Chief Medical Officer Job Profile

Chief medical officers need years of clinical experience to understand treatment best practices, ensure patients receive quality care, and lead quality improvement initiatives. Chief medical officers help create continuing education programs and develop best practice guidelines for many diagnoses. Providers may ask them for second opinions on complex cases.

Chief medical officers must understand the legal regulations that govern medical and nursing practice in their state so they can prevent legal issues before they start.

“As a chief medical officer at WellNow…you have to understand the regulations in every single state [and] how we’re supposed to practice — every state is different,” Dr. Biernbaum said.

CMOs also spend much of their time in executive leadership meetings strategizing how to market their health system or making budgeting decisions.

Healthcare systems need accurate healthcare documentation and utilization review if they want government insurance plans, like Medicare, to reimburse them. Chief medical officers recognize accurate healthcare documentation and its importance. They often work with the chief medical information officer and clinical staff to ensure accurate healthcare information.

It’s not enough for chief medical officers to know how to document healthcare information — they must also know how to analyze it.

Hospitals and healthcare systems are graded and reimbursed by government insurance plans according to patient satisfaction ratings and outcomes, so chief medical officers must know how to use this data to plan and implement quality improvement measures.

You can learn data analysis skills through previous healthcare leadership roles.

Chief executive officers trust their chief medical officers to make the financial and personnel decisions in the health system.

Chief medical officers help providers balance the need to shorten hospital stays with reducing hospital readmission rates so facilities do not lose money to Medicare penalties. They must also ensure the facilities have experienced staff and the right equipment to provide the best care.

You may gain experience planning budgets as they gain administrative experience in healthcare.

According to Dr. Biernbaum, humble leadership is the most important skill good chief medical officers need to get their team to invest in the mission of providing quality care and improving clinical knowledge.

You can start building your leadership skills by running or helping to run a hospital department.

The chief medical officer is ultimately responsible for all clinical decisions. For those overseeing large health systems, that can mean taking ultimate responsibility for hundreds of staff and their decisions.

“Our medical staff has over 800 people. And so from a clinical standpoint, for all intents and purposes, they may report to somebody else, but clinically eventually it reports up through me,” said Dr. Biernbaum.

All this responsibility makes delegation to other leaders important. Delegation lets you focus on the organization’s most significant questions and problems. Then, you allow each team to focus on their questions and concerns and report their progress. You can learn to delegate as you gain leadership experience.

“One of the things about being a chief medical officer people don’t realize is you’re in a lot of meetings,” said Dr. Biernbaum.

Chief medical officers must excel at communicating business strategy, understanding legal regulations, and conveying their clinical expertise in meetings with clinical and executive leaders.

Chief medical officers also need a good rapport with clinical staff so they will trust their leadership.

The big picture questions that chief medical officers face daily, such as how to keep the organization legally compliant, ensure they get paid for services, and provide the highest quality care, involve a lot of small details.

For example, each state has different licensing and practice requirements for healthcare professionals. Chief medical officers must stay on top of the state’s requirements and regulations for everyone they oversee to ensure they’re compliant and can continue to practice.

Chief medical officers at larger healthcare organizations have managers in each department. Yet, at the end of the day, chief medical officers are responsible for all the small details and the big-picture questions.

Chief medical officers review cases of errors or potential errors to present as learning opportunities as part of their team’s education.

They need analytical skills to work with the rest of the clinical leadership to choose which cases to present and how to present them so that clinicians learn to prevent similar errors in the future.

“I started early this morning with an education session, but prior we have to prepare. I have a team of medical leadership that we talk about what case we want to review, and how we want to present it,” Dr. Biernbaum said.