3. Find a mentor

This is also a good time to find a mentor for your new calling. Choose a seasoned physician leader who can help you over the long haul – someone who can get you up to speed and then advise you during crucial junctures in your career.

Good mentors should be willing to spend the time with you, have your best interests in mind, and be willing to provide honest assessments. They can also help you find opportunities for further learning and professional growth.

Some organizations assign mentors to physicians they want to develop for leadership roles. You can also choose specific mentors to help you in areas where you think you need more work, such as finance, quality improvement, or information systems.

Choose a path

There are many different paths you can take as a physician leader. In large organizations in particular, there are more leadership jobs open to physicians than ever before.

Jobs open to physicians can be found in the areas of clinical quality and safety, population health, managed care, and information technology. You can even look beyond these traditional roles to jobs that don’t usually attract physicians, such as in strategy, innovation, patient experience, and fundraising. In these roles, you are often expected to continue doing some clinical work.

Physician leaders now tend to have more influence than in the past. According to the Cejka-AAPL survey, 61% of physician executives said they had more strategic input currently than in the previous year.

A roster of potential physician leader jobs

1. Executive-level roles

Vice president for medical affairs. This is the traditional role for the physician executive, which involves acting as a liaison with the organization’s physicians. These officers oversee quality of care as well as hiring, training, and performance evaluation of physicians on staff.

Chief medical officer (CMO). This is now the typical term for the highest medical role in the organization. The CMO is part of the C-suite team and participates in governance, strategic planning, and business operation decisions. CMOs may be responsible for supporting value-based strategies and making sure that those strategies are efficient and medically necessary.

Physician-in-chief. This is a new term for the hospital’s top physician, who works with the senior leadership team to maintain standards of care and customer service. The physician-in-chief may also oversee operational efficiency and support organizational transformation.

Chief clinical officer (CCO). CCOs oversee patient engagement and clinical quality outcomes. They may lead initiatives to reduce waste and improve care quality, and they can be involved in implementation of electronic health records (EHRs) and data integration. They may also assist in medical staff development, clinical integration, and physician partnerships.

2. Quality, safety, and research roles

Chief patient safety officer (CPSO). CPSOs oversee the hospital or health system’s patient safety initiatives. Their goal is to reduce medical errors and near-misses.

Chief quality officer (CQO). CQOs are responsible for collecting quality data and supporting patient safety efforts. They advise on quality initiatives and hold clinicians accountable for meeting specific quality indicators. They may also be involved in developing a culture of continuous improvement in the organization.

Chief research officer (CRO). CROs oversee the organization’s research activities, including clinical trials, internal investigator-initiated research programs, and sponsored studies.

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