Associate CMO, Acute and Post-Acute Care - 141479

The Associate Chief Medical Officer for Acute and Post-Acute Care (aCMO) provides physician executive leadership for the clinical alignment, standardization, governance, and performance of care across the acute and post-acute continuum.

This role is responsible for partnering with clinical departments, physician leaders, operational executives, and care teams to develop enterprise clinical operating models that ensure patients receive consistent, high-quality, evidence-based care regardless of care setting, hospital location, or physician practice model.

The aCMO serves as the health system physician executive responsible for acute care clinical alignment, including partnership with Hospital Medicine, consultative services, specialty services, and post-acute providers. The role focuses on how care is delivered clinically-including physician workflows, care models, clinical standards, handoffs, and interdisciplinary collaboration-not patient placement, capacity management, or real-time throughput operations.

The aCMO works closely with Mission Control, Quality leadership, Nursing, Care Management, Population Health, and physician leaders to ensure clinical practices enable safe, reliable, and efficient care across the continuum.

Key Responsibilities:

• Acute & Post-Acute Clinical Model Design & Alignment

Lead development, continuous improvement, and systemwide adoption of standardized clinical models of care spanning acute and post-acute settings. Establish enterprise clinical expectations for:

-Acute care workflows, including interdisciplinary rounds, handoffs, cross-coverage, escalation pathways, consultative models, and discharge planning

-Clinical readiness and shared accountability across care settings

-Post-acute care delivery models, including SNF, LTACH, IRF, and home-based care

Serve as the physician executive responsible for aligning hospital-based clinical services, including Hospital Medicine, consultative services, Nursing, Advanced Practice Providers, Pharmacy, Laboratory, Imaging, Rehabilitation, Procedural Services, and other key clinical and operational partners.

Partner with department chairs, division leaders, medical directors, nursing leaders, and operational executives to establish consistent enterprise expectations while respecting departmental responsibility for specialty practice, faculty oversight, education, and research.

• Hospital Medicine & Acute Care Physician Alignment

Serve as the health system physician executive responsible for advancing an integrated, high-performing Hospital Medicine care model across the enterprise, including academic, community, employed, and contracted hospitalist environments.

Partner closely with the Department of Medicine, Division of Hospital Medicine, hospital medical directors, and contracted hospitalist leadership to align clinical models, care delivery expectations, and enterprise priorities.

Provide strategic physician leadership for the health system-supported Hospital Medicine model, including:

-Development and evolution of enterprise Hospital Medicine care models and practice standards

-Alignment of hospitalist workflows, including admissions, rounding models, handoffs, cross-coverage, escalation pathways, and discharge practices

-Establishment of shared expectations for quality, safety, patient experience, clinical performance, and other key performance indicators

-Integration of Hospital Medicine with specialty services, Nursing, APPs, Care Management, Mission Control, and other clinical operations

-Optimization of physician and APP workforce models to support high-quality, reliable care delivery

-Development of governance structures and performance improvement processes that support alignment across diverse Hospital Medicine practice models

Serve as a key relationship leader between the health system, academic departments, and contracted hospitalist partners to ensure Hospital Medicine functions as an integrated component of the enterprise acute care delivery model.

• Post-Acute Clinical Integration & Care Transitions

Provide physician leadership for clinical integration between hospitals and post-acute partners, including employed and affiliated providers.

Establish standards for:

-Medical oversight and physician communication

-Transition documentation and care plans

-Medication reconciliation

-Goals of care and advanced care planning

-Follow-up expectations

-Escalation pathways back to acute care

Serve as the clinical liaison to post-acute medical directors and leadership.

Partner with Mission Control and operational teams on proactive discharge execution while maintaining accountability for the clinical integrity, safety, and reliability of transitions.

Evaluate the performance, capabilities, strategic positioning, and resource utilization of the health system's post-acute portfolio, including joint ventures, employed services, and affiliated post-acute partners. Identify opportunities to optimize existing resources, strengthen clinical and operational performance, address gaps in the continuum, and ensure the system is maximizing the value of its post-acute investments and partnerships.

Serve as a physician-facing champion for the health system's post-acute capabilities by engaging frontline physicians, medical directors, department and division leaders, and other key leadership forums to communicate the value and appropriate use of post-acute resources. Build awareness, trust, and utilization of post-acute services that support high-quality care, improve provider experience, strengthen care continuity, and advance system performance.

• Clinical Performance & Experience

Collaborate with the aCMO for Quality & Care Transformation and clinical leaders to improve outcomes across the acute and post-acute continuum. Leverage benchmarking, clinical data, and performance insights to identify opportunities and lead improvement initiatives focused on:

-Readmissions

-Post-acute adverse events

-Care variation

-Patient and caregiver experience

-Quality and safety outcomes

-Reliability of care transitions

• Workforce Models & Interdisciplinary Care

Support optimization of physician, advanced practice provider, and interdisciplinary care models across inpatient and post-acute settings. Promote care delivery models that improve:

-Continuity

-Communication

-Clinical accountability

-Coordination across transitions

-Provider engagement

-Length of stay

-Avoidable days

-Consultative responsiveness

-Clinical readiness for discharge

-Post-acute utilization and site-of-care variation

-Cost of care and resource utilization

Partner with physician and operational leaders to develop sustainable models that balance clinical excellence, academic priorities, and operational performance.

Measures of Success

Success in this role will be demonstrated through:

-Development and implementation of standardized acute and post-acute clinical models, workflows, and care expectations that improve reliability and reduce unwarranted variation across the enterprise

-Improved alignment and performance across Hospital Medicine, consultative services, specialty services, and interdisciplinary teams, including academic, employed, and contracted physician models

-Improvement in key clinical outcomes, including length of stay, readmissions, post-acute adverse events, patient experience, and care transition reliability

-Effective physician governance, engagement, and collaboration across departments, divisions, medical groups, operational leaders, and clinical partners to advance shared enterprise priorities

-Successful implementation and sustainment of enterprise clinical transformation initiatives, including optimized physician, APP, and interdisciplinary care models supported by data-driven improvement and innovation

-Improved performance and strategic utilization of the health system's post-acute portfolio, including stronger alignment with joint ventures and affiliated partners, increased awareness and appropriate utilization of post-acute resources by physicians, and improved value generated from existing post-acute capabilities and investments.

• MD or DO degree from an accredited medical school and completion of an accredited residency program; board certification in an appropriate clinical specialty

• Active or eligible for medical licensure in the state of CA

• Progressive physician leadership experience within a complex academic medical center, integrated health system, or multi-hospital health system

• Demonstrated experience leading or significantly influencing clinical operations, care model design, or performance improvement across acute care settings

• Experience partnering effectively with department chairs, division chiefs, medical directors, nursing leaders, and operational executives in a matrixed healthcare environment

• Demonstrated ability to develop and implement standardized clinical workflows, care models, and performance expectations across multiple sites or clinical teams

• Demonstrated success leading interdisciplinary initiatives involving physicians, APPs, nursing, and other clinical and operational partners

• Strong understanding of care transitions, post-acute care, quality and safety, and the clinical drivers of length of stay, readmissions, and resource utilization

• Demonstrated ability to use clinical data, benchmarking, and performance metrics to identify variation, drive improvement, and sustain results

• Exceptional communication, relationship-building, change leadership, and conflict-navigation skills, with the ability to build alignment across complex stakeholder groups

• Advanced degree in business, healthcare administration, public health, or a related field (e.g., MBA, MHA, MPH)

• Experience working across diverse physician practice models, including employed, academic, affiliated, or contracted providers

• Prior Associate CMO, Chief Medical Officer, Chief/VP Medical Officer, Medical Director, Division Chief, or comparable enterprise physician leadership experience

• Experience developing enterprise-wide acute care operating models spanning Hospital Medicine, consultative services, specialty services, and interdisciplinary care teams

• Demonstrated experience integrating acute and post-acute care, including SNF, LTACH, IRF, home-based care, hospital-at-home, or other alternative care models

• Experience leading clinical integration and performance improvement across multiple hospitals or geographically distributed care settings

• Experience evaluating and optimizing post-acute partnerships, joint ventures, employed services, or affiliated networks

• Experience leading enterprise clinical transformation, standardization, or operational excellence initiatives with measurable improvements in quality, experience, utilization, or cost

• Experience successfully navigating the governance and cultural complexities of an academic health system while balancing clinical, education, research, and operational priorities.

• Must be able to obtain and maintain UC San Diego Health Medical Staff privileges.

• Employment is subject to a criminal background check and pre-employment physical.