Bariatric Surgery Assistant Specialty Medical Director - Charlotte, NC

Overview

The Assistant Specialty Medical Director (ASMD) is a patient-centered, system oriented physician leader accountable for the clinically relevant performance of the sites, care teams and providers within his/her assigned scope.  The Assistant Specialty Medical Director is directly responsible for the leadership performance of the Site-Based Medical Directors and Site Leads that report to him/her and will serve as supervisor, coach and highly supportive colleague to all of his/her direct reports.  Some of the major performance factors that will be focused on include: Clinical Quality/Safety, Patient Experience & Service Excellence, Access & Productivity, Appropriate Cost Effectiveness & Utilization, and Provider Engagement. 

One of the pivotal roles of this position is to represent the integrated system perspective to the Site Based Medical Directors, and to assist them in carrying that message to the providers; and to represent the frontline physician & APP perspective to the system via the Specialty Medical Director, to which the ASMD reports.  This bi-directional continuous communication and representation will serve to create a much more highly aligned, engaged and respectful organizational culture. 

The ASMD role sits in a highly complex organizational structure and will require the skills and behaviors of goal setting, performance monitoring & attainment, complex problem solving, coaching, multi-modal communication, relationship & network building, and engagement/alignment with organizational strategy & tactics. 

Finally, the ASMD – reporting to their Specialty Medical Director - will serve as an integral, highly collaborative and proactive member with the other ASMD’s in their specialty.  In this regard they will share and collaborate with their ASMD colleagues to create a highly performing and synergistic network within their specialty.  Medical Director roles that work within hospitals are also expected to interface effectively with hospital leadership and participate in all meetings and activities as requested by hospital leadership, as well as be the communication link between the service line/care division and the hospital.

The position includes two key components:

1. The ASMD’s will serve in the role of Site-based Medical Director for the site in which they practice.  The specific duties of this role are outlined in the Site-Based Medical Director job description.  Any exception to this will require approval by the physician’s Sr. Medical Director/President.  They are a role model in this respect and are expected to demonstrate exemplary performance in their site – as a physician/APP and the site-based medical director. 
2. The ASMD directly supports, mentors and is accountable for the performance of site-based medical directors and site leads (and their respective sites) that are located within their area of responsibility.   They are accountable for the overall performance of those designated sites as well as the communication and deployment of all organizational initiatives, such as: quality, safety & patient experience initiatives, Integrated System of Care initiatives/efforts, Strategic Growth initiatives, EMR updates, efficiency initiatives, and other clinically relevant operational imperatives.  With the changing payor environment, they will also be required to provide support in assisting the site-based medical directors and providers in understanding and adhering to contractual agreements/requirements.  This work will require communication and coordination with colleagues in services such as Quality, Performance Excellence, Health Informatics, Patient Experience, and Operations. 

Essential Responsibilities/Functions:

Deployment, Supervision & Achievement of Performance Goals (Quality, Safety, Patient Experience, Access & Productivity, Utilization & Cost Effectiveness, Integration of Care, Strategic Growth…) within their Specialty, for assigned sites.

• The Assistant Specialty Medical Director is accountable for the achievement of all performance goals for the sites that are assigned to them.
• Responsible for supervising, mentoring & supporting the site-based medical directors that report to them.
• Responsible for effectively communicating all information regarding strategic and tactical initiatives, as well as all other relevant information to the site-based medical directors, and sites.
• Responsible for representing the perspectives, questions, concerns of the providers and site-based medical directors and communicating this to the Specialty Medical Directors in a timely and regular fashion. 
• Responsible for actively identifying any problems within the sites, resolving those problems at their level to the best of their ability, and communicating this to the Specialty Medical Director.
• Participates as a highly collaborative member of the Specialty Medical Director’s team – sharing best practices and providing support to the other ASMD’s.
• Assistant Specialty Medical Director should spend at least one half-day (4 hours) on-site with each of their sites, at least twice per year to directly observe the ‘flow’ of the practice environment. 
• Assistant Specialty Medical Directors will meet with each of their direct reports one-on-one at least twice per year.  Review site-based and individual provider performance standards, goals & metrics with every site-based medical director on at least a quarterly basis – more frequently if a specific site is not meeting expected performance or is experiencing other challenges.
• Assistant Specialty Medical Directors will be responsible for preparing for and running a monthly meeting with their Site-Based Medical Directors.  The focus of this meeting is to serve as a link in the Representation, Communication, Engagement & Accountability monthly meeting cascade.  The agenda of this meeting will be not only be to (1) communicate organizational imperatives but also to (2) proactively obtain feedback and representation from the site-based medical directors. 
  • Another critical function of this leadership meeting will be to focus, in-depth, on the performance update/status of the various Performance Factors which have been outlined. In concrete terms, this will require a review & evaluation of the actual performance, at the level of the sites & providers, with a discussion around countermeasures. 
  • The ASMD will be required to be facile in utilizing the data reporting tools and to be able to access real-time performance data, for review, during these meetings.  This active review of performance against expected performance with a discussion of countermeasures will be the cornerstone function of this meeting.  The supervising Specialty Medical Director will assist the ASMD in creating the agenda for these meetings; and the administrative counterpart for the ASMD will assist in prepping for and facilitating this meeting.  It is expected that these meetings will occur 10+ times/year. 
  • Another purpose of this meeting will be to recognize and appreciate high performance from the Site-based Medical Directors and providers. 

Minimum Requirements:

• Must be BE/BC in Bariatric Surgery
• Have at previous experience as an MBSAQIP site Director/Section Chief of Bariatric Surgery

Physician Recruitment and Orientation

• Participate in individual physician recruiting within their area, on the front end of the recruiting process in introducing the candidates to the system.
• Serves as a resource for practice affiliation discussions and assists in assimilating physicians into the system

Physician Leadership and Professionalism

• Models Atrium Health values and leads by example to improve physician/APP relations within the site
• When necessary, assists Site Based Medical Directors in their role as arbitrator for physician/provider concerns including serving as a mediator between peers, staff and administration
• Responsible for the supervision and the annual self-assessment process for site-based medical directors in their specialty.  The ASMD will provide both a written evaluation as well as an in-person evaluation with their assigned site-based medical directors. 
• Assist group based medical directors in strategic planning and execution to achieve organizational goals.
• Serves on system committees or task forces, as required.
• Fully assists, as requested by site-based medical directors, in conflict resolution and performance improvement planning for specific providers, as well as in disruptive physician/APP behavior.

Anticipated Time Commitment

Time allocation is based on scope of responsibility and can vary from 20%-40% time and the expectation around time commitment will be identified up front and reviewed annually.  Administrative time may not be backfilled with clinical time (unless the site where the director practices has an urgent need for coverage/access periodically). 

Note:  Twenty percent time is equivalent to 1 full day/week, 30% is equivalent to 1.5 days/week and 40% is equivalent to 2 full days/week. 

Compensation

The administrative stipend is determined from a specialty specific benchmark for physician admin time per hour plus a maximum potential bonus incentive for the achievement of goals. The administrative base salary will be established prospectively based on the estimated number of administrative hours required and paid monthly.  The bonus will be paid annually in Q1 of the following fiscal year.

Annual Performance Evaluation

An annual performance evaluation is required for this position. This includes the establishment of annual goals at the start of the year, review and documentation of goal achievement at regular intervals during the year, and a year-end self-assessment with written feedback from and an in-person meeting with the Specialty Medical Director.  The annual year-end performance assessment will determine the percentage of the bonus paid out in Q1 of the following year.  Target incentive is 15%.

Reporting

This position reports directly to their Specialty/Sr Medical Director.  In addition to their SBMD and Site Lead direct reports, there may be situations where other physicians report to them (in the case of smaller sites with only a site lead). 

Adjustments to Medical Administrative Compensation

At the beginning of each fiscal year, Atrium Health will evaluate Physician/APPs hourly medical administrative rate and potential bonus incentive amount.  Atrium Health may increase or decrease such amounts in keeping with fair market value and Atrium Health policies.