain nursing standards, standing orders, protocols, policies, clinical workflows, and evidence-based practices.
• Ensure nursing operations comply with the North Carolina Nurse Practice Act, North Carolina Board of Nursing requirements, HRSA expectations, and applicable state and federal standards.
• Monitor employee licensure, certification, competency, clinical privileges, delegation, and scope of practice.
• Coordinate standing orders and matters requiring medical authority with the Medical Director.
• Review clinical documentation and staff practice to promote safe, efficient, and effective care.
• Support ongoing quality-improvement, quality-assurance, accreditation, and patient-centered medical-home initiatives.
• Ensure clinical policies and procedures remain current as services, regulations, and patient needs evolve.

Lead Clinical Readiness

• Ensure clinical staff qualifications, licenses, certifications, competencies, and privileges are appropriately verified and documented.
• Support readiness for HRSA Operational Site Visits, payer audits, FTCA reviews, and other regulatory or compliance activities.
• Maintain processes that demonstrate clinical workforce readiness and adherence to health center policies.

Advance Quality, Safety, and Patient Experience

• Partner with the Medical Director and organizational leadership in the FQHC quality-improvement and quality-assurance program.
• Monitor clinical quality measures, patient-safety indicators, adverse events, utilization, patient experience, grievances, and opportunities for improvement.
• Support performance expectations associated with HRSA, the Uniform Data System, Medicaid, Medicare, commercial payers, and value-based payment arrangements.
• Lead nursing contributions to care-gap closure and population-health management.
• Support clinical-risk management, including incident reporting, risk-management training, and periodic clinical-risk assessments.
• Use data to recommend changes that improve access, outcomes, safety, efficiency, and patient experience.

Optimize Clinical Workflows and the Electronic Health Record

• Ensure effective nursing and clinical-support workflows within the electronic health record.
• Promote accurate, timely, and complete clinical documentation.
• Support effective use of clinical decision support, care-gap identification, patient registries, referral tracking, test-result follow-up, medication reconciliation, and continuity-of-care tools.
• Analyze clinical outcomes, visit volume, productivity, no-show rates, cycle times, immunization coverage, screening measures, and other performance indicators.
• Work with staff and providers to improve patient flow, role clarity, documentation, and coordination across the care team.
• Support accurate and validated Uniform Data System reporting.

Strengthen Care Coordination and Integrated Care

• Develop and monitor systems addressing care coordination, referral management, and clinical follow-up.
• Support appropriate follow-up after hospital admissions and emergency department visits.
• Coordinate with primary care providers, behavioral health professionals, care managers, pharmacy partners, laboratories, community health workers, and community organizations.
• Help build safe transitions between primary care, behavioral health, specialty care, hospitals, emergency departments, and community resources.
• Support closed-loop referral processes, including referrals through NCCARE360 when applicable.
• Promote collaborative and integrated care that addresses the clinical and social needs of patients.

Oversee Medication, Vaccine, Laboratory, and Safety Systems

• Provide leadership for medication management, vaccine storage and administration, infection prevention, and patient-safety systems.
• Ensure effective cold-chain management, vaccine accountability, documentation, and applicable immunization-program compliance.
• Oversee clinic-based laboratory and point-of-care testing workflows, documentation, staff competency, and required quality practices.
• Maintain processes for emergency medications, clinical equipment, medical waste, and incident reporting.
• Ensure clinic-hour emergencies and after-hours clinical needs are addressed through compliant triage, referral, documentation, and follow-up systems.

Manage Budgets, Productivity, and Resources

• Assess staffing, equipment, supply, vaccine, and clinical-resource needs.
• Prepare and monitor applicable nursing and clinic budgets.
• Support productivity planning and financially sustainable clinic operations.
• Monitor staffing costs, clinical supply utilization, and resource allocation.
• Collaborate with finance, billing, coding, clinical, and administrative leaders to support revenue integrity.
• Support accurate clinical documentation, coding, sliding-fee discount administration, and payer requirements.
• Help ensure no patient is denied services because of an inability to pay.
• Support compliance with Medicaid and Medicare FQHC payment requirements.

Support Program Development and Growth

• Help develop new or expanded clinical services based on patient needs, community input, capacity, and available resources.
• Evaluate proposals for alignment with the health center’s mission, approved scope, staffing model, and financial capacity.
• Gather clinical and community data to support funding proposals and grant applications.
• Participate in long-range planning for primary care access, clinical quality, workforce development, and service growth.
• Advise agency leadership regarding staffing, infrastructure, operational readiness, and resources required to expand services successfully.

Lead Emergency and Continuity Planning

• Maintain clinical-surge readiness, including staffing plans, vaccine and supply readiness, and clinic-conversion plans.
• Help prepare clinical sites for mass vaccination, dispensing operations, outbreaks, and other public health emergencies.
• Support the health center emergency-management plan and continuity-of-operations requirements.
• Direct or support clinical response activities during emergencies in coordination with medical and organizational leadership.

Leadership Profile

The strongest candidate will be an experienced nursing leader who can balance clinical quality, workforce leadership, regulatory accountability, patient access, operational performance, and organizational growth.

Successful candidates should demonstrate:

• Strong knowledge of professional nursing practice and ambulatory primary care operations.
• Experience managing nursing and clinical-support teams in an outpatient environment.
• Knowledge of patient-centered clinical workflows, care coordination, and population-health management.
• Experience developing policies, standing orders, protocols, competencies, and clinical procedures.
• Familiarity with nursing licensure, credentialing, privileging, delegation, and scope-of-practice requirements.
• Experience using quality, safety, access, productivity, and patient-experience data to improve care.
• Understanding of electronic health record workflows, clinical documentation, registries, referrals, and care-gap management.
• The ability to collaborate with providers, behavioral health professionals, administrative leaders, community partners, and governing bodies.
• Strong judgment and the ability to lead through growth, change, and evolving regulatory requirements.
• A contemporary leadership approach to workforce development, organizational culture, quality improvement, and patient-centered care.
• A leadership style grounded in empathy, transparency, accountability, respect, and clear expectations.

Preferred Experience

Preference may be given to applicants with experience in one or more of the following settings or areas:

• Federally Qualified Health Center
• FQHC Look-Alike
• Community health center
• Rural health clinic
• Local health department primary care program
• Ambulatory safety-net setting
• HRSA Health Center Program compliance
• Clinical quality improvement and patient safety
• Credentialing and privileging
• HRSA Operational Site Visit preparation
• Federal Tort Claims Act clinical-risk management
• Uniform Data System reporting
• Electronic health record optimization
• Medicaid and Medicare
• Population-health management
• Integrated primary and behavioral healthcare
• Value-based care or value-based payment arrangements

Minimum Qualifications

Applicants must meet one of the following combinations of education and experience:

• Master’s degree in Nursing and three years of professional nursing experience in primary care, ambulatory care, community health, public health, or a closely related clinical setting, including two years in a supervisory or management capacity; or
• Bachelor of Science in Nursing and four years of professional nursing experience in primary care, ambulatory care, community health, public health, or a closely related clinical setting, including two years in a supervisory or management capacity; or
• Master’s degree in Public Health, Health Administration, Business Administration, or a closely related field, graduation from a school of professional nursing, and three years of related professional nursing experience, including two years in a supervisory or management capacity; or
• Graduation from a school of professional nursing and five years of professional nursing experience, including substantial experience in primary care, ambulatory care, community health, public health, or a closely related clinical setting and two years in a supervisory or management capacity; or
• An equivalent combination of related education, training, and experience consistent with applicable state classification requirements.

Required Licenses and Certifications

• Current license to practice as a Registered Nurse in North Carolina
• Current Basic Life Support/CPR certification
• Valid driver’s license
• Continuing nursing education consistent with North Carolina licensure requirements
• Completion of applicable North Carolina DHHS public health nursing orientation and continuing-education requirements

The following credentials will be considered favorably:

• North Carolina Certified Public Health Nurse designation
• Ambulatory-care nursing certification
• Nursing-leadership certification
• Quality or patient-safety certification
• Other certification related to primary care, clinical operations, or healthcare leadership

Work Location and Schedule

This full-time position serves Granville and Vance counties and requires regular office and clinical presence at both Granville Vance Community Health locations, as well as travel to community sites, meetings, and partner locations.

The usual working hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Extended clinic sessions, Board meetings, HRSA or state meetings, emergency response, staff needs, and community events may occasionally require evening or weekend availability.

Flexibility is encouraged. A limited schedule of work-from-home days may be arranged when it supports the role and does not compromise clinical leadership, clinic operations, staff support, or on-site coverage.

Why Join GVPH?

• Meaningful work that supports community health initiatives.
• Opportunity to contribute to a mission-driven public organization.
• Collaborative and supportive team environment.
• Exposure to complex financial operations across government and nonprofit funding sources.
• Professional growth and development opportunities.

Benefits

Granville Vance Public Health offers:

• Paid group medical insurance
• Membership in the North Carolina Local Governmental Employees’ Retirement System
• Thirteen paid holidays
• Vacation and sick leave
• Optional 401(k) and 457(b) plans
• Dental, vision, life, and flexible-spending account options

Selection Process

The process includes a review of qualifications, structured interviews, reference checks on qualified applicants, and successful completion of pre-employment drug screen. This position is open until filled.

Granville Vance Public Health is an Equal Opportunity Employer