Inpatient Pharmacy Operations Manager FT

Job Description

Job Description

Job Title: Inpatient Pharmacy Operations Manager
Industry: Healthcare / Health Services – Pharmacy
Category: Medical / Health – Pharmacy
Location: Colorado (Rural Hospital Setting)
Job Type: Full-time
Compensation: USD 149,600 – 224,500 (base salary)
Bonus: Annual bonuses based on organizational and individual performance

Job Summary

The Inpatient Pharmacy Operations Manager provides comprehensive leadership for both operational and clinical inpatient pharmacy services in a small rural hospital with advanced clinical care. The role oversees safe, efficient medication distribution, supports high-quality, evidence-based medication therapy, and serves as pharmacy lead for Epic Willow Inpatient workflows. This is a hands-on leadership position that directly manages pharmacists and technicians while balancing operational demands, clinical excellence, and staff development in a resource-limited environment.

Key ResponsibilitiesPharmacy Operations & Distribution

• Oversee daily inpatient pharmacy operations, including medication distribution, sterile compounding, automated dispensing cabinets (ADCs), controlled substances, and inventory management.

• Ensure compliance with USP standards, Joint Commission, and all applicable state and federal regulations.

• Optimize medication distribution systems, including ADC configuration, cart-fill workflows, and Epic–ADC integration.​

• Manage drug purchasing, shortage mitigation, medication waste reduction, and pharmacy budget stewardship.

• Develop, maintain, and enforce standard operating procedures (SOPs) aligned with safety, regulatory, and operational best practices.

• Lead operational quality improvement initiatives and track performance, safety, and efficiency metrics.

• Provide direct operational support during staffing shortages, off-hours, or high-volume periods.

Clinical Pharmacy Services

• Support inpatient clinical pharmacy services across all service lines to ensure safe, effective, and evidence-based medication use.​

• Lead medication safety initiatives, including adverse drug event review, root cause analysis, and process improvement.​

• Support formulary management, medication utilization evaluations, and Pharmacy & Therapeutics (P&T) Committee activities.

• Provide hands-on clinical pharmacist support during high-acuity periods or staffing gaps.

Epic Willow Inpatient Leadership

• Serve as pharmacy lead for Epic Willow Inpatient for both operational and clinical workflows.

• Oversee medication records, order routing, dispense workflows, inventory functionality, and reporting within Epic.​

• Lead build and optimization of clinical decision support (CDS), order sets, pharmacist documentation tools, and intervention tracking.

• Collaborate with IT and clinical stakeholders on Epic upgrades, optimization projects, and issue resolution.

• Ensure Epic Willow workflows align with regulatory requirements, patient safety goals, and rural staffing realities.

Staff Leadership, Education & Development

• Directly supervise pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, including hiring, onboarding, scheduling, training, competency validation, and performance management.

• Lead initial and ongoing education on operational workflows, clinical protocols, medication safety, and Epic functionality.

• Promote technician skill advancement and cross-training to support both operational and clinical services.

• Support pharmacist professional development and top-of-license practice.

• Provide medication-related education to nursing, providers, and interdisciplinary teams; support precepting of students/residents when applicable.

Collaboration & Communication

• Collaborate with nursing, medical staff, quality, supply chain, IT, and hospital leadership to resolve medication-use issues and improve processes.

• Serve as the primary point of contact for inpatient medication-use processes and represent pharmacy on hospital committees and interdisciplinary initiatives.

Qualifications

• PharmD required.

• Active, unrestricted pharmacist license in Colorado, in good standing.

• Hospital pharmacy experience required; rural hospital experience strongly preferred.

• Demonstrated leadership experience in both pharmacy operations and clinical pharmacy services.

• Experience managing pharmacy technicians and pharmacists.

• Epic Willow Inpatient experience strongly preferred (build/optimization or super-user/pharmacy lead exposure).

• Strong regulatory knowledge (state, federal, Joint Commission, USP), clinical judgment, communication, and teaching skills.

• Current BLS (AHA) and ACLS (AHA) certifications.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage (including eligible dependents).

• Employer-paid basic life insurance with optional buy-up coverage.

• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) for health care and dependent care.

• Paid time off (PTO), paid family and medical leave (including Colorado FAMLI), and paid sick/bereavement leave under Colorado HFWA.

• Tuition assistance.

• Retirement plans: 401(a) and 403(b) with employer matching contributions.

• Employee Assistance Program (EAP).

• Employee discounts on hospital medical services and voluntary benefits (e.g., discounted bus passes, gym memberships, corporate ski passes, car seat program, ski day passes based on availability).

• Eligible employer for federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).