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The
VP, Operations - Population Health (West Region)
is the senior operational leader and key dyad partner to the CMO, Population Health for Optum Health West. This role is accountable for building and scaling the region's market-facing medical management operating model across West markets - creating the management system, performance cadence, governance, and cross-market routines that improve the core drivers of medical expense performance.
This leader works through influence across markets, regional leaders, and enterprise partners to help markets manage the business more effectively every day. The VP ensures the region has a disciplined operating rhythm focused on leading and lagging indicators that drive MedEx performance, including avoidable inpatient utilization, avoidable ED use, post-acute utilization, pharmacy spend, care management reliability, high-risk patient groups, and patient access.
In partnership with the CMO, Population Health, this leader translates performance signals into action by helping markets identify the highest-value opportunities, establish clear accountability, and execute against measurable improvement plans. Success in the role requires solid change leadership, operating discipline, and the ability to mobilize leaders in a matrixed environment around a common performance model. This role is central to creating a durable, market-based medical management capability that improves day-to-day execution while also generating ideas and opportunities for the affordability agenda.
Primary Responsibilities
- Lead operational execution of the West market-facing medical management operating model across all West markets
- Serve in dyad partnership with the CMO, Population Health (West) to translate strategy into measurable operating plans, market priorities, and execution routines
- Drive a consistent operating rhythm, performance monitoring, and intervention model to improve medical expense performance across markets
- Drive implementation of shared best practices, standard work, and playbooks across markets to reduce unwarranted variation in medical expense performance
- Medical Management Operating Model
- Partner with the CMO, Population Health to design, implement, and continuously improve the West's market-facing medical management operating model
- Establish the management cadence, governance, decision forums, escalation paths, and accountability model needed to manage MedEx performance consistently across markets
- Stand up and lead a cross-regional performance forum focused on leading and lagging indicators of medical expense performance
- Lead monthly market and regional deep dives to identify root causes, prioritize actions, assign accountability, and monitor follow-through
- Leadership & Organizational Alignment
- Serve as the operational counterbalance to the clinical leadership spine (market CMOs + Assoc. CMO Pop Health) and the succession pipeline for future West leadership
- Coordinate with adjacent leaders in affordability, risk, quality, safety, and behavioral health as the operating model expands over time. Coordinate with VBC leaders (e.g., Colin Toney) and related medical management leaders (e.g., Neil Parikh) where population health intersects with VBC and utilization performance
- Support integration of newly transferred national CE team members focused on medical management execution
- Clarify accountabilities between market teams and shared-service partners to improve execution and reduce duplication or confusion
- Coordinate with adjacent leaders on the West CMO team and across the organization in in affordability, value-based care, risk, quality, safety, behavioral health, and other medical management functions as the operating model expands over time
- Support role clarity, operating alignment, and effective integration across regional and enterprise teams contributing to medical management performance
- Market Partnership & Performance Improvement
- Partner with market leaders to improve core drivers of medical expense, including inpatient utilization, avoidable ED utilization, post-acute utilization and spend, pharmacy trends, care management performance, and patient access
- Help markets translate data into focused action plans with clear owners, milestones, and measurable outcomes
- Reduce unwarranted variation across markets by identifying where standard work, shared playbooks, or tighter management routines are needed
- Build market capability to manage the business proactively and consistently through durable operating routines, not just one-time initiatives
- Identify and resolve operational barriers impacting performance across diverse West markets and geographies
- Facilitate cross-market learning to surface best practices and accelerate adoption of effective interventions
- Support a disciplined culture of performance management, accountability, and continuous improvement across the region
- Leading Indicator Management System
- In partnership with finance, analytics, and clinical leaders, define and maintain a standardized set of MedEx metrics and leading indicators across markets
- Ensure routine performance reviews connect operational metrics to financial outcomes and total cost of care trends
- Use dashboards and performance reviews to support exception-based management, root-cause analysis, and rapid course correction
- Create transparency across regions and leaders so performance issues, variation, and opportunities are visible and actionable
You'll be rewarded and recognized for your performance in an environment that will challenge you and give you clear direction on what it takes to succeed in your role as well as provide development for other roles you may be interested in.
Required Qualifications
- 10+ years of experience in health system, risk bearing medical group, care delivery operations, or value-based operations leadership
- Experience leading cross-functional clinical and operational teams in a complex matrix environment
- Demonstrated success in driving medical expense, quality, or risk improvement at scale
- Demonstrated solid operating discipline, change leadership, and ability to influence across a highly matrixed organization
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience in population health operations within large multi market organizations
- Familiarity with value based care economics and affordability levers
- Demonstrated solid change management capability; able to standardize and scale capabilities across markets
Pay is based on several factors including but not limited to local labor markets, education, work experience, certifications, etc. In addition to your salary, we offer benefits such as, a comprehensive benefits package, incentive and recognition programs, equity stock purchase and 401k contribution (all benefits are subject to eligibility requirements). No matter where or when you begin a career with us, you'll find a far-reaching choice of benefits and incentives. The salary for this role will range from $159,300 to $273,200 annually based on full-time employment. We comply with all minimum wage laws as applicable.
At UnitedHealth Group, our mission is to help people live healthier lives and make the health system work better for everyone. We believe everyone-of every race, gender, sexuality, age, location and income-deserves the opportunity to live their healthiest life. Today, however, there are still far too many barriers to good health which are disproportionately experienced by people of color, historically marginalized groups and those with lower incomes. We are committed to mitigating our impact on the environment and enabling and delivering equitable care that addresses health disparities and improves health outcomes - an enterprise priority reflected in our mission.
OptumCare is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer under applicable law and qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, national origin, religion, age, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by local, state, or federal laws, rules, or regulations.
OptumCare is a drug-free workplace. Candidates are required to pass a drug test before beginning employment.
