Head of Clinical Operations & Strategy

About Cerula Care

Cerula Care is the first digital health company focused on providing integrated behavioral health (BH) services to people living with cancer. More than 22M people living with cancer have behavioral health needs such as anxiety, depression, substance use disorder, and PTSD. We currently integrate with oncology practices and health systems through the Collaborative Care Model (CoCM) to wrap our members with a behavioral health team, care programming, and outcomes analysis. We are looking to grow our services through health plan partnerships across multiple segments.

Why Choose Cerula Care

We understand choosing a place to work is an important decision, and we want you to know that we do not take it lightly on your behalf – we welcome all your questions as you go through the decision process! 

A few things to know about working at Cerula Care:

• Our culture is very collaborative, transparent, supportive, and feedback driven. All of us (yes all of us – including and especially our co-founders) are open to receiving and giving feedback in a helpful way to ensure we each grow and learn every day and importantly are always improving for the sake of our members and each other.
• We have a big mission to accomplish, and we want people who believe in that mission to join us. In joining our mission, we are not asking you to give up other parts of your life – while we do operate at the pace of an early-stage company, we respect each other’s needs, work hard together, and support each other.

Head of Clinical role: 

The Head of Clinical will be responsible for overseeing the clinical direction and operations of our behavioral health solutions, ensuring the highest standard of care delivery, compliance, and innovation. As a key executive, the Head of Clinical will lead the clinical team, collaborate with product development, and drive the integration of clinical expertise into our behavioral health solutions. You will be the bridge between the clinical world and the product/tech world, ensuring that our platform aligns with best practices, regulatory requirements, and patient care excellence. In a digital health company, it’s hard to feel there is a more important role to our success.   

Key Traits: 

• Proven ability and desire to adapt to a fast-paced, changing environment
• Strong knowledge of healthcare regulations, standards, and best practices
• Ability to work cross-functionally with technical and non-technical teams
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills

Key Responsibilities: 

Clinical Leadership, Innovation, Strategy & Care Program Development

• Define and implement the clinical strategy in alignment with the company’s mission and growth goals, including leading clinical research in Oncology Behavioral Health
• Lead clinical innovation efforts to enhance member care using forward thinking clinical care (e.g., integrative medicine), and technology (e.g., digital tools, AI, and data analytics)
• Lead the development of care programs, protocols and models
• Collaborate with the executive team to ensure clinical considerations are central to product development and business strategy

Clinical Operations, Compliance, & Quality:

• Oversee clinical operations, ensuring that all clinical services are compliant with relevant healthcare regulations, standards, and quality metrics (HIPAA, FDA, CMS, etc.)
• Develop and implement clinical and quality policies, procedures, and guidelines that align with legal and regulatory requirements
• Ensure seamless integration of clinical processes with the broader company operations
• Implement patient safety initiatives and evidence-based clinical protocols

Team Leadership & Development:

• Lead, mentor, and manage the clinical team, including BHCMs, Coaches, Clinical Supervisors, and Psycho-Oncologists
• Foster a culture of collaboration, continuous learning, and innovation across the clinical organization
• Recruit top talent and create a sustainable structure for clinical staff growth and development

Stakeholder Engagement & Partnerships:

• Build and maintain strong relationships with referring providers and collaborative with the Chief Medical Advisor on continuously strengthening the partnership and increasing referral rate
• Proactively determine what is needed to increase referral rates and create a relationship where Cerula Care is more sticky  
• Work closely with the Chief Medical Advisor to represent the company at conferences, industry forums, and in media engagements

Quality & Performance Improvement:

• Lead initiatives to improve patient outcomes, reduce costs, and increase efficiency using data-driven insights
• Establish and monitor clinical performance metrics, and lead quality improvement efforts

Educational, Certification, and Experience Requirements:

• MD, DO, NP, LCSW, PsyD or other advanced clinical degree required; MBA preferred
• 10+ years of clinical experience, with at least 5 years in a leadership role within a digital health startup
• Proven track record of leading clinical operations in a digital health environment.
• Proven leadership and team-building skills, including giving and receiving transparent feedback
• Expertise in clinical innovation, strategy, care model development, and quality improvement

Location Requirements:

• 100% virtual

Time Commitment, Salary, Start Date:

• Full-time (realistically, 50+ hour weeks given we are a fast-paced startup!)
• Start date: Jan 2025