Reporting to the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), the Chief Clinical Officer (CCO) serves as the senior executive responsible for the strategic direction, integration, quality, safety, and effectiveness of clinical care across Zufall Health. The CCO provides enterprise clinical leadership across Medical, Nursing and Clinical Support Services, Dental, Behavioral Health, and Clinical Pharmacy, ensuring that clinical services are coordinated, patient-centered, evidence-based, accessible, and aligned with Zufall’s mission and strategic priorities. The CCO leads through senior clinical executives and clinical leaders, establishing organization-wide clinical standards, priorities, and accountability while empowering service-line leaders to direct the day-to-day clinical practice, workforce, and performance of their respective disciplines.

In close partnership with the Chief Operating Officer, the CCO aligns clinical capacity, provider deployment, patient access, staffing resources, and operational infrastructure across Zufall sites. The CCO collaborates with Quality leadership to evaluate clinical outcomes, identify opportunities for improvement, and ensure effective clinical response to quality and patient-safety findings.

As a member of the executive leadership team, the CCO advises the CEO and Board on clinical strategy, emerging clinical risks, workforce needs, opportunities for service development, and matters affecting the quality and sustainability of patient care.

The CCO maintains an active clinical practice of approximately 20% of the position, generally equivalent to eight (16) hours per pay period, to maintain direct connection with patients, providers, clinical workflows, and the realities of frontline care delivery.

Essential Functions, Duties and Responsibilities

• Provides executive leadership for the development and implementation of Zufall’s enterprise clinical strategy across all clinical disciplines and services, establishing clinical priorities, standards, and expectations that promote high-quality, integrated, patient-centered care across sites and service lines.
• Provides executive leadership and oversight to the senior leaders responsible for Medical Services, Dental Services, Behavioral Health, Nursing and Clinical Support Services, and Clinical Pharmacy.
• Leads through senior clinical leaders and holds them accountable for the clinical practice, workforce, performance, access, and outcomes of their respective service lines. Individual provider supervision, routine scheduling, and day-to-day clinical management are delegated through the appropriate service-line leadership structure
• Provides executive clinical oversight of credentialing and privileging standards and processes in partnership with appropriate clinical leaders, People Operations, and administrative resources
• Promotes collaboration and integration among clinical disciplines and with external clinical partners to strengthen care coordination, reduce fragmentation, and support continuity and whole-person care
• Maintains an active clinical practice averaging approximately eight (8) hours per pay period, representing approximately 10% of the position, consistent with professional licensure, credentials, privileges, organizational policies, and established standards of practice
• Supports senior clinical leaders in addressing significant provider performance, professional conduct, competency, or clinical-practice concerns requiring executive clinical involvement 
• Provides leadership, coaching, direction, and accountability to Zufall’s senior clinical leaders and supports development of a strong clinical leadership pipeline. Partners with People Operations and service-line leadership on clinical workforce planning, recruitment, retention, succession planning, provider performance, and leadership development
• Partners with the Chief Operating Officer and senior clinical leaders to develop and maintain an enterprise approach to clinical capacity, provider deployment, and staffing that aligns patient demand with available clinical and operational resources. Holds service-line leaders accountable for maintaining appropriate clinical coverage and effective provider scheduling within their areas of responsibility

Clinical Performance, Quality and Patient Safety

• Holds senior clinical leaders accountable for the quality, safety, effectiveness, accessibility, productivity, and consistency of care delivered within their respective service lines 
• Partners with Quality leadership to review clinical performance data, identify trends and areas of risk, establish clinical improvement priorities, and ensure appropriate clinical response when outcomes, access, productivity, patient experience, or other performance indicators do not meet established expectations
• Provides executive oversight of clinical peer review and ensures appropriate systems exist within each clinical discipline for evaluating professional practice and clinical performance 
• Promotes a culture of continuous clinical improvement, evidence-based practice, transparency, accountability, and patient safety. Provides executive clinical leadership in the review of significant adverse clinical events and other matters requiring senior clinical judgment while preserving appropriate independence of investigation, measurement, documentation, and risk-management functions
• Collaborates with organizational leaders responsible for Quality, Compliance, Safety, Risk Management, People Operations, and Operations to support compliance with applicable federal and state requirements, accreditation standards, FQHC requirements, and professional standards affecting clinical care
• Serves as a senior clinical resource during regulatory reviews, surveys, significant clinical investigations, emergency response, and other circumstances requiring executive clinical leadership 
• Ensures Zufall maintains appropriate enterprise clinical policies, standards, protocols, and professional-practice expectations, including standards related to scope of practice, competency, privileging, peer review, and professional conduct
• Participates actively as a member of the executive leadership team and contributes to organization-wide strategy, budgeting, resource allocation, organizational development, and decision-making 
• Represents the clinical perspective in organizational decision-making and promotes effective interdisciplinary collaboration among Medical, Dental, Behavioral Health, Nursing, Clinical Pharmacy, Operations, and other organizational functions

Clinical Integration and Operational Partnership

• Partners with the COO to ensure clinical standards and care-delivery requirements are effectively translated into operational processes across Zufall sites while maintaining clear distinction between clinical decision-making and operational execution
• Works with Operations and senior clinical leaders to identify and address mismatches among clinical capacity, patient demand, site staffing, space, support staffing, and other operational resources 
• Ensures provider deployment and clinical coverage decisions consider patient access, continuity of care, clinical competency, service-line needs, site capacity, support staffing, productivity, and organizational priorities rather than relying solely on historical provider schedules or assignments 
• Supports development of increasingly coordinated and centralized approaches to provider scheduling and capacity management as organizational systems and infrastructure evolve
• Collaborates with Nursing and Clinical Support Services leadership to ensure clinical support models, competencies, workflows, and staffing effectively support providers and patient care 
• Identifies organizational barriers that interfere with effective clinical care and works across departments to develop sustainable solutions 
• Provides executive clinical leadership regarding matters involving standards of care, clinical competency, scope of practice, and significant patient-safety concerns 
• Ensures appropriate clinical leadership participation in organizational committees and governance structures addressing quality, patient safety, pharmacy, infection prevention, clinical practice, and related matters
• Advises the CEO and executive leadership team regarding clinical strategy, clinical workforce needs, emerging models of care, regulatory developments affecting clinical practice, and opportunities to improve or expand clinical services
• Provides clinical information, recommendations, and reports to the CEO and Board as appropriate
• Provides appropriate clinical leadership and oversight related to Zufall’s participation in the 340B Drug Pricing Program in collaboration with operational, financial, compliance, and pharmacy leadership
• Evaluates the clinical implications of proposed new programs, partnerships, locations, technologies, and service expansions and participates in organizational strategic planning

External Relations and Organizational Leadership

• Represents Zufall with hospitals, health systems, academic institutions, professional organizations, community partners, government agencies, and other external stakeholders on clinical matters 
• Supports development of strategic clinical affiliations, referral relationships, academic partnerships, residency and training opportunities, and other relationships that strengthen Zufall’s clinical programs and workforce
• Serves as an executive clinical spokesperson for Zufall when appropriate and supports community and professional initiatives aligned with Zufall’s mission and clinical strategy 
• Performs other related duties as assigned by the Chief Executive Officer

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Demonstrates an enterprise leadership philosophy grounded in collaboration, accountability, and development of other clinical leaders 
• Maintains meaningful visibility and credibility in clinical settings through executive rounding, frontline engagement, and direct clinical practice
• Demonstrates executive judgment and the ability to lead effectively in complex, ambiguous, multi-site and matrixed environments 
• Possesses exceptional interpersonal, communication, negotiation, and consensus-building skills, including the ability to communicate effectively with frontline staff, senior leaders, the CEO, and the Board 
• Builds effective multidisciplinary teams and partnerships across clinical, operational, workforce, financial, quality, and administrative functions 
• Demonstrates the ability to lead organizational change and translate clinical strategy and performance data into sustainable improvement 
• Understands and values the distinct contributions of Medical, Nursing and Clinical Support Services, Dental, Behavioral Health, Clinical Pharmacy, Operations, and People Operations to patient care 
• Demonstrates strong knowledge of Federally Qualified Health Centers, community health, safety-net care, and applicable federal healthcare programs 
• Demonstrates working knowledge of healthcare finance, reimbursement, budgeting, productivity, resource allocation, and strategic planning 
• Demonstrates knowledge of federal and New Jersey regulatory, licensure, accreditation, reimbursement, and certification requirements affecting clinical care and FQHC operations 
• Establishes credibility and confidence with physicians and other clinical professionals while leading across multiple disciplines 
• Demonstrates awareness of and sensitivity to the communities and patient populations served by Zufall Health 
• Demonstrates commitment to the mission and values of Zufall Health Is able and willing to work as needed to meet executive and clinical responsibilities of the organization 
• Demonstrates proficiency with electronic health records, clinical information systems, and standard business technology 
• Bilingual English/Spanish skills are a plus

Education, Training, and Experience

• MD or DO degree from an accredited medical school with Board Certification in a primary care specialty appropriate to Zufall’s clinical services  
• Master’s degree in Public Health, Health Care Administration, Business Administration, or a related field preferred 
• Successful completion of an accredited residency program appropriate to the services provided by Zufall Health 
• Possession of a current unrestricted license, or eligibility for licensure, to practice medicine in New Jersey Possession of a valid DEA and CDS registration, as applicable
• Current BLS Certifications
• Significant progressive experience in ambulatory healthcare, including substantial clinical practice and senior leadership responsibility for clinical services, clinical quality, provider performance, and multidisciplinary teams
• Demonstrated experience leading through other clinical leaders in a complex, multi-site healthcare environment. Experience in a Federally Qualified Health Center, community health center, safety-net healthcare organization, or comparable ambulatory healthcare environment strongly preferred