Chief of Staff, System Pharmacy

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Chief of Staff, System Pharmacy serves as a strategic advisor, execution partner, and operational extension of System Pharmacy leadership. The position is responsible for translating system pharmacy strategy into an executable agenda, accelerating high-priority initiatives, strengthening accountability across the leadership team, and advancing opportunities that grow the health system's pharmacy enterprise.

Working across retail, specialty, ambulatory, infusion, inpatient pharmacy and related enterprise pharmacy functions, the Chief of Staff will help identify, evaluate, develop, and execute strategic initiatives that improve patient access, financial performance, operational effectiveness, and enterprise value.

This position operates at the intersection of strategy, business development, finance, operations, clinical leadership, and executive management. The Chief of Staff will frequently lead initiatives for which there is no natural functional owner and will be expected to independently structure ambiguous problems, develop recommendations, mobilize stakeholders, and drive work from concept through execution.

The role requires an individual who can rapidly develop fluency in the economics, regulatory environment, operations, and growth opportunities within health system pharmacy and translate that knowledge into actionable recommendations.

Position: Chief of Staff, System Pharmacy

Department: System Pharmacy

Schedule: Full Time

Key Responsibilities

• Boston Medical Center Health System (BMCHS) is a $6 billion revenue integrated academic health care system and health plan whose purpose is to provide equitable and value-based continuum of care, while transforming the outcomes of low(er) income and vulnerable populations in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and beyond.

• The pharmacy section of BMCHS is a broad, complex organization made up of both hospital and health plan pharmacy service lines.

• BMCHS, its care model, and by extension, its pharmacy operations occupy a unique position in the Massachusetts and US healthcare landscape.

• Over 60% of clinical care is in (near) full risk arrangements, there is a strong commitment to value based care, and to addressing the core health drivers (social determinants of health) in the communities that BMCHS serves.

• BMCHS’s patients disproportionately come from communities of color, so there is also a deep investment in addressing health inequities both within the organization, and in partnership with community organizations.

• With nearly 500 FTEs and ~$900M in revenue, BMC hospital pharmacy is a crucial part of both the broader hospital and system operations.

• The Chief of Staff for Pharmacy will work on major projects to help lead and support BMC Hospital pharmacy including inpatient, ambulatory, specialty pharmacy, advanced therapies / bio-engineered products (e.g. cell therapy program, gene thapy programse etc.), research pharmacy, pharmacy revenue cycle, mail order, retail, and community partnerships.

• The Chief of Staff will play a critical role in communicating with hospital and health system executives with and on behalf of the BMC Hospital VP, Chief Pharmacy Officer (CPO), as well as acting as a proxy for the Hospital VP/CPO with department leadership and staff.

• The ideal candidate will play a critical role in leading initiatives for hospital pharmacy in alignment with the organization’s goals: engaging key stakeholders, developing critical analyses to drive decision making, leading and advancing key hospital pharmacy initiatives, and measuring impact.

• He/she/they will work directly with the Hospital VP/CPO and other senior leaders on a day-to-day basis.

• This role represents an ideal entry point for those looking to lead within a hospital or healthcare organization by providing counsel and support to executive leaders and leading priority projects. 

1. Strategic Execution & System Pharmacy Office

• Serve as a trusted strategic advisor and execution partner to System Pharmacy leadership.

• Translate enterprise and pharmacy strategic priorities into a clear operating agenda, milestones, owners, decisions, and measurable outcomes.

• Maintain visibility across major initiatives and proactively identify decisions, risks, dependencies, and areas requiring executive intervention.

• Develop mechanisms to ensure commitments made by the pharmacy leadership team and cross-functional partners translate into execution.

• Represent System Pharmacy leadership in selected meetings and workstreams when appropriate.

• Serve as a connective point between System Pharmacy and senior leaders across clinical operations, finance, strategy, medical group leadership, IT, legal, human resources, supply chain, payer functions, and other enterprise departments.

2. Leadership Meeting Rhythm, Governance & Follow-Through

• Design and manage the operating rhythm for the System Pharmacy leadership team.

• Lead preparation and facilitation of weekly leadership meetings, strategy reviews, business reviews, and other executive forums.

• Establish agendas focused on decisions, risks, financial performance, and strategic priorities rather than informational updates.

• Maintain action, decision, and accountability logs and actively follow up with owners until commitments are completed.

• Identify issues requiring escalation and ensure executives receive the appropriate information before decisions are required.

• Develop governance structures for major pharmacy initiatives and clarify decision rights, owners, timelines, and escalation pathways.

• Continuously improve the effectiveness of pharmacy leadership meetings and governance processes.

3. Business Development & Pharmacy Growth

Serve as a core member of System Pharmacy's business development and growth function.

• Develop sufficient expertise across retail, specialty and infusion pharmacy to independently advance business-development opportunities.

• Evaluate growth opportunities including new services, markets, partnerships, provider relationships, acquisitions, joint ventures, referral strategies, new sites of care, and other pharmacy-related opportunities.

• Build business cases incorporating market opportunity, patient volume, revenue, contribution margin, investment requirements, implementation complexity, risk, and strategic value.

• Conduct market, competitor, payer, provider, and industry analyses to identify new opportunities.

• Coordinate diligence and internal evaluation of potential partnerships and transactions.

• Translate early-stage strategic concepts into executable workplans.

• Coordinate Pharmacy, Finance, Legal, Strategy, Operations, clinical leadership, IT, facilities, and other stakeholders required to move opportunities toward implementation.

• Develop executive recommendations regarding whether System Pharmacy should pursue, modify, defer, or decline specific opportunities.

• Maintain a pipeline of pharmacy growth opportunities and provide leadership with visibility into opportunity size, stage, barriers, expected value, and next decisions.

• Develop the business and healthcare knowledge necessary to engage credibly with internal executives, physicians, external organizations, vendors, and prospective strategic partners.

4. Cross-Functional Strategic Project Ownership

• Lead high-priority initiatives that cut across multiple departments and do not have a clear functional owner.

• Structure ambiguous problems into clear questions, hypotheses, analyses, workstreams and decisions.

• Establish project charters, milestones, owners, governance and performance measures.

• Coordinate multidisciplinary teams without relying on direct reporting relationships.

• Identify barriers to implementation and develop recommendations to resolve them.

• Drive initiatives from initial concept through decision, implementation and stabilization.

• Manage a portfolio of strategic projects while maintaining focus on the highest-value priorities.

5. Strategic Research & Executive Decision Support

• Conduct rapid strategic, operational, financial, competitive and market research to inform executive decisions.

• Distill complex information into concise analyses and clear recommendations.

• Develop structured options and articulate the financial, strategic, operational and organizational tradeoffs associated with each.

• Anticipate questions from senior executives and proactively develop supporting analysis.

• Track relevant changes in the healthcare, pharmaceutical, reimbursement, payer and health-system landscape that may create risks or opportunities for System Pharmacy.

• Create concise executive briefing materials that allow leaders to rapidly understand an issue and make a decision.

6. Executive Communications & Presentations

• Develop executive-level presentations, business cases, decision documents, briefing materials, talking points and strategic communications.

• Prepare System Pharmacy content for executive leadership, senior leadership, finance, clinical leadership and Board-level discussions as appropriate.

• Translate complex pharmacy, financial and operational issues into clear enterprise-level narratives.

• Ensure leadership communications consistently articulate the strategic rationale, financial implications, decisions required and expected outcomes.

• Support preparation for high-stakes executive meetings and anticipate likely questions, concerns and areas of disagreement.

• Develop internal communications on major pharmacy priorities and accomplishments.

7. Executive Leadership & Board Support

• Prepare pharmacy materials for executive leadership and Board-level discussions when required.

• Coordinate development of executive briefing materials and ensure consistency of analyses and messaging.

• Maintain awareness of organizational priorities and prior executive discussions so that pharmacy recommendations are positioned within the broader health-system context.

• Track decisions, commitments and follow-up items resulting from executive discussions.

• Help System Pharmacy leadership anticipate stakeholder perspectives, organizational dynamics and potential objections before major recommendations are presented.

• Coordinate with formal governance, finance, strategy and executive-office teams as appropriate rather than duplicating their responsibilities.

8. Financial Performance & Business Planning

• Partner with Pharmacy Finance and operational leadership to understand financial performance across the pharmacy enterprise.

• Support annual strategic planning, budgeting and forecasting activities.

• Develop and maintain financial models and business cases for strategic initiatives.

• Track financial performance associated with major growth and performance-improvement initiatives.

• Establish dashboards that translate financial and operational performance into actionable management information.

• Identify material variance, emerging risk or unrealized opportunity and coordinate development of corrective actions.

• Ensure financial considerations are integrated into strategic and operational decision-making.

9. Organizational Alignment, Culture & Internal Communications

• Help System Pharmacy leadership maintain alignment across teams, sites and business lines.

• Plan and facilitate pharmacy leadership forums, town halls and other organizational communications.

• Develop mechanisms to periodically assess organizational engagement and identify barriers to execution.

• Partner with Human Resources and pharmacy leaders on recognition, engagement and organizational-development initiatives.

• Help communicate pharmacy strategy and priorities in a manner that enables employees to understand how their work contributes to the broader organization.

• Support change-management efforts associated with major system pharmacy initiatives.

10. Special Projects

• Assume ownership of highly complex or sensitive initiatives at the direction of System Pharmacy leadership.

• Rapidly enter unfamiliar problem areas, establish command of the issue and create an executable path forward.

• Lead time-sensitive initiatives requiring substantial coordination across organizational boundaries.

• Serve as an internal "SWAT team" for high-value problems that fall outside existing organizational structures.

• Transition mature initiatives to permanent operational owners once the appropriate operating model has been established.

JOB REQUIREMENTS

EDUCATION:

• Bachelor's degree in business, healthcare administration, pharmacy, finance, economics, public health or related field.

EXPERIENCE:

• 7+ years of progressively responsible experience in healthcare strategy, business development, consulting, health-system administration, pharmacy, corporate strategy, finance or a related field.

• Demonstrated experience working with senior executives and leading complex cross-functional initiatives.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, & ABILITIES:

• Demonstrated ability to independently structure ambiguous problems and develop actionable recommendations.

• Strong quantitative and financial-analysis capabilities, including development or interpretation of business cases.

• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including demonstrated experience developing executive-level presentations.

• Strong project and program management capabilities.

• Demonstrated ability to influence individuals across functions and levels without direct authority.

• High degree of discretion, judgment and comfort operating with sensitive or confidential information.

Strongly Preferred

• MBA, MHA, MPH, PharmD or comparable advanced degree.

• Experience within an integrated health system, academic medical center, healthcare services organization or healthcare consulting environment.

• Experience in healthcare strategy, corporate development, business development or service-line growth.

• Understanding of provider, payer and pharmacy economics.

• Experience developing healthcare business cases and financial models.

• Familiarity with one or more of the following:

  • Retail pharmacy

  • Specialty pharmacy

  • Infusion services

  • Ambulatory pharmacy

  • 340B

  • Pharmacy supply chain

  • Payer/pharmacy economics

  • Healthcare reimbursement

  • Physician or service-line growth

Compensation Range:

This range offers an estimate based on the minimum job qualifications. However, our approach to determining base pay is comprehensive, and a broad range of factors is considered when making an offer. This includes education, experience, skills, and certifications/licensures as they directly relate to position requirements; as well as business/organizational needs, internal equity, and market-competitiveness. In addition, BMCHS offers generous total compensation that includes, but is not limited to, benefits (medical, dental, vision, pharmacy), discretionary annual bonuses and merit increases, Flexible Spending Accounts, 403(b) savings matches, paid time off, career advancement opportunities, and resources to support employee and family well-being. 

NOTE: This range is based on Boston-area data, and is subject to modification based on geographic location.

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