POSITION SUMMARY
The Nurse Manager, Provider Connect Team leads the centralized hub responsible for acute patient transfer coordination, provider-to-provider consult triage, and telehealth facilitation — the primary relationship and communication bridge between University of Utah Health and partnering clinicians, both within and across the region. This role integrates the Acute Care Line (ACL), TeleHub, and Transfer Center functions into a single, accountable team supporting 24/7/365 coverage for inpatient transfers, tele-services, co-management, and consults, ensuring streamlined access, strict regulatory compliance, and seamless interdisciplinary communication.
The Nurse Manager translates PSN Hub strategy and system-level standards into day-to-day operations, ensuring provider-directed interactions are timely, clinically sound, and consistently delivered. This role carries direct accountability for staffing, clinical coverage models, workflow and algorithm standardization, regulatory compliance, budget performance, and team development — balancing daily tactical coordination, operational management, and strategic health-system alignment as the operational link between frontline coordination staff and the PSN Hub Leadership Team.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Clinical Operations & 24/7 Coverage
- Direct daily operations of the Provider Connect Team, ensuring uninterrupted 24/7/365 clinical and coordinator coverage for transfers, tele-services, co-management, and consults.
- Own the tiered coverage/escalation model (PSN Clinical Nurse Coordinator → PSN Nursing Supervisor → Transfer Center fallback), ensuring each tier is adequately staffed, trained, and activated appropriately.
- Oversee integration of ACL, TeleHub, and Transfer Center workflows into a unified intake and triage process, reducing handoffs and eliminating coverage gaps between previously siloed teams.
- Ensure staff apply validated clinical criteria and algorithms across transfer, consult, and telehealth calls; partner with care lines to develop and maintain accurate acceptance algorithms.
- Monitor physician call-routing systems to facilitate real-time communication between referring providers and on-call accepting specialists; provide real-time coaching and call review for PSN Hub staff.
- Coordinate specialty transport logistics with AirMed and other transport partners to ensure safe, timely transit for complex patients (e.g., ECMO).
- Partner with Patient Placement leadership, bed board staff, and the Clinical Nursing Supervisor to ensure patients are placed at the correct level of care in the most timely manner.
- Monitor and manage delayed-transfer mitigation processes and complex transfer escalations in partnership with clinical and administrative leadership.
Team Leadership & Workforce Management
- Provide direct leadership to PSN Nursing Supervisor(s), PSN Clinical Nurse Coordinators, and PSN Non-Clinical Coordinators, including recruitment, onboarding, professional mentoring, and annual performance evaluations.
- Build and maintain schedules ensuring appropriate 24/7 staffing levels aligned with transfer and consult volume, driven by KPIs.
- Lead hiring, onboarding, and staggered ramp-up of new Provider Connect Team FTEs, including staged onboarding cohorts for clinical and non-clinical roles.
- Scale staffing decisions using demand-based metrics, including call abandonment rate targets (<5%), programmatic growth, and sending-provider feedback.
- Maintain regular competency verification for staff, including EMTALA regulations and telephone triage protocols, reinforced through real-time feedback and call audits.
Compliance & Quality Assurance
- Serve as the accountable owner for EMTALA compliance, ensuring all intake, screening, and stabilization records fully comply with federal EMTALA guidelines and patient safety frameworks.
- Establish and monitor quality assurance and performance-monitoring processes for the Provider Connect Team, including call abandonment rates, transfer turnaround times, referral leakage, and other key operational metrics, with dashboard reporting to PSN Hub leadership.
- Support standardization of entry points, triage criteria, and documentation requirements consistent with PSN Hub-wide content architecture and governance standards.
- Participate in recurring review of clinical algorithms and escalation pathways to ensure alignment with current operational needs and system expectations.
- Act as the immediate escalation contact to troubleshoot provider relationship issues, intake rejections, and medical staff conflicts.
Financial & Strategic Management
- Develop and manage the Provider Connect Team's annual operational and personnel budget.
- Serve as a strategic partner in advancing access to specialized services — including provider consultations, e-consults, referrals, and patient transfers — supporting referral retention and growth.
- Foster strong relationships with referring providers and healthcare partners to position University of Utah Health as the preferred destination for specialty consultation and complex, tertiary, and quaternary care.
- Partner with the Office of Clinical Affairs Network Development team on new programs and affiliate agreements to align PSN services accordingly.
Program Infrastructure & Change Management
- Serve as the operational point of contact for Provider Connect Team readiness activities, working with the PSN Readiness Team to gather feedback and refine implementation plans.
- Support administrative stabilization of expanded specialty engagement and the transition to a centralized coordinator model.
- Lead structured change management for staff impacted by workflow redesign, including communication cascades and staff readiness activities.
- Represent the Provider Connect Team in PSN Hub governance forums, providing operational input on scope, staffing, and phased implementation decisions.
Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement
- Partner with PSN Hub Leadership (Nursing, Administrative, and Physician Leaders) to align Provider Connect Team operations with system-wide access and capacity goals.
- Maintain working relationships with referring/partnering clinicians, on-call specialty providers, and physician sponsors to support timely and accurate consult and transfer decisions.
- Collaborate with Care Enablement, Gateway, and Patient Journey Team leaders to ensure seamless handoffs and a consistent patient/provider experience across the PSN Hub.
Magnet & Professional Practice Leadership
- Model and promote professional nursing practice consistent with ANCC Magnet Recognition Program® standards, including evidence-based practice, shared decision-making, and structural empowerment within the Provider Connect Team.
- Engage Provider Connect Team staff in unit-based team councils and nursing staff in system-level professional governance councils, ensuring frontline voice is represented in PSN Hub workflow, staffing, and quality decisions.
- Champion nurses' professional development within the team, including support for specialty certification, continuing education, and advancement along the clinical ladder.
- Partner with Magnet program leadership to identify, track, and report Provider Connect Team contributions to nurse-sensitive indicators and other Magnet-required outcome measures.
- Ensure documentation, staffing decisions, and quality processes within the Provider Connect Team reflect current Magnet source-of-evidence expectations, in coordination with the Department of Nursing's Magnet program office.
- Foster a culture of transformational leadership, empirical outcomes, and continuous professional growth consistent with the Magnet model components across the team.
Required
- Current, active, unrestricted Utah RN license (or compact multistate license recognized in Utah), in good standing.
- BSN required; MSN highly preferred.
- Minimum of 3–5 years of acute clinical nursing experience, ideally within an Emergency Department (ED), Intensive Care Unit (ICU), or Critical Care environment, or equivalent experience in an acute care, transfer center, or care coordination setting.
- Demonstrated or progressive leadership experience (e.g., charge nurse, supervisor, or manager), including direct staff supervision and accountability for 24/7 clinical operations, staffing models, escalation pathways, and on-call coverage.
- Strong working knowledge of clinical triage, transfer, and consult workflows in an academic medical center or comparable health system.
- Basic Life Support (BLS) certification required.
Preferred
- Master's degree in Nursing.
- Prior experience operating in an access center, patient logistics hub, transfer center, or case management department.
- Familiarity with Epic configuration as it relates to referral, transfer, and consult workflows.
- Experience leading change managment initiatives involving workflow standardization and team integration.
- Certification in nursing administration, ambulatory care, or a related specialty (e.g.,NE-BC, CENP)
- Experience leading nursing teams within a Magnet-recognized or Magnet-seeking organization, including participation in shared governance structures and nurse-sensitve indicator reporting.
Workng Conditions and Physical Demands
This role supports a clinical operation that runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The Nurse Manager is expected to be available for off-hours escalation, participate in on-call leadership coverage as needed, and adjust schedule and presence to support go-live events, staffing transitions, and periods of operational stabilization.
Employee must be able to meet the following requirements with or without an accommodation.
- This is a sedentary position in an office setting that may exert up to 10 pounds and may lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects. Occasionally this position may be required to provide patient care and may need to exert up to 100 pounds in pushing, pulling, or moving objects such as medical equipment or in providing medical care to patients. When providing patient care, they be be exposed to infectious diseases or be required to function around prisoners or behavioral health patients.