Chief Operating Officer

About this role

Building Location: Building D - Miller Dwan Medical Center - EH Duluth

Department: 2048020 SMDC ADMINISTRATION - SMDC HOSP

Job Description: Essentia Health is hiring the operations executive for our East Market: nine hospitals across northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin, from St. Mary’s Medical Center in Duluth, the region’s Level I trauma center, to critical access hospitals serving some of the most rural communities in the Upper Midwest, together with the clinics, post-acute services, and EMS operations connected to them. It is the largest operating portfolio in our system, and it reports to Essentia’s system Chief Operating Officer.

The East Market COO owns the market’s performance and works daily with the system Chief Operating Officer, peer operations executives, and physician leaders. It is work for someone who has run many hospitals, not one; who has delivered quality and margin in the same year; and who is at their best leading through physicians, labor partners, and frontline teams.

Education Qualifications: Graduate degree in health care administration, business administration, nursing, or a related field

  The Role: • Run daily operations for the East Market’s hospitals, clinics, post-acute services, and EMS. • Answer for the market’s performance: financial results, productivity, quality and safety, patient experience, and growth. • Build common operating practices with peer operations executives across the system. • Lead alongside physician and advanced practice leaders, and deliver clinical and operational results with them. • Carry the labor relationship: durable, constructive relationships with our unions, in partnership with the Chief Human Resources Officer. • Deliver major construction inside operating hospitals and clinics safely, on schedule, and on budget. • Move care delivery toward value: access, affordability, and reliable follow-up after discharge. • Build the leadership bench: hire, develop, and retain the operators who run the market.

Required Experience: • Ten or more years of senior health care operations leadership in a complex system, at least five at the executive level. • Results at scale in finance, operations, and clinical quality. • Decisions on record that favored the larger organization over your own unit. • Physician partnership that produced results, not just relationships. • Leadership in a union environment, including through negotiations and hard moments. • Range as a communicator: equally credible with frontline staff and a governing board.

Preferred Qualifications: • Operating experience across tertiary, community, and critical access settings. • Command of Lean or a comparable improvement discipline, practiced rather than referenced. • Multi-year change leadership with daily performance held steady throughout. • A record of developing leaders who advanced. • A leadership style at home in a mission-driven organization.

Work Location: • This role is on-site, based in Duluth, Minnesota, with regular presence across East Market communities.

Licensure/Certification Qualifications:

FTE: 1

Possible Remote/Hybrid Option:

Shift Rotation: Day Rotation (United States of America)

Shift Start Time:

Shift End Time:

Weekends:

Holidays: No

Call Obligation: No

Union:

Union Posting Deadline:

Compensation Range: $412,672.00 - $619,008.00

Employee Benefits at Essentia Health:
At Essentia Health, we’re committed to supporting your well-being, growth, and work-life balance. Our comprehensive benefits include medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance, along with supplemental options to fit your needs. We offer a 401(k) plan with employer contributions to help you plan for the future, and we invest in your professional development through training, tuition reimbursement, and educational programs. To help you thrive both at work and at home, we provide flexible scheduling, generous time off, and wellness resources focused on your physical, mental, and emotional health. Please note that benefit eligibility may vary. For full details, refer to your benefit summary or contact our HR Service Center at (218) 576-0000.

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