The Director of Healthcare Risk Management provides enterprise-wide strategic and operational leadership for Denver Health's risk management programs. This role is responsible individually and through oversight of people and programs for identifying, analyzing, and mitigating clinical, operational, financial, regulatory, and reputational risk to protect patients, visitors, staff and the organization. The Director partners closely with executive and operational leaders, clinical leaders, legal counsel, patient safety and quality teams, and other stakeholders to drive a proactive clinical risk management program and develop a robust enterprise risk management system, ensure regulatory compliance, support high-reliability healthcare delivery, and safeguard Denver Health's patients, workforce, and assets. This position also works closely with in-house legal counsel and the risk/claims/insurance managers to maintain effective claim, insurance, safety, and loss prevention programs. The Director must be adaptive and innovative to meet the evolving and increasing risk management needs.

Essential Functions:

• Lead and oversee the health system’s comprehensive risk management program, with a strong focus on medico-legal matters and clinical risk, including adverse event management and regulatory compliance. Provide leadership and strategic direction and establish systemwide priorities and long-range strategies to reduce exposure and strengthen organizational resilience. Identify, collect, analyze and trend organizational risk data related to patient care, claims, operations, and service delivery, coordinating with stakeholders to implement actionable and sustainable improvements. Track and produce detailed, timely, and accurate reports of key indicators and data for loss trending, data reporting, exposure analytics, and integration of risk insights. Translate complex risk data into meaningful insights for executives to inform leadership decision-making. Continuously evaluate emerging industry trends to strengthen risk posture. (25%)

• Provide rotating, reoccurring 24/7 on-call support and timely consultation on legal and risk-related issues to staff across all Denver Health entities. Cultivate and effectively maintain status as a trusted advisor to hospital leadership, medical/nursing staff, and department leaders on complex risk and safety matters. Conduct and oversee the Root Cause Analysis (RCA) for high-risk and sentinel events, and ensure appropriate investigation, regulatory reporting and executive-level communication of findings. Collaborate with key stakeholders on risk mitigation initiatives and provide education to improve patient outcomes. (25%)

• In coordination with in-house legal counsel, risk/claim/insurance managers, insurances carriers, brokers, and adjusters, ensure early and timely identification, investigation, documentation, and reporting of potentially compensable events and other claims, including but not limited to HPL/GL, WC, Auto and EPL/D&O; maintain both internal external relationships to foster strong partnerships and support insurance operations and governance; evaluate insurance coverage relative to organization’s risk profile and provide recommendations to reduce financial exposure. (20%)

• Support and develop a high-performing risk management team, clinically and administratively, to ensure effective workforce planning, talent development, performance management, and leadership coaching at scale. Conduct performance evaluations, set goals, and support succession planning to ensure appropriate staffing coverage and workforce planning needs. (15%)

• Maintain fiscal accountability for the risk management functions, including budgeting, recordkeeping, resource allocations, and program management. (5%)

• Develop, draft, edit, review and maintain policies and procedures, and provide system or department-wide education and coaching. Chair or participate in committee work to advance organization and department priorities. (5%)

• Ensure ongoing compliance with CMS, Joint Commission, and other regulatory accrediting and licensing bodies, and oversee credentialing and insurance inquiries. (5%)

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Advanced analytical and data interpretation and data-driven decision-making skills (advanced excel proficiency, loss trending, risk information systems/platforms).

• Expert-level understanding and ability to develop and implement effective risk management programs for risk identification, investigation, and reduction in safety events.

• Demonstrated experience partnering with and influencing executive leaders, stakeholders, and developing effective working relationships.

• High proficiency with Microsoft Office, RMIS platforms, and comfort leveraging EMR data and trend analysis.

• Deep working knowledge of federal and state healthcare requirements and risk implications (HIPAA/privacy, professional practice standards, scope-of-practice, mandated reporting, informed consent, EMTALA awareness when applicable, and patient rights).

• Strong knowledge of professional liability/medical malpractice concepts: standard of care, causation, damages, documentation defensibility, disclosure and apology frameworks, privilege/peer review protections, claim lifecycle management, deposition preparation coordination, and insurer/TPA engagement.

• Ability to oversee and train professional staff and provide meaningful feedback to build and maintain a coherent team built on respect.

• Understanding of ambulatory and academic medical group operations and concepts, including interdepartmental workflows, patient grievances, and risk controls across clinical sites.

• Familiarity with captive insurance programs and insurance portfolios.

• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to present complex risk concepts to senior leadership and governing bodies, produce clear, defensible executive summaries and recommendations tailored to clinical leaders, and influence internal/external stakeholders.

• Ability to lead development/revision of clinical risk policies; ability to design and deliver targeted education and build a non-punitive learning environment that reinforces accountability, psychological safety, and continuous improvement.

• Innovative and critical thinker.

• Advanced knowledge of healthcare risk management and risk mitigation strategies.

• Understanding of the relationship between risk, legal, insurance, and claims.

• Strategic leadership, systems thinking, and enterprise planning.

• Proven ability to lead complex projects and manage departmental or program budgets.

• Complex problem-solving and decision-making skills.

• Strong organizational, prioritization, and project management capabilities.

Education:

• Bachelor's degree in clinical field (Nursing, Pharm.B./Pharmaceutical Science, RT, etc.) required

• Advanced degree in clinical healthcare fields (Nursing, Pharmaceutical Science, PT/OT, or other licensed clinical fields), Healthcare Management, Healthcare Administration, Healthcare Risk Management, Health Information Management (strongly preferred)

• CPHRM, ASHRM, must be achieved within 24 months of hire

• Clinical Licensure required

Work Experience:

• 10+ years Progressively responsible risk management, insurance, or risk finance experience required

• 5+ years in leadership roles at the departmental or system level required

Licenses:

• CPHRM- Certified Professional in Healthcare Risk Management preferred

• ASHRM - American Society for Health Care Risk Management preferred