At St. Luke’s, we pride ourselves on fostering a workplace culture that values diversity, promotes collaboration, and prioritizes employee well-being. Our commitment to excellence in patient care extends to creating an environment where our team can thrive both personally and professionally. With opportunities for growth, competitive benefits, and a supportive community of colleagues, St. Luke’s is truly a great place to work.

Director of Pharmacy – Inpatient Services

Meridian Medical Center
Location: Meridian, Idaho
Department: Inpatient Pharmacy
Reports To: Hospital Executive Leadership
Direct Reports: ~42 Pharmacists; Full-Time Pharmacy Technicians

Position Summary:

The Director of Pharmacy is responsible for the overall leadership, operation, and strategic direction of all inpatient pharmacy services at Meridian Medical Center. This role provides hands-on leadership for a large acute-care pharmacy operation, ensuring safe, effective, and compliant medication-use systems that support exceptional patient care.

Consistent with Joint Commission Leadership (LD) standards, the Director promotes a culture of safety, quality, and accountability; ensures effective communication across disciplines; and maintains continuous readiness for regulatory and accreditation surveys. The Director serves as the accountable leader for pharmacy services, providing true people leadership, operational excellence, and strong cross-functional collaboration with nursing, medical staff, and executive stakeholders.

This role includes participation in an administrative on-call rotation of one week approximately every 3–4 months.

Key Responsibilities:

Operational & Clinical Leadership:

• Provide day-to-day oversight of all inpatient pharmacy operations, ensuring safe, efficient, and high-quality pharmaceutical care in alignment with Joint Commission LD and Medication Management standards.
• Lead pharmacy services for a large acute-care hospital environment (>100 beds).
• Ensure 24/7 operational continuity and participate in an administrative on-call rotation (one week every 3–4 months).
• Establish clear accountability structures, decision-making processes, and escalation pathways consistent with Joint Commission leadership expectations.
• Lead medication-use systems, staffing models, and technology deployment to optimize patient safety, reliability, and outcomes.
• Serve as a clinical mentor and provide clinical pharmacy leadership to pharmacists in daily patient care activities.
• Develop and implement new clinical pharmacy programs and service lines aligned with organizational priorities.

People Leadership, Culture & Safety:

• Provide direct leadership for approximately 42 pharmacists and pharmacy technicians.
• Recruit, hire, develop, coach, mentor, and evaluate staff, ensuring role clarity, competence validation, and performance accountability.
• Promote a culture of safety, psychological safety, and just culture consistent with Joint Commission LD standards.
• Lead teams through change, staffing volatility, and operational challenges while maintaining safety and service expectations.
• Ensure staff engagement in performance improvement, event reporting, and risk reduction activities.

Regulatory Readiness & Quality Excellence:

• Maintain continuous regulatory readiness and ensure compliance with Joint Commission, CMS, state board of pharmacy, and other applicable regulatory requirements.
• Lead survey preparation, execution, and follow-up, including tracer activity support and corrective action planning.
• Ensure pharmacy policies, procedures, and practices are current, effective, and consistently implemented.
• Develop, implement, and monitor quality assurance and performance improvement initiatives using data-driven outcomes.
• Serve as the designated accountable leader (e.g., Pharmacist-in-Charge, Residency Program Director) as assigned.

Financial & Resource Stewardship:

• Develop, manage, and operate within departmental budgets, including labor and drug expense management.
• Demonstrate disciplined resource stewardship with measurable outcomes tied to safety, quality, and efficiency.
• Align staffing models and resource deployment with patient acuity, service demand, and organizational priorities.

Collaboration & Executive Partnership:

• Partner closely with hospital and system leaders, including nursing leadership (CNO), physicians, quality, and operational departments.
• Collaborate with interdisciplinary teams to resolve conflict, influence outcomes, and improve care delivery.
• Participate in meetings with senior leaders and high-level stakeholders, representing pharmacy services with credibility and integrity.
• Ensure effective internal and external communication consistent with Joint Commission leadership expectations.

Strategic & Organizational Leadership:

• Lead and support organizational goals, strategic initiatives, and change management efforts impacting pharmacy services.
• Align departmental priorities with enterprise strategy, quality goals, and patient safety initiatives.
• Communicate clearly, consistently, and transparently, earning trust through accountability and ethical leadership.

Minimum Qualifications (Must-Have):

• At least 2 years of solid inpatient (hospital) pharmacy leadership experience with direct reports, including:
• Hiring and onboarding
• Performance management and corrective action
• Coaching and professional development
• Accountability and team leadership

(Informal, project-only, or lead experience does not meet this requirement.)

Preferred Experience & Leadership Attributes:

• Demonstrated leadership of inpatient pharmacy operations in an acute-care setting.
• Proven ability to build high-performing teams and lead through change and ambiguity.
• Strong cross-functional partnership and conflict-resolution skills.
• Demonstrated success maintaining continuous Joint Commission readiness.
• Experience managing labor and drug budgets with measurable financial and operational outcomes.
• High integrity, clear communication style, and strong executive presence.

Education & Licensure:

• Education: Degree from an accredited College of Pharmacy (PharmD or equivalent).
• Experience: Minimum of 5 years of pharmacy experience
  (MBA or completion of a Pharmacy Residency may substitute for up to 2 years of experience).
• Licensure: Current, unrestricted Pharmacist License in the State of Idaho (or ability to obtain).

At St. Luke’s, caring for people in the communities we serve is our mission – and this includes our own SLHS team. We offer a robust benefits package to support our teams both professionally and personally. In addition to a competitive salary and retirement plans, we ensure our team feels supported in their benefits beyond the typical medical, dental, and vision offerings. We care about you and have fantastic financial and physical wellness options, such as: on-site massages, on-site counseling via our Employee Assistance Program, access to the Personify Health Wellness tool, as well as other formal training and career development offerings to ensure you are meeting your career goals.

St. Luke’s is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, religion, color, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other status or condition protected by law.

*Please note: this posting is not reflective of all job duties and responsibilities and is intended to provide an overview to job seekers.