Chief Medical Officer Job Description

Today the challenge that is facing the health care is growing in extent and intricacy. An executive physicians’ role has changed further than the usual responsibility of a medical director. Nowadays, the Chief Medical Officer is often situated as major decision makers for strategic planning, operations and hospital budgeting.

If you got that high level of energy and is comfortable in doing complex projects in concurrence with daily activities, then this may be a suitable career for you.

What is a Chief Medical Officer?

A Chief Medical Officer is the senior physicians in a health care institution, it may be a hospital or in a nursing home. They have the duty to lead and guide the whole medical department and also offer special services such as emergency services. Together with their medical duties, the chief medical officers present executive duties. The Chief Medical Officer is the one responsible for the day to day supervision of the health care association.

Duties of a Chief Medical Officer

• A Chief Medical Officer is the one who institutes and helps in the organization of the medical staff and checks the activities of the medical staff according to the ethical principles and the overall policies of an institution. They also schedule meetings with medical and support staff to guarantee excellent patient care.
• Chief Medical Officers compose objectives and policies for medical program and relay these policies to the right staff for it to be executed contained by an incorporated case management approach.
• A Chief Medical Officer suggests clinical objectives and partakes in the specification of objectives that are of the main concern for the health institution relating to the execution of care plan.
• Chief Medical Officers participates together with Human Resources, the hiring and meeting of medical staff and making sure of their credentials. They suggest the hiring or firing and other disciplinary actions of the medical staff for assessment and consent of the Chief Executive Officer.

Work Condition of a Chief Medical Officer

• The work environment of a Chief Medical Officer is active and demanding. They work long hours in hospitals that runs endlessly round the clock. A Chief Medical Officer will be on call to deal with emergency situations in the facility. They should be eager to go to seminars, meetings, and support other medical officers.
• The characteristic of the work environment may depend on the situation or the task that is performed by the Chief Medical Officer. There would be times when they would spend a lot of time in the office and times when they have to go on rounds to check the different departments.

Educational Requirement of a Chief Medical Officer

• For you to become a Chief Medical Officer you have to acquire a master’s degree in health care and health services administration. One must also have advanced medical degree and have an experience in management in the health profession.

Occupation and Progress of a Chief Medical Officer

• A career as a Chief Medical Officer entitles you with a great responsibility. A lot of new physician executive find managing the hospital an overwhelming task even for the most politically judicious one. The life expectancy of this job is five years or less, so most of the time physicians are hired and is expected to perform their best.

To be an effective Chief Medical Officer you must have done many things to gain experience and have the wisdom that was achieved from those experiences. This is a high paying job but what is more gratifying is seeing that your institution is giving the best quality health care to your clients.

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