Chair of the General Internal Medicine (GIM)

Job Summary

The Chair of the General Internal Medicine (GIM) Department will oversee the clinical care delivered by providers in their department and will provide academic leadership and mentorship to GIM faculty at Denver Health. The Chair will be responsible for strategic planning, clinical services, professional performance, business performance, medical education and research for the department. Advancing a culture of excellence in the specialty and related services, the Chair will be dedicated to performance expectations that emphasize consistency in clinical care standards to result in high quality and safe patient care. Denver Health is affiliated with the University of Colorado School of Medicine, (UC-SOM) and Denver Health physician faculty have full-time academic appointments at UC-SOM. The Chair has primary responsibility for all aspects of the scholarly and educational programs within GIM at Denver Health and will foster collaboration, innovation and excellence in meeting our joint missions.

General Internists at Denver Health are primary care providers who primarily see adult patients in an office-based setting.  Some may serve as supervising physicians for hospitalized adults for 2-6 weeks per year. Internists are typically generalists who cover a broad scope of medicine to include total body wellness, disease prevention, and management of chronic conditions and illnesses in adults and some adolescents. Advanced practice providers (APPs), behavioral health clinicians, and clinical pharmacists in GIM also provide direct primary care services to ambulatory patients at Denver Health.

With administrative, nursing, and other clinical leaders in Ambulatory Care Services, the Chair shares responsibility and accountability for ambulatory clinical operations, quality, safety, fiscal performance, patient experience, and staff engagement.

Essential Functions :

• Lead and participate in clinical quality initiatives focused on enhancing systems to assure timely, cost-effective, compassionate, high quality, and safe care.
• Promote and oversee development of critical pathways, protocols and practice guidelines that promote high quality, cost-effective care for the patient population.
• Manage human and financial resources to optimize operational efficiency and outcomes.
• Ensure the application of best practices, incorporating regulatory requirements at the local, state, and national level; utilize benchmarking and data analysis from applicable sources.
• Provide leadership and disseminate practice standards and accountabilities to GIM providers, residents, clinic staff, and medical students.
• Drive innovation in care delivery.
• Oversee the substance, quality, and evaluation of medical student, resident, and fellow education in the Department.
• Oversee and promote all academic activities within the department in accordance with the expectations of the University of Colorado, School of Medicine.
• Actively mentor the GIM faculty with personalized professional development plans.
• Promote and support relevant education for all personnel within the Department. Develop and oversee continuing medical education programs for staff at all levels within the Department.
• Maintain and develop professional knowledge and personal competence through participation in professional organizations and conferences.
• Provide leadership for the development of standards, policies, and guidelines related to the Department.
• Support and maintain faculty development, recruitment and succession plans.
• In collaboration with Chairs from all departments and the executive leadership team, contribute significantly to the organizational mission, vision, strategy, and goals.
• Ensure faculty meet performance expectations of their service assignments and customer service standards.
• Assume joint responsibility with Denver Health Administration for compliance with requirements and standards of regulatory agencies and accreditation organizations, including preparation for and participation in relevant surveys.
• Ensure the department’s compliance with the Medical Staff Bylaws and hospital policies.
• Establish appropriate communication channels with providers, clinical staff, and administration that result in trust and alignment. Effectively manage disagreements.
• Lead by example : establish open, non-judgmental dialogue, expect a culture of diversity and inclusiveness, welcome constructive criticism from direct reports, admit errors openly, avoid a punitive response to mistakes, demonstrate timely responsiveness, and hold others accountable.
• Directly supervise the clinical Team Leaders / Medical Directors of all teams within the GIM Department.

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