Medical Director

Overview

The Medical Director is an integral part of the program leadership team. This role requires availability to the hospice team and commitment to the hospice philosophy.

All hospice physicians are stewards of the Medicare Hospice Benefit and Good Shepherd Hospice firmly believes that each hospice physician, either Medical Director or Associate Medical Director engage and educate their medical communities on the value and necessity to use hospice services. Our goal at Good Shepherd Hospice is to provide the highest quality hospice care in our communities. We want all of our team members to be confident in advocating Good Shepherd Hospice in a compliant and ethical manner. 

Responsibilities

• Oversee and continually evaluate quality of medical services provided to Good Shepherd Hospice patients. 
• Ensure that physician staffing is available for 24 hour, on-call availability of Good Shepherd Hospice patients, either through direct management of the patients or through the scheduling of available Associate Medical Directors along with themselves. 
• Attend, actively participate and lead Interdisciplinary team meetings as requested. 
• Assist team with generating plans of care for Good Shepherd Hospice patients. All hospice physicians are responsible for the initial and ongoing recertification of patients for the terminal diagnosis and related diagnosis(s). 
• Review each potential admission ensuring timeliness and authorization for the admission to the hospice program. 
• Create and maintain a network of physicians to serve the needs of Good Shepherd Hospice patients. 
• Medical education via informal and formal rotations, fellowships and other mentoring opportunities.  Assist with development of market and company wide specific growth strategies aimed at the medical community.
• Internal educating and training on medication usage with the hospice team. 
• Home visits to patients if applicable and based on current contract. 
• Quality improvement and cost containment through activities such as formulary usage, protocol development and through work with community physicians. 
• Act as a medical liaison between Good Shepherd Hospice and the attending physicians including education and consulting. 
• Other duties as assigned. 

Qualifications

• Embracement of the hospice philosophy.
• High level of internal and external visibility. 
• Timeliness to meetings and active engagement while there. 
• Understanding of this role in compliance. 

• Works with, builds and fosters relationships within their medical community and other attending physicians. 
• Builds and maintains positive internal relationships. 
• Ensures excellent and positive teamwork with leadership team at Good Shepherd Hospice. 

• Will be licensed as a doctor of medicine or osteopathy is the state of the program assigned, without restriction. Must not be subject to any disciplinary or corrective action.
• Is an employee or under contract with Good Shepherd Hospice. 
• Knowledge of the healthcare communities in program area. 
• Commitment to the hospice philosophy of care. 
• Demonstrates strong leadership and communication skills. 
• All areas defined as required in the Medical Director contract with Good Shepherd Hospice. 

• Annual performance review. 
• Attendance and timeliness in IDT. 
• Consistent availability to engage with attending physicians and educate the healthcare community of the hospice philosophy.