Director of Risk Management and Patient Safety

Job Description

Job Description

Position Overview

The Director of Quality, Risk & Patient Safety provides strategic leadership and operational oversight across clinical quality improvement, enterprise risk management, patient safety, infection prevention, and regulatory readiness. This senior executive leads the organization in navigating complex, emerging industry risks—including healthcare cybersecurity threats, evolving reimbursement structures, and rapid advances in medical technology.

Serving as the primary authority on clinical quality and regulatory compliance, the Executive Director establishes organizational standards for proactive harm reduction, root cause analysis, population health outcomes, and data-driven performance improvement. This role operates with high executive autonomy, aligning operational strategy with clinical excellence to foster a sustainable culture of safety, continuous learning, and high reliability.

Key Executive Responsibilities

1. Enterprise Risk Management & Strategic Leadership

• Emerging Threat Oversight: Direct enterprise risk frameworks addressing critical industry shifts, including healthcare cybersecurity risks, clinical reimbursement changes, and the operational impacts of modern medical technology.
• Proactive Loss Prevention: Establish organizational standards for Root Cause Analysis (RCA), Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), corrective action plans, and health outcome monitoring to mitigate organizational liability.
• Executive Advisory: Serve as the subject matter expert to executive leadership, medical staff, and governing boards regarding regulatory shifts, health policy, and strategic risk mitigation.

2. Clinical Quality Improvement & Data Analytics

• Quality Program Governance: Oversee the development, implementation, and evaluation of clinical quality initiatives across all inpatient and outpatient service lines.
• Advanced Healthcare Analytics: Direct the surveillance, interpretation, and executive reporting of clinical data, population health metrics, discharge trends, and utilization metrics to drive strategic decision-making.
• Complaints & Grievance Directorship: Lead the high-level review process for quality-of-care complaints, complex case investigations, red-flag trend analyses, and formal referral/grievance proceedings.

3. Patient Safety, Infection Prevention & Environmental Health

• Harm Reduction & Safety Programs: Drive systemic event response protocols, patient safety initiatives, hazard mitigations, and seamless care-transition strategies.
• Infection Control Directorship: Oversee epidemiological surveillance, outbreak containment protocols, and communicable disease containment; consult on architectural design and environmental infection controls during facility renovations.
• Whole-Person Safety: Implement recommendations and monitoring processes for employee and patient physiological and psychological safety health considerations.

4. Regulatory Compliance & Continuous Accreditation Readiness

• Survey Readiness: Lead all regulatory audits, accreditation evaluations, and onsite visits from government and regulatory bodies, serving as the primary institutional contact.
• Policy & Standard Standardization: Define and enforce compliance standards aligned with state/federal healthcare regulations, CMS Conditions of Participation, and Joint Commission standards.

5. Utilization Review, Care Delivery & Cost Effectiveness

• Clinical Care Evaluation: Oversee case review standards, standard operating procedures for medical coding, and utilization metrics (e.g., length of stay, access to care, and treatment appropriateness).
• Population Health Integration: Partner with internal and external stakeholders to address systemic barriers to care, including community health factors, transportation access, and health equity.

6. Team Leadership & Organizational Talent Development

• Workforce Strategy: Build, mentor, and empower cross-functional teams; align departmental resource plans with broader business objectives and financial budgets.
• Culture of High Reliability: Foster collaborative, results-oriented partnerships across clinical and administrative units while embedding continuous learning and professional development throughout the workforce.

Qualifications & Professional Requirements

Education & Credentials

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Healthcare Administration, Nursing (BSN), Public Health, or a closely related field required. Master’s degree (MHA, MSN, MBA, or MPH) strongly preferred.
• Clinical Licensure: Registered Nurse (RN) license strongly preferred.
• Certifications: Certified Professional in Healthcare Risk Management (CPHRM) OR Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ) required within 24 months of hire.

Experience & Background

• Healthcare Leadership: Minimum of 7+ years of progressive leadership experience in a clinical setting, healthcare administration, or quality/risk management.
• Acute Care Risk Management: Direct, recent experience managing clinical risk management and patient safety within an acute care hospital setting.
• Financial & Operations Management: Minimum of 2+ years of direct experience managing operational budgets and project resource allocation.
• Analytical Expertise: Minimum of 5+ years of experience utilizing healthcare databases, statistical software, and spreadsheet applications for data-driven quality improvement.
• Education & Training: Minimum of 4+ years of experience developing and delivering educational/training programs to clinical and administrative staff.

Core Executive Competencies

• Strategic Risk Assessment: Expertise in identifying, escalating, and mitigating enterprise, cyber, operational, and clinical risks.
• Healthcare Regulatory Fluency: Deep knowledge of healthcare compliance, evidence-based medicine principles, infection control standards, and quality metrics.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: Ability to translate complex epidemiological, clinical, and utilization data into actionable executive strategy.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Mastery in negotiation, project management, change management, and building high-trust relationships across clinical and administrative divisions.