Director, Acute Pharmacy Services

Primary Location

UofL Hospital - UMC

Address

530 South Jackson Street Louisville, KY 40202

Shift

Job Description Summary

UofL Health is a fully integrated regional academic health system with five hospitals, four medical centers, nearly 200 physician practice locations, more than 700 providers, the Frazier Rehab Institute and Brown Cancer Center.

With more than 12,000 team members - physicians, surgeons, nurses, pharmacists and other highly skilled health care professionals - UofL Health is focused on one mission: delivering patient-centered care to each and every patient each and every day.

Job Description

The Director, Acute Care Pharmacy provides strategic, operational, and clinical leadership for inpatient pharmacy services across UofL Health. This leadership role is accountable for the delivery of safe, high-quality, and efficient pharmacy services supporting acute care operations across the health system's hospitals, medical centers, and inpatient pharmacy departments.

Reporting to the Vice President of Pharmacy Services, the Director Acute Care is responsible for establishing strategic direction, driving operational excellence, and ensuring regulatory compliance across all acute care pharmacy services. Success in this role requires strong collaboration and partnership with Pharmacy leaders, administrative leaders, physicians, nursing leadership, and pharmacy teams throughout UofL Health to advance enterprise-wide goals, standardize best practices, optimize resource utilization, and promote innovation.

The Director, Acute Care Services serves as a key leader in fostering alignment across UofL Health facilities while balancing the unique operational needs of each hospital and service line. This position is responsible for advancing standardization across acute care pharmacy operations, improving operational and financial performance, developing pharmacy leaders, and establishing sustainable systems that support safe, efficient, and high-quality medication use throughout the health system.A focus on culture, patient safety, quality outcomes, workforce engagement, financial stewardship, and long-term sustainability is essential.

Direct leadership responsibilities include oversight, mentorship, and development of the Acute Care Pharmacy leadership team, ensuring effective succession planning, talent development, and leadership growth across the department. The Director will champion clinical excellence, operational performance, and interdisciplinary collaboration to support exceptional patient care outcomes.

The ideal candidate is a collaborative healthcare leader with the ability to translate strategic priorities into measurable operational results while advancing the mission, vision, and values of UofL Health. This leader will drive continuous improvement initiatives, foster innovation, and strengthen pharmacy services as an integral component of UofL Health's commitment to delivering exceptional care to the communities it serves.

Essential Functions

• Creates short- and long-term industry-leading pharmacy strategy that is focused on providing care/services safely for our patients. Strategy will be focused on improving patient experience within the health system, implementing operational efficiencies and actions focused on providing a best-in-class patient care and experience.
• Develops, maintains, communicates and executes a vision and plan for continual improvement and provision of exceptional quality acute care pharmacy services.
• Leads system-wide standardization of acute care pharmacy operations, workflows, policies, staffing models, and key performance indicators while balancing unique operational requirements across individual hospitals and service lines.
• Develops and maintains system standardized pharmacy labor and automation models that are based on patient volume and patient experience, with a focus on leveraging available resources.
• Establishes and monitors system-level operational performance metrics, productivity benchmarks, and workforce indicators to support data-driven decision making and continuous improvement.
• Provides strategic oversight of pharmaceutical expense management, pharmacy labor productivity, inventory optimization, formulary management initiatives, contract optimization, and supply chain strategies to ensure financial sustainability and operational excellence
• Partners with the system pharmacy leaders, nursing leaders, physician leaders, central supply management, and operational stakeholders to implement enterprise medication-use initiatives, maintain standardization, and achieve organizational objectives.
• Maintain and apply current knowledge of industry standards, best practices, trends, and advancements to serve as Subject Matter Expert in thought leadership, business development, and other efforts as needed.

Provides effective leadership and strategically identify, internalize, and communicate the critical success factors necessary to support organizational goals.

• Develop and empower teams to achieve goals and objectives through effective hiring, onboarding, development, coaching, and performance management practices.
• Effectively uses the appropriate financial concepts and tools to analyze situations and make financial decisions that support the achievement of short and longer-term departmental objectives.
• Provides leadership, mentorship, coaching, and performance oversight for acute care pharmacy leaders, ensuring succession planning, leadership development, and workforce engagement across the health system.
• Provides support for pharmacy residency programs, student experiential education, academic partnerships, leadership development initiatives, scholarship, and research activities consistent with the academic mission of UofL Health.
• Must be able to perform the professional, clinical and or technical competencies of the assigned unit or department.

These statements are intended to describe the essential functions of the job and are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities. Skills and duties may vary depending upon your department or unit. Other duties may be assigned as required.

Additional Job Description

Education

• PharmD required
• Master’s degree in healthcare administration, business, or related field required (must be obtained within 36 months of accepting offer)

Experience

• Licensed Pharmacist - State Board of Pharmacy
• Minimum of 5 years of progressive acute care pharmacy leadership experience
• Minimum of 5 years acute care hospital work experience
• Experience leading multiple hospitals, service lines, or system level pharmacy initiatives strongly preferred

Certification

• Basic Life Support or must obtain within 90 days from date of hire
• Board certification by Board of Pharmacy Specialties® preferred
• Completion of ASHP-accredited pharmacy residency training preferred.

Job Competency

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities critical to this role:

• Thorough understanding of processes for prescribing, communicating, preparing, dispensing, administering, and monitoring medication therapy to minimize the potential for medication errors.
• Knowledge of The Joint Commission rules and regulations related to pharmacy services
• Effective Communication Skills- able to form collaborative relationships with pharmacy team members and other members of the healthcare team, demonstrate effective professional and patient communications including articulation of recommendations
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex organizational change across multiple hospitals and stakeholders.
• Demonstrated financial acumen including budget management, labor productivity oversight, drug expense management, and capital planning.
• Ability to analyze operational, quality, financial, and workforce metrics and implement performance improvement strategies.
• Demonstrated ability to develop pharmacy leaders, build high-performing teams, and create a culture of accountability and engagement.
• Demonstrated ability to work in team environment, reaffirming the contribution of each person to the delivery of care/services
• Able to achieve and maintain satisfactory working relationships with pharmacy leadership, pharmacy staff and other departments throughout the system, including committees and administration
• Able to develop and maintain effective relationships in the professional and civic communities
• Maintains awareness of contemporary trends in area of expertise and the profession through professional literature
• Exhibits awareness of personal attitudes and beliefs, recognizing its effect on response to others
• Ability to create a culture and systems for recognizing and rewarding staff

Language Ability

• Must be able to communicate effectively in both verbal and written formats
• The position requires the ability to communicate and collaborate effectively with patients, physicians, nurses, pharmacists and allied health professionals from all clinical disciplines regarding activities related to the improvement of medication use

Reasoning Ability

• Ability to break down problems or tasks; scanning one’s own knowledge and experience to identify causes and consequences of events

Computer Skills

• Extensive computer skills required including ability to use Excel, Power point, and Word
• Must have the capacity to learn other relevant systems and databases, as needed

Additional Responsibilities

• Demonstrates a commitment to service, organization values and professionalism through appropriate conduct and demeanor at all times
• Maintains confidentiality and protects sensitive data at all times
• Adheres to organizational and department specific safety standards and guidelines
• Works collaboratively and supports efforts of team members
• Demonstrates exceptional customer service and interacts effectively with physicians, patients, residents, visitors, staff and the broader health care community