Hospice Medical Director

Reports To: Executive Director and Chief Medical Officer

About Luminary Hospice:

At Luminary Hospice, we are a mission-driven organization that empowers our team members to shape our culture in order to allow them to provide the highest quality support to patients and families throughout their entire end-of-life journey.

Our mission is to deliver personalized care that radiates compassion and preserves dignity for all that we are honored to serve on their end-of-life journey. We are centered on caring for the whole person – with expert medical care, pain management as well as emotional and spiritual support along with resources, information, and emotional support for families and caregivers.

About the role:

The hospice Med i c al D i re c t o r will have overall responsibility for the med i c al component of the hospice program.

The hospice Medical Director will provide oversight of physician services by complementing attending physician care, acting as a medical resource to the interdisciplinary group, assuring continuity of hospice medical services, and assuring appropriate measures to control patient symptoms.   The Medical Director will serve as a hospice champion – promoting and representing the program to physicians, physician groups, discharge planners, other referral sources, community health organizations, and potential donors, as appropriate.

Job Responsibilities:

Devoting his/her best ability to the proper management of the program

Providing overall medical direction to the program

Assuring that the established policies, bylaws, rules, and regulations of the organization are followed in the program

Adhering to requirements, terms, and conditions required by Medicare Conditions of Participation, accrediting body, and federal and state statutes governing the provision of services

Establishing and continually reviewing policies and procedures related to patient care, medical education, and emergency procedures

Developing and continually reviewing, in cooperation with the Executive Director/Administrator and/or Chief Clinical Officer/Clinical Director, criteria to monitor the quality of the education programs provided to physicians, personnel, and volunteers

Evaluating quality assessment performance improvement (QAPI) plans and monitoring to identify medical education needs in cooperation with the Executive Director/Administrator and/or Chief Clinical Officer/Clinical Director.  Participates in QAPI teams and activities, as needed

Proposing organizational programs to address the needs identified (with the assistance and input of consultants of the specialties where medical education needs were identified)

Working with the Executive Director/Administrator and/or Clinical Director, after implementation of the programs, to determine the impact of said programs on the quality of care

Serving as a hospice champion in the community

Acting as a liaison to community physicians by providing consultation and education to colleagues and attending physicians related to admission criteria for hospice and palliative care

Acting as medical liaison with other physicians at Luminary Hospice

Providing training regarding the medical aspects of caring for terminally ill patients to physicians, personnel, and volunteers

Reviewing patients’ medical eligibility for hospice services, in accordance with hospice program policies and procedures, and establishing the plan of care in conjunctions with attending physician and interdisciplinary group prior to providing care written certification of terminal illness

Providing written certification of the terminal illness for all subsequent benefit periods

Performing face-to-face encounters within thirty (30) days of the third and subsequent hospice benefit certification periods and attest to the encounter.  (NP may complete the encounter and report findings to the hospice physician.)

Consulting with attending physicians regarding pain and symptoms management for hospice patients

Managing oversight of the patient’s medications and treatments

Acting as medical resource to the hospice interdisciplinary group

Attending interdisciplinary group meetings and working in a team approach with the group

In conjunction with the attending physician and interdisciplinary group, reviewing and updating the plan of care at least every 15 days, or more frequently as needed

Documenting care provided in the patient’s clinical record, providing evidence of progression of the end-stage disease process

Acting as primary physician for patients whose referring/attending physicians desire to relinquish that care and/or if the referring/attending physicians are not available for further contact

Maintaining current knowledge of the latest research and trends in hospice care and pain/symptom management

Reviewing and developing protocols for treatment, and proposing the most current options for interventions

Develop and implement procedures and protocols in regard to OSHA s…