Chief of Laboratory Services

The Opportunity

The Chief of Laboratory Services is envisioned as the senior enterprise leader accountable for the clinical, operational, financial, and workforce performance of clinical laboratory services across all sites and testing environments. This role is intended to:

• Provide unified leadership, governance, and strategic direction for laboratory services
• Establish system-wide decision rights for strategy, standards, and performance
• Standardize performance management while preserving necessary local customization
• Strengthen quality, safety, regulatory readiness, and accreditation across all labs
• Align enabling functions (analytics, workforce development, vendor strategy) to support enterprise scale

Key Performance Outcomes

• Improved turnaround time, reduced bottlenecks, and optimized capacity/utilization across acute, ambulatory, and outreach laboratory settings
• Standardized enterprise performance management (KPIs/dashboards) with reduced unwarranted variation in productivity, quality, and experience
• Strengthened compliance and accreditation readiness across the laboratory footprint
• A cohesive workforce strategy that improves retention, leadership sustainability, and span-of-control optimization across divisions

Essential Functions

• Enterprise Strategy & Governance:
  • Define and execute enterprise clinical laboratory strategy; establish governance, decision rights, and operating rhythms across divisions
• Quality, Safety & Regulatory:
  • Ensure consistent laboratory quality systems including accreditation, licensure, and corrective action oversight across the enterprise
• Operational Performance:
  • Drive system-wide performance outcomes including turnaround time, productivity, utilization, and service reliability
• Financial Stewardship:
  • Establish enterprise performance metrics and dashboards; ensure budget alignment, revenue integrity, and vendor strategy
• Organizational Design:
  • Lead the enterprise laboratory leadership structure, span-of-control optimization, and leadership development
• Workforce Strategy:
  • Execute labor strategy, workforce planning, succession planning, and retention initiatives
• Physician Partnership:
  • Partner with physician leaders and clinical executives to align laboratory services with clinical pathways and patient safety priorities
• Enterprise Integration:
  • Standardize enterprise capabilities including analytics, vendor strategy, education, and accreditation support

Scope of Modalities

• Clinical Chemistry
• Hematology
• Microbiology
• Molecular Diagnostics
• Blood Bank / Transfusion Services
• Point-of-Care Testing
• Anatomic Pathology Support
• Outreach Laboratory Services
• Laboratory Quality & Regulatory Programs

Note: Final scope and decision rights will be confirmed through the Clinical Laboratory Services design work; non-imaging procedural areas would be included only if explicitly assigned to Clinical Laboratory governance.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree in healthcare administration, business, laboratory science, or related field preferred
• MLS(ASCP) or comparable laboratory credential; additional leadership or quality credentials preferred
• Experience leading point-of-care testing governance, outreach/ambulatory lab growth, and enterprise laboratory standardization
• Demonstrated experience partnering with physician/medical director leaders in a dyad model preferred
• Lean/Six Sigma or comparable performance improvement training and demonstrated results
• Progressive senior leadership experience in clinical laboratory services within a large, complex health system (multi-site, multi-specialty) preferred
• Deep knowledge of laboratory regulatory and accreditation environments and demonstrated ability to manage enterprise clinical risk
• Proven success leading transformation, operating model change, and performance improvement across distributed teams
• Proven financial acumen including budget management, resource stewardship, and revenue integrity
• Ability to lead in a matrixed environment; effective partnering with physician leadership and cross-functional stakeholders