Director of Dental Services

Purpose

The Director of Dental Services works at the direction of, and in support to, the Chief Health Officer (CHO) to extend leadership of Neighborcare Health’s Dental Program across the organization and to meet Neighborcare Health’s mission. The purpose of this position is to direct and optimize dental services toward a high-quality, deeply integrated, safe, effective, equitable, and patient-centered care delivery system.

The Director of Dental Services will effectively partner with a variety of roles and teams, including Compliance & Safety, Quality, Operations, IT, Clinical Services, Medical Services, Behavioral Health, Pharmacy, Finance, Human Resources, and external partners to support whole-person care, strong clinical performance, workforce development, regulatory readiness, and continuous improvement.

Health, Wellness & Retirement benefits:

• Medical, dental & vision insurance
• Paid time off & paid holidays
• Retirement with contribution match
• Life & AD&D, pet insurance
• Employee assistance program, & more!

Compensation:

• The target salary range for the position is $156,644.80 to $232,169.60 annually.
• Final offers are individually based on various factors, including skill set, years of experience, location, qualifications, work schedule and other job-related reasons.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Serve as the clinical leader for Neighborcare Health’s Dental Program in partnership with the Directors of Clinical Operations to assure that all dental patients receive safe, timely, effective, efficient, high-quality, whole-person integrated dental care at all sites, using evidence-based, community standard, and best-practice care models while ensuring consistency across clinic sites and programs.
• Represent Neighborcare Health as its dental clinical leader in meetings with external partners, community stakeholders, public health partners, clinical training institutions, and regional or national forums.
• Supervise Site Dental Directors, including hiring, onboarding, productivity, retention, annual learning conversations, mentoring, and professional growth and development.
• Oversee an effective dental locum provider program to meet clinic and organizational needs, including recruitment, selection, onboarding, supervision, mentoring, support, and performance evaluation.
• Collaborate with the Directors of Medical Services and Behavioral Health to provide seamless, integrated, whole-person care for Neighborcare patients.
• Participate in transformation and optimization of the dental care model, with the goal of improving overall patient care, access, efficiency, patient experience, and provider and staff experience in partnership with the Directors of Clinical Operations.
• Support development and implementation of evidence-based dental clinical pathways, standards, and workflows to improve oral health outcomes and reduce variation across sites.
• In coordination with the Director of Quality, serve as a dental clinical quality improvement champion by co-designing and supporting improvement processes that allow Neighborcare Health to achieve high performance in annual clinical quality goals at the provider, clinic, and organization levels.
• Co-design and build Quality, Quality Assurance, Safety, Infection Prevention, and Risk Management programs that reduce patient risk and improve quality outcomes while ensuring all staff follow applicable laws, regulations, accreditation standards, and dental industry standards.
• Provide clinical review and oversight of dental safety events, dental incidents, and quality-of-care concerns as a partner to Compliance & Safety, assuring areas for improvement are identified and reduction of dental risk is addressed.
• Collaborate with the Director of Compliance and the CHO to review and determine response in situations where a breakdown or error in dental clinical care has occurred.
• Effectively address dental risk management programs and processes that advance a just culture, culture of safety, and equitable environment across Neighborcare Health clinical programs.

Clinical Responsibilities:

• Maintain a dental practice at Neighborcare Health providing a full range of primary dental care services. Clinical practice may include examining, diagnosing, providing consultation, treating patients, prescribing medications and treatment regimens as appropriate, informing patients of diagnoses and treatment options in a way that supports informed decision-making, and completing accurate and timely documentation according to quality standards and standards of care.
• May provide clinical and administrative supervision of direct reports.
• Oversee clinical training, onboarding, continuing education, and professional development programs for dental providers and dental leaders.

Required Skills:

• Consistently deliver on Neighborcare Health’s Service Commitments in all interactions with patients, providers, staff, and external partners.
• Represent Neighborcare Health’s core values with integrity: social justice, cultural sensitivity, community, and excellence.
• Demonstrate effective senior team interpersonal skills, form and maintain positive collaborative relationships, and use effective conflict resolution skills.
• Demonstrate innovative and visionary leadership in clinical excellence, improved patient experience, access, oral health outcomes, and care model design.
• Demonstrate ability to understand and translate clinical, operational, quality, access, and productivity data into effective program design and improvement strategies.
• Demonstrate ability to develop, plan, execute, and evaluate strategic and operational plans.
• Demonstrate commitment to continuous quality improvement, patient safety, infection prevention, risk reduction, and high reliability principles.
• Demonstrate ability to lead by influence, manage change, and support teams through complex operational and clinical transitions.
• Demonstrate effective communication skills and proven ability to inspire, mentor, and develop clinicians and clinical leaders.
• Demonstrate ability to work independently and resourcefully in a complex, time-sensitive health care environment.
• Demonstrate ability to communicate effectively and respectfully with staff and key stakeholders from diverse racial, educational, cultural, and socio-economic backgrounds.
• Demonstrate ability to meet and comply with HIPAA/confidentiality policies and procedures and to handle confidential and sensitive patient and staff information.
• Demonstrate familiarity with Federally Qualified Health Center regulatory requirements, dental accreditation expectations, and community health center operations.
• Demonstrate competence and experience working with an electronic health record and office-based technology.
• Work effectively in an ethnically and culturally diverse workplace environment

Education/Experience Requirements:

• DDS or DMD
• Licensed Dentist (DMD or DDS) in the State of Washington.
• Minimum five (5) years of clinical experience in a dental practice setting.
• Minimum five (5) years of management, leadership, or clinical program leadership experience.

Preferred Requirements:

• Master’s degree in health administration, business administration, public health, or equivalent experience.
• Completion of a general practice residency, advanced education in general dentistry residency, specialty residency, or equivalent post-graduate dental training.
• Experience in community health, Federally Qualified Health Centers, dental residency programs, quality improvement, safety, regulatory readiness, and integrated care delivery.

About Neighborcare Health:

Since 1968, Neighborcare Health has been removing barriers to health care for our neighbors. We believe everyone deserves a place to call their health care home, where a team of medical, dental and mental health professionals work in collaboration with each patient to develop a personal health improvement plan.

We are one of the largest providers of primary medical, dental and behavioral health care services in the Seattle area serving low-income and uninsured families and individuals, seniors on fixed incomes, immigrants, and people experiencing homelessness. Each year we care for nearly 60,000 patients at our nearly 30 non-profit medical, dental and school-based clinics. We ask everyone to pay what they can, but no one is turned away due to inability to pay.

Our clinics are located in neighborhoods where health disparities are the greatest, and our care teams, who speak over 55 languages and dialects, are as diverse as our patients. No matter who you are, or where you come from, regardless of your insurance, income or immigration status, you are welcome at Neighborcare Health.

Learn more about us here .

The full job description is available upon request