Vice President, Clinical Operations - Behavioral Health UM
Posted Sep 30, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 5, 2026
Likely interview questions for this role
Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.
About your past
Tell me about a time you turned around a clinical operation that was missing its performance targets.
What they are checking: Whether they have actually diagnosed and fixed a struggling team rather than only managing a healthy one.
How have you trained staff to shape provider behavior so providers deliver care more effectively?
What they are checking: Whether they see provider engagement as a skill to build in staff, not just a policy to enforce.
Describe a time you worked with claims or another department to fix a provider claims problem that was hurting relationships.
What they are checking: Whether they will cross functional lines to solve problems that land on providers, even when clinical does not own them.
How do you develop the leaders who report to you in a role spread across markets?
What they are checking: Whether they build strong leaders below them so quality does not depend on their personal attention.
What would you do
How do you balance utilization management goals with making sure members still get clinically appropriate behavioral health care?
What they are checking: Whether they can hold cost and care quality together without letting either one quietly win.
A state client raises concerns in a QI meeting about denial rates for residential treatment. How do you respond in the room and afterward?
What they are checking: Whether they can handle contract partner scrutiny with data and humility instead of defensiveness.
You are the subject matter expert on new implementations. What do you insist on being ready before a new market goes live?
What they are checking: Whether they know where implementations break, like staffing, criteria, reporting and provider readiness, before launch day.
About the work
What would your clinical strategic vision for behavioral health utilization management look like across multiple markets?
What they are checking: Whether they can set one coherent direction while respecting that each market has its own contracts and rules.
Which metrics and benchmarks would you watch most closely for behavioral health UM and care management, and why those?
What they are checking: Whether they know the measures that reveal real performance, like readmissions and follow-up after hospitalization, not just volume.
Walk me through how you manage an annual budget for clinical operations when volumes are hard to predict.
What they are checking: Whether they can plan staffing and spend responsibly when behavioral health demand swings.
How do you make sure the reports required by the contract are accurate and delivered on time across many markets?
What they are checking: Whether they treat contract reporting as a compliance obligation with controls, not an afterthought.
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As published by Centene.