Responsible to the Chief Medical Officer to develop, maintain and monitor the standards of medical care of the agency. Responsible as liaison with members of the medical community. Assumes overall responsibility for the medical component of the agency's program. The Regional Medical Director manages the Hospice Physicians for the PTAN/NPI in which they are responsible. The Regional Medical Director will assign a Physician Designee when he/she is ill or on vacation. Physician Designee: A Doctor of Medicine or osteopathy designated by the hospice who assumes the same responsibilities and obligations as the medical director when the medical director is ill or on vacation. ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS/RESPONSIBILITIES 1. Acts as a liaison and provides consultation to community physicians and healthcare providers regarding agency services, admission criteria for hospice and participates in community programs and events to help promote the agency's mission in end-of-life care. 2. Certifies and confirms patient eligibility and diagnosis for all admissions to the hospice program based upon available diagnostic and prognostic indicators and recertifies patient as appropriate. 3. Signs all discharge order signatures 4. Covers the responsibilities of the Hospice Physician/Physician Designee when he/she is off duty. 5. Collaborates in a team approach with the IDT and attends the IDT conferences to ensure the medical needs of the patients are met; that the patient receives appropriate measure to control uncomfortable symptoms by oversight of medications and treatments and provides oversight of the plan of care and continuity of hospice medical services. 6. Collaborates with the patient's attending physician, as needed to develop, and update the patient's plan of care, to identify needs not met by the attending physician, and to insure patient comfort. 7. Documents the care provided in the patient's clinical record, providing evidence of progression of the end-stage disease process as needed. 8. Demonstrates knowledge in communications and counseling patient/family in dealing with end-of-life issues. 9. Reports all allegations of potential patient abuse and/or misappropriation of patient property. 10. Maintains current knowledge of the latest research and trends in hospice care and pain/symptom management. 11. Reviews and develops protocols for treatment and proposing the most current options for interventions. 12. Participates in resolution of interpersonal conflict and issues of clinical and ethical concern. . Participates in the development and updating of patient care policies and emergency procedures. 14. Develop and implement procedures and protocols regarding OSHA standards, including the handling of hazardous medications. 15. Provides administrative on-call services for the agency 16. Assigns a Physician Designee to cover responsibilities when the Medical Director is unavailable due to being ill or on vacation. 17. Meets with the local office senior management and marketing team members in the development of marketing plans. 18. Champions quality improvement takes an active role in QAPI projects when improving medical practice and/or interdisciplinary practice affecting patient or organizational outcomes. 19. Assisting with evaluation of protocols and procedures with respect to quality and cost outcomes 20. Ensures that care is provided with respect for patient and family rights. 21. Reports all grievances/complaints made to appropriate persons. 22. Visit the patients as indicated. 23. Review and monitor the clinical practice of other Hospice Physicians. 24. Devote his/her best ability to the proper management of the program. 25. Assures that the established policies, bylaws, rules, and regulations of the organization are followed in the program. 26. Adheres to requirements, terms, and conditions required by Medicare Conditions of Participation, CHAP, and federal and state statutes governing the provision of services. 27. Establishing and continually reviewing policies and procedures related to patient care, medical education, and emergency procedures 28. Developing and continually reviewing, in cooperation with the Executive Director/Administrator and/or Clinical Director, criteria to monitor the quality of the education programs provided to physicians, personnel, and volunteers 29. Proposing organizational programs to address the needs identified (with the assistance and input of consultants of the specialties where medical education needs were identified) 30. 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 31. Serving as a hospice champion in the community 32. Provides training regarding the medical aspects of caring for terminally ill patients to physicians, personnel, and volunteers 33. Acts 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 34. Participating in resolution of interpersonal conflict and issues of clinical and ethical concern 35. Ensures that competent physician services are routinely available on a 24-hour basis to meet the general medical needs of the hospice patient to the extent the needs are not met by the attending physician
