Job Description

About This Role

100% Travel Required

The Project Director, Clinical Outpatient Services (“Clinical Director, Outpatient”) is a key leadership role responsible for advancing clinical quality, outcomes, and operational excellence across the organization’s network of Partial Hospitalization (PHP) and Intensive Outpatient (IOP) programs. This position plays a critical role in ensuring the implementation of evidence-based care, measurement-based clinical practices, and data-driven clinical care improvement initiatives.

Our Mission

Acadia Healthcare’s purpose is to Lead Care With Light and our mission is to be a world-class organization that sets the standard for excellence in the treatment of mental health and addiction concerns. We strive to maintain our standing as a thought leader in the behavioral healthcare industry, providing treatment that is synonymous with compassion and innovation.

Compensation & Benefits

We value your expertise and dedication—and we invest in your success.

• Competitive Base Salary commensurate with experience
• Comprehensive Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
• 401(k) Plan with Company Match
• Paid Time Off (PTO) and recognized holidays
• Company-paid Basic Life and AD&D Insurance
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and mental wellness resources
• Opportunities for professional growth and advancement within Acadia’s nationwide network

Responsibilities

What You'll Do:

The Project Director, Clinical Outpatient Services will:

• Work on-site with facility DOPs to assess clinical programs and identify/implement changes to improve patient experience, retention, and clinical outcomes

• Support onboarding and training of new DOPs and OP therapists

• Lead the rollout of measurement-based care initiatives to priority acute and specialty facilities; develop and implement action plans to improve clinical outcomes based on individual site performance across key indicators

In addition to leading the facilitation of clinical excellence, this role works in close partnership with operations teams to ensure achievement of annual goals, including revenue, EBITDA, patient visits, patient satisfaction, and quality targets. The Clinical Director, Outpatient is accountable for evaluating clinical performance, improving documentation standards, and developing and disseminating treatment curricula. They also serve as a subject matter expert and resource responsible for deploying clinical training, suicide risk mitigation strategies, and outpatient program development. Lastly, they will serve as a champion to step patients down the care continuum.

This position directly contributes to the growth and development of Acadia’s outpatient services, partnering with facility leaders to scale existing programs, launch new services, and deliver best-in-class care across the continuum. Frequent travel to facilities is required.

Clinical Outcomes & Quality of Clinical Care

• Provide strategic oversight and leadership for outpatient clinical services across all organizational facilities, ensuring alignment with the organization’s mission, goals, and best practices in behavioral health care.

• Evaluate clinical performance metrics, including service-delivery models, patient-reported outcomes, satisfaction scores, length of stay, treatment completion, and discharge effectiveness.

• Collaborate with facility leadership and multidisciplinary teams to enhance clinical programming, optimize workflows and ensure evidence-based practices are consistently applied and integrated

• Implement and facilitate measurement-based care (MBC), leveraging clinical data to monitor and improve treatment effectiveness and client progress.

• Conduct regular clinical audits to ensure high-quality documentation, fidelity to care models, and appropriate levels of care.

• Champion best practices in suicide risk assessment, safety planning, and risk mitigation, ensuring standardized application across facilities.

• Facilitate the continuum of care, partnering with facilities to develop robust step-down processes

Evidence-Based Practices & Training

• Lead the development, implementation, and standardization of treatment curricula based on evidence-based models, including CBT, DBT, and other applicable therapies.

• Provide ongoing clinical training, mentorship, and coaching to outpatient teams to support fidelity and excellence in care delivery.

• Participate in internal and external educational and networking events, including CE talks, webinars and speaking engagements, to promote Acadia’s clinical leadership and expertise.

Regulatory, Compliance & Accreditation Support

• Maintain a thorough understanding of federal, state, and accrediting body requirements (e.g., The Joint Commission, CMS, state licensing boards).

• Partner closely with facility and corporate compliance teams to ensure outpatient programs meet clinical, documentation, and operational standards.

• Assist in translating regulatory changes into operational and clinical practice updates across outpatient settings.

Operational Collaboration & Strategic Support

• Collaborate closely with facility and regional operations leaders to align clinical care with business goals and operational strategies.

• Support day-to-day clinical operations during transitions or leadership vacancies, as needed.

• Guide the launch, scale, and optimization of PHP/IOP programs to meet patient, community, and referrer needs.

• Drive initiatives that directly impact EBITDA, revenue growth, visit volume, and satisfaction and quality scores.

• Onboard and support new clinical leaders to ensure alignment with Acadia’s quality and operational expectations.

• Create, implement, and refine corporate-level resources, protocols, and toolkits that support outpatient service delivery and continuous improvement.

STANDARD EXPECTATIONS:

• Complies with organizational policies, procedures, performance improvement initiatives and maintains organizational and industry policies regarding confidentiality.

• Communicate clearly and effectively to person(s) receiving services and their family members, guests, and other members of the health care team.

• Develops constructive and cooperative working relationships with others and maintains them over time.

• Encourages and builds mutual trust, respect, and cooperation among team members.

• Maintains regular and predictable attendance.

• Must be willing to travel to sites across the US 50 -80% of the time.

Qualifications

What you'll bring

Minimum

• Required to be a Master’s or Doctorate-level Licensed Clinician – e.g., LCSW, LMHC, LMFT, PhD (Clinical, Counseling or Educational Psychology), or PsyD

• Minimum of 5-7 years in healthcare operations, including minimum of 2 years of managerial experience

• Experience with PHP and IOP levels of care required. Preference for experience working with acute psychiatric hospital providers.

• Proven experience successfully implementing new clinical programs

• Prior experience in multi-facility, multi-business unit operations across multiple geographies

• Understanding of basic P&L components

• Ability to interpret data and apply that to an analysis of performance and productivity (experience developing, tracking, analyzing, and reporting KPI’s)

• Strong facilitation and presentation skills. 

• Demonstrated expertise in successfully managing multiple projects simultaneously.

• Proven experience building, managing and motivating teams.

• Excellent leadership, collaboration, and communication skills among audiences ranging from front-line clinical staff to senior executives.

LICENSES/DESIGNATIONS/CERTIFICATIONS:

• Licensed Clinician – e.g., LCSW, LMHC, LMFT, Psychologist license

SUPERVISORY REQUIREMENTS:

​​This position is an Individual Contributor​

We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants for employment regardless of an individual’s characteristics protected by applicable state, federal and local laws.

AHCORP

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