Chief Executive Officer, Betances Health Center

MISSION

Betances Health Center promotes quality health care as a basic right for all regardless of the ability to pay.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Are you a caring leader who is inspired and compelled to ensure that all people are provided the basic human right of quality and affordable health care?  

Are you committed to the tenets of self-determination, empowering community members to build upon their assets and drive healthcare transformation for their community? 

Will you lead with a sense of urgency to take a highly successful community-oriented healthcare organization committed to equity to the next level with a spirit of confidence and optimism, building upon existing strengths while advancing new paths for growth?

Can you raise money and build partnerships to strengthen the financial health of the organization and expand services and outreach?

Will you promote Team-Based Care, building upon a patient-centered medical home with a culture that values equity, respect, diversity and collaboration?

VALUES

Betances is guided by its values of compassion, commitment, relationship building, excellence, diversity, and patient-focused holistic care.

SEARCH SUMMARY

Betances seeks a CEO who is fired up and outraged by the injustice and inequitable services that all too often strip vulnerable populations of critical access to one of the most fundamental human rights: affordable and comprehensive high-quality health care. As a social justice champion, the CEO must share a firm conviction that everyone, regardless of socio-economic status, deserves the highest quality healthcare available and must lead with a sense of urgency to ensure this basic right for all. 

The new CEO will take over an organization with an extraordinary record of achievement in its 54-year history. To build upon Betances’ legacy, the CEO will possess strategic vision, entrepreneurial acumen, and the ability to manage and guide a complex organization in the competitive and transitioning healthcare marketplace, advocating for a diverse and underserved population that would otherwise have limited or no access to basic healthcare.

OVERVIEW

Betances Health Center is a not-for-profit agency that provides access to quality, culturally competent, and Comprehensive Community-Based Primary Care, HIV/AIDS care, Oral Health/Dental Services, Nutrition Services, Podiatry Services, Reproductive Health Care, and Behavioral Health & Social Services for a culturally diverse population with a large immigrant base. Its story began in early 1970 when Paul Ramos, the founder and tireless advocate, brought affordable health care to the medically underserved population of his beloved community of the Lower East Side through a robust mobile medical unit. Through Paul's dedication and hard work, Betances found a permanent home on Henry Street on the Lower East Side, one of New York City’s most diverse communities, where it has become one of the leading comprehensive primary care facilities serving poor and low-income community members. Many came to see Paul as a modern-day incarnation of the agency’s namesake, Ramón Emeterio Betances, a 19^th-century Puerto Rican physician and poet known as “the Father of the Poor” who received a medical degree in Europe and then returned to Puerto Rico to found a hospital and defend the island against the cholera epidemic of 1856.

Today, Betances offers a broad selection of services and programs for people of all ages. A new health center in Bushwick opened in July of 2018, enabling Betances to expand its outreach to another community with deep healthcare needs. Their services are completely confidential. As a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), designated in 2006, Betances does not turn anyone away. They take care of individuals and families who otherwise have little or no access to basic healthcare and serve over 7,500 individuals a year. Patients receive care regardless of immigration status, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, or ability to pay.

Betances has a staff of approximately 115 and an operating budget of more than $27 million.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND PRIORITIES

Internal Management

·          Leadership – Lead with an inspirational strategic vision that fully embraces the mission, while simultaneously and most critically keeping a finger on the pulse internally of day-to-day operations, services, and activities.

·        Prioritization and Commitment to Outcomes – Organize and prioritize Betances’ activities to most effectively fulfill its mission. Execute its strategy with a commitment to excellence across all operations and a passion for delivering measurable outcomes, which positively impact the lives of the people it serves.

·        Programs – Know Betances’ programs and appreciate whom the organization is serving, how its programs are structured and funded, how performance is measured, how money is being spent, and what it costs to ensure and deliver quality services efficiently. Ensure patient and staff safety through reviewing and revising policies and procedures and regulatory compliance. Oversee the preparation and successful completion of audits and inspections from HRSA, NYSDOH and other agencies.

·        Strengthening Infrastructure and Operations – Oversee the financial status of the organization, including developing long-term and short-range financial plans, monitoring the budget, meeting regulatory requirements, and ensuring sound financial controls are in place. Evaluate programs, balancing fiscal realities with the organizational mission. Plan and oversee comprehensive process and transition to new headquarters building.

·        Staff – Attract, build, lead and evaluate a highly motivated, competent, culturally diverse, and multilingual team engaged in a transformation effort with a common vision, sense of purpose, and shared objectives. 

External Representative

·        Resource Development –  Grow and broaden a sound and diversified funding base.  Ensure existing government funding stream is maintained and strengthened. Build a fundraising event.  

·        Public Role and Relationship Building – Serve as a very visible spokesperson and ambassador. Engage and coalesce stakeholders around the mission and provide leadership to raise profile and attract resources. Establish and maintain relationships with other providers and institutions, national/state/local organizations, government offices, and other community agencies to build collaborations that expand services.

Board Relationship

·        Board Relations – Cultivate a strong and transparent working relationship with the Board based on trust and confidence, and ensure open communication about the measurement of financial, programmatic, and impact performance against stated milestones and goals. Forge relationships that will bring forth their best ideas and efforts in support of Betances’ activities. Help attract and recruit diverse and inclusive Board members.

·        Strategic Planning – In concert with the Board and executive staff, develop, support, manage, and implement the strategic plan (both short-term and long-term goals and objectives) while ensuring that the budget, staff, and priorities are aligned with Betances’ core mission. Incorporate the strategic plan into the organization’s operating and business plan and ensure that the strategic plan is implemented in a timely and cost-effective manner. Support the executive staff in implementing and operationalizing the strategic plan. Direct the establishment of standards, methods, and metrics to assess Betance’s financial, operational, and quality of care.

·        Growth – Build upon Betances’ history of success and its momentum for growth. Assess opportunities and plan for prudent expansion into new markets.

·        Evaluation – Assess and evaluate the organizational structure, staff, and functions and make changes where necessary.

EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS

The CEO should have the following experience and qualifications:

·        Proven managerial, problem-solving, and strategic planning capability and commensurate fiscal responsibilities, with experience in the government, social services, or healthcare fields; community health center experience could be a plus.

·        

·        A true understanding of and appreciation for the power of community as an advocate and provider of essential services; familiarity with Lower East Side, Bushwick, or similar underserved communities;

·        Proven ability to partner effectively with a board and to inspire and lead a staff;

·        Proven record of success relevant to fundraising and/or marketing strategies and the ability to harness financial resources by building effective relationships with government sources and other potential donors;

·        An understanding of government grants and contracts and the political landscape for funding ;

·        Four-year college degree required; graduate degree preferred.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

The successful candidate should be:

·        A deeply committed advocate for social justice with evidenced effective leadership in addressing issues of racial, social, and economic inequities, particularly in health;

·        A catalyst and doer able to conceptualize and express ideas and anticipate and act on events;

·        A strong, decisive leader able to build consensus and work collaboratively to maximize contributions of staff;

·        Diplomatic and persuasive to manage a group of professionals and Board members with strong opinions;

·        A creative problem solver and skilled negotiator who can initiate rather than just respond;

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·        Fluency in Spanish can be a plus.

Salary Range $300,000 - $350,000

Please send applications and nominations to Paul Spivey and Susan Meade to:

Betances@PhillipsOppenheim.com

                                                                   Betances Health Center