Practice, Ambulatory & Surgery Center Operations
Healthcare Headhunters recruits healthcare professionals for employers. No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
This is what we do all day: recruit healthcare professionals.
Hire an operations leader who can correct schedule, billing, provider, and survey problems without losing control of daily patient flow.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
Need someone now? Call 305-306-4829.
What does this hire really come down to?
Practice, ambulatory, and surgery center operations overlap, but each role owns different work. A practice leader may manage registration, referrals, templates, staffing, and charge handoffs. An ambulatory leader may coordinate outpatient departments and shared services. A surgery center leader also reviews block time, case readiness, room turnover, supplies, and surgeon expectations.
We help you define the assignment before candidates enter the process.
Begin with the decisions that break down in an ordinary week. An owner-led practice may need someone who can trace a denial to registration, address incomplete notes, and reset a front-desk handoff.
We ask what the candidate personally owned. Did they only receive reports, or did they lead the meeting, assign follow-up, and review results? Someone who opened a site, changed an EHR process, or prepared for a survey may fit differently from someone who maintained a stable operation.
What do we check before you see anyone?
Medical staff and credentialing duties: For roles handling provider files, we ask which parts of credentialing, recredentialing, OPPE, or FPPE the candidate managed. CPMSM or CPCS may matter for medical staff services roles, but neither certificate fits every opening. We ask how they tracked missing items, routed files, and escalated incomplete documentation.
- Revenue cycle handoffs: Candidates trace a visit from registration through charge entry. They should identify where eligibility, authorizations, coding edits, or incomplete notes delayed payment. We ask which report they used, who corrected each issue, and how they checked whether the correction continued.
- Provider accountability: We ask about resistance to a documentation rule, schedule adjustment, or workflow change. What facts did the candidate bring? What authority did they hold? How did they record the decision and follow up when a physician disagreed?
- Survey and inspection preparation: Candidates should distinguish routine readiness from last-minute cleanup. We ask about staff preparation, policy review, record collection, and communication with state inspectors or accreditation surveyors. TJC or NCQA knowledge matters when it matches your setting and assigned work.
- Surgery center scheduling: For ASC leadership, we ask how the candidate reviewed block time, cancellations, turnover delays, and staffing coverage. A useful answer weighs room productivity against case preparation, patient flow, and available staff. We ask who approved schedule changes and how surgeons received the decision.
- Practice and ambulatory team management: We ask how they handled call-outs, cross-training gaps, front-desk backlogs, or referral queues that delayed appointments. Strong answers name the first report or observation used, the manager involved, and when a temporary workaround became a documented process change.
These are recruiting discussions about experience and stated credentials, not a substitute for clinical assessment. Your organization completes formal credentialing, license and privilege checks, and the hiring decision.
Where do we find them, and why would they move?
Our source pools include administrators from independent and physician-owned practices, multispecialty groups, ambulatory service organizations, and surgery centers. Some bring broad hands-on responsibility from small leadership teams. Others bring focused medical staff, revenue cycle, or outpatient operations experience. People may consider a move for clearer authority, a shorter commute, a new service line, or fewer approval layers.
We test that reason against your reporting structure, schedule, ownership model, compensation approach, and location. A stated reason alone does not establish fit.
Which mistakes stall the search?
A common mistake is hiring a large-system executive without asking which duties they completed when analysts, HR partners, and corporate departments were unavailable. Another is treating credentialing experience as interchangeable with practice operations, then learning the candidate has not managed registration, referrals, scheduling, or charge handoffs.
Waiting until finalist interviews to explain physician decision rights, block-time authority, budget ownership, or expectations for incomplete documentation.
How would we run the search for this opening?
Tell us where work breaks down. We screen credentials, work history, and fit through concrete examples. We separate practice, ambulatory, medical staff, and surgery center duties. We also separate build work from maintenance work. A surgery center may need someone who can question unused block time without disrupting case preparation, staffing plans, or surgeon relationships.
Define the role
Then we build questions around reporting lines, decision rights, and the first problems this leader must address.
Review screened candidates
We show how each candidate describes relevant decisions, follow-up, and results.
Hire on written terms
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
Tell us the role and setting. We will discuss the work and terms with you before a search begins. There is no fixed shortlist or placement promise.
What happens next
- The initial conversation clarifies the work, location and search terms.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- When we recommend someone, you get reasons for fit and open questions to assess. We support interviews and offer discussions.
- Fees.
- No upfront fee. Pay only if you hire, under the signed agreement.
- Exclusivity.
- Set out in the signed client agreement.
- Confidentiality.
- We agree the brief before outreach. This is not a promise of absolute anonymity.
- No hire.
- No hire means no fee on standard searches.
Every title in Practice, Ambulatory & Surgery Center Operations
- Practice Manager
- Practice Administrator
- Medical Group Administrator
- Director of Ambulatory Operations
- Regional Practice Director
- ASC Administrator
- ASC Clinical Director / Director of Nursing
- ASC Business Office Manager
- Regional Director of Operations, ASC
- VP of ASC Development
- Urgent Care Director of Operations
- Director of Medical Staff Services
- Dialysis Facility Administrator
- Regional Practice Manager
- Director of Operations
- Clinic Manager
- Director of Clinical Operations
Can you help with interim coverage?
Permanent/direct-hire recruitment is our core service across clinical, operational and leadership roles. If you need a temporary or other arrangement, describe the need so we can discuss whether we can help. Responsibilities and terms must be confirmed separately for that engagement. Your organization retains clinical assessment and credentialing responsibility.
Should we hire one leader for both practice and surgery center operations?
That depends on work volume, reporting lines, and the authority available to one person. We test whether candidates have managed both office flow and ASC scheduling rather than assuming one background transfers to the other.
How do you assess claims of revenue cycle improvement?
We ask for the starting problem, the candidate’s direct actions, and the reports reviewed. A credible answer identifies whether the issue involved registration, authorizations, charge entry, coding, denials, or follow-up ownership.
Is CPMSM or CPCS needed for this role family?
Not for every opening. These certificates can matter when medical staff services and provider-file management form a substantial part of the role.
How should we handle a counteroffer for a role with physician decision rights?
We ask early about compensation, decision authority, commute, and reasons for considering a move. If a counteroffer appears, you can discuss the actual scope, reporting relationship, and ownership available in your position rather than reacting only to pay.
What should you send us about this role?
Send us the role, where the person will work and what needs to change with this hire. We will ask about the work, not just the title. Share any license or schedule limits that could rule someone out before we begin the search.
Tell us which operation needs attention first. We will build the search around the weekly decisions your next leader must make.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What happens next
- The initial conversation clarifies the work, location and search terms.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- When we recommend someone, you get reasons for fit and open questions to assess. We support interviews and offer discussions.
- Fees.
- No upfront fee. Pay only if you hire, under the signed agreement.
- Exclusivity.
- Set out in the signed client agreement.
- Confidentiality.
- We agree the brief before outreach. This is not a promise of absolute anonymity.
- No hire.
- No hire means no fee on standard searches.
What happens beyond the introduction?
We explain our recommendation in writing and flag what your team still needs to assess. We gather interview feedback, resolve practical questions and support offer discussions. The goal is the right person for the work, not simply a shortlist.
Read the full six-step search process · Compare recruiting models
What are the fee and payment terms?
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. The signed agreement sets the fee and when it is due, along with the placement terms. We agree those terms before the search starts and before any candidate introductions. Temporary or contract coverage is a separate arrangement.
How long will it take to see a short list?
That depends on the job, schedule, available people, and what your employer can offer. We discuss those constraints before outreach and update you as candidates respond. We do not promise a fixed shortlist date. We check the job brief before arranging interviews. Tell us which parts of the role you can change.
What are the replacement terms?
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement. Ask us to walk through those terms before you sign, so you know how a replacement would work for your opening and who would start it.
What do we not do in a standard permanent search?
We do not bill standard contingency search by the hour or simply repost your job. Temporary coverage is a separate arrangement. Any retainer or different engagement must be agreed, not assumed. Tell us early if you need coverage while the permanent search runs.