Chief Pharmacy Officer

Company: Providence Health & Services
Location: East Irvine
Posted on: October 30, 2025

Job Description:

Overview The Chief Pharmacy Officer is an executive position responsible for comprehensive strategic and operational pharmacy services leadership for Providence Health System. The Chief Pharmacy Officer (CPO) is expected to lead the transformation of pharmacy services across all divisions within the health system, bridging leadership in delivering pharmaceutical strategies system-wide. He or she will ensure the delivery of safe, effective, high-value and accountable pharmaceutical services across the continuum to ensure high-performance affordability, patient experience and health outcomes for those served. This individual will function as a member of the Providence clinical senior executive leadership team, which has responsibility for the development and implementation of a high-performance delivery system. This role can be located in either our Seattle, WA, Irvine, CA or Portland, OR markets. Key Responsibilities Reporting to the Chief Executive - Clinical Shared Services, the CPO will build effective working relationships system-wide with pharmacy and operational leaders across the full continuum of care, in order to achieve pharmacy strategic objectives. The chief pharmacy officer will play a role in defining the structure of the pharmacy organization in order to achieve those goals. The primary duties of this position will include the following areas: Leadership oversight : Accountability for financial sustainability, regulatory compliance, operational efficiency, and clinical and quality program oversight within Providence. Through a well-defined pharmacy management structure and operating governance framework, accountable for executing strategies and tactics for pharmacy services (clinical and product-level services) across business units and programs, assisting regional and local implementations Responsible for leading a system pharmacy governance council, with membership of pharmacy leaders from each region, providing strategic direction and pharmacy priorities in coordination with the Providence clinical strategic plan Participates in and actively engages on various Providence leadership councils to ensure that the voice of pharmacy is integrated in any work being planned and/or implemented across the system Builds and maintains strong, positive relationships with medical staff through participation with the system P&T committee, Clinical Care and Personalized Health, and the CQO and CNO offices to integrate physicians into decision-making processes and to ensure that clinician needs are heard and addressed Maintains high employee morale and positive relationships with employees in a manner that results in high employee satisfaction and excellence in patient care delivery Supports and develops management staff to build a high-performing and productive management team Leads the Providence Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, with responsibility for charter compliance, meeting development, membership, and maintenance of the committee; this includes working with Clinical Care and Personalized health to ensure appropriate Clinical Review Committees for therapeutic class reviews as needed by the committee Through the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, develops and maintains a high-performing Providence St. Joseph Formulary for the system Pharmacy technology investment oversight : Provides consultative expertise and influence to pharmacy business units and assists in guiding regional and system direction on key pharmacy technology investment decisions Utilizes the pharmacy governance council as a framework for development, justification, approval, and deployment of technology-related decisions and recommendations within the system processes and approval committees Sanctions diverse workgroups through the pharmacy governance council to assess the need for specific technology within pharmacy business units and regional divisions, with the expectation of support from the leadership at the business unit level to lead these workgroups as necessary Partners with Informatics, pharmacy directors from across the regions, Chief Information & Digital Officer, Chief Executives, and other key stakeholders to ensure that appropriate decision channels are pursued in implementing technology and achieving triple-aim measures at an enterprise level Pharmaceutical supply chain oversight : System oversight for efficient pharmacy supply chain practices across all business units within Providence such that economies of scale and operational efficiencies are maximized in service to triple aim Responsible for coordinating with system Clinical Program Services leadership and Supply Chain Shared Services leadership in maximizing pharmaceutical supply chain contract opportunities for lowering unit cost for Providence through multiple levers (e.g., aligning formulary and business decisions and payer and supplier contracts) Responsible for oversight and management of all contracts with pharmacy suppliers and manufacturers, in conjunction with the Providence Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee Quality and safety oversight : Provides strategic consultative expertise for medication management-related quality initiatives for the system through the Clinical Council and regional quality councils Champions and cultivates a culture of patient and staff safety across all regional pharmacy business units through consultation, systems deployment and E2E sharing Assists workgroups or programs led by the regional leaders to strengthen medication safety programs across the system, with approval through the Pharmacy Leadership Council and Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee Participates on system-level committees addressing medication safety priorities, and advocates for public policy that will improve overall population health, through actively engaging with Providence stakeholders and regional and national organizations Relationship management oversight : Maintains close relations with each pharmacy leader to ensure that a collaborative matrixed model is sustained Participates and assists with key decisions for recruitment, retention, input for annual personnel evaluations, and goals of pharmacy leaders within Providence St. Joseph Develops key relationships with regional and system executives, operational leaders, physician leaders, and clinical leaders across the organization through expert-to-expert collaborative initiatives, in conjunction with Clinical Program Services Participates at the executive level in long-range strategic planning activities for the organization, and, when appropriate, provides executive leadership across a broad range of services Establishes and maintains key relationships with colleges of pharmacy in all regions, providing executive-level leadership and support for student growth opportunities at Providence St. Joseph facilities, preceptor development, and research, and providing support for residency development in all areas of Pharmacy Pharmacy workforce development oversight : Assists regional and local leadership in the establishment and maintenance of safe, supportive, and healthy work environments in which to practice pharmacy throughout the system Works closely with human resource executives and business partners in developing and implementing key strategies for hiring and retaining a highly-talented and diverse pharmacy workforce; ensures that robust career ladders for pharmacy technicians, pharmacists, pharmacy leaders, and other business-specific positions are fully developed to maintain high-performance teams and success, measured through objective internal and external benchmarks for individuals working at the top of their licenses Together with HR, Develops a workforce pipeline strategy to ensure a skilled supply of pharmacists, pharm Ds and pharmacy technicians into the future Establishes and maintains retention strategies for high-performing employees, supporting individual and team growth and development Demonstrating business effectiveness : Collaborates with finance and executive leadership across the system to create partnerships, in order to ensure the sustainability and growth of pharmaceutical services Participates, as requested, on Clinical Care and Personalized Health, medical group, and health plan initiatives, promoting opportunities for pharmacist involvement with population management relevant within the scope of practice for pharmacy Provides guidance for the governance of appropriate financial management oversight, operational and capital budget planning and forecasting, and labor planning and benchmarking internally and externally, in order to promote “best in class” operational efficiencies within pharmacy business units and regional pharmacy services Understands how people and organizations function, and is able to maneuver through complex political situations effectively Assists all pharmacy leaders regarding compliance with all professional, regulatory, and legal standards in the development of organizational policy Qualifications The appropriate candidate for this position will possess an RPh or PharmD degree with a qualified and unrestricted license, along with ten years of pharmacy management experience in the hospital, health plan, or medical group setting, including staff accountability and a proven track record of results. Additional qualifications sought include: Experience in pharmaceutical contracting, P&T committee organization, and pharmacy integration in clinical practice; Training in negotiations and communications; Familiarity with process improvement approaches and their application in clinical settings; Leadership and communication skills proven within clinical settings. About Providence At Providence, our strength lies in Our Promise of “Know me, care for me, ease my way.” Working at our family of organizations means that regardless of your role, we’ll walk alongside you in your career, supporting you so you can support others. We provide best-in-class benefits and we foster an inclusive workplace where diversity is valued, and everyone is essential, heard and respected. Together, our 120,000 caregivers (all employees) serve in over 50 hospitals, over 1,000 clinics and a full range of health and social services across Alaska, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas and Washington. As a comprehensive health care organization, we are serving more people, advancing best practices and continuing our more than 100-year tradition of serving the poor and vulnerable. Providence offers a comprehensive benefits package including a retirement 401(k) Savings Plan with employer matching, health care benefits (medical, dental, vision), life insurance, disability insurance, time off benefits (paid parental leave, vacations, holidays, health issues), voluntary benefits, well-being resources and much more. Pay Range: $ $400k - $ $600k The amounts listed are the base pay range; additional compensation may be available for this role, such as shift differentials, standby/on-call, overtime, premiums, extra shift incentives, or bonus opportunities.

Keywords: Providence Health & Services, Irvine , Chief Pharmacy Officer, Healthcare , East Irvine, California