The consulting firm PYA developed this medical director needs assessment to help hospitals and other health care organizations evaluate whether their medical directorships are necessary and supportable.[1] Contact Lyle Oelrich, a partner in PYA, at loelrich@pyapc.com.
Medical Director Needs Assessment Checklist
A medical director needs assessment (MDNA) allows organizations to evaluate their investment in medical directors, consider the necessity of the designated roles, and identify potential gaps between current and future needs to ensure each medical directorship is appropriate and supportable. PYA’s MDNA checklist serves as a guide with key considerations to assist healthcare organizations in evaluating the need for medical directorships. Depending on an organization’s specific facts and circumstances, additional considerations may be important to analyze and subsequently add to this general guide.
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1. Identify and gather key information. | |
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Accumulate a list of all medical directors and existing medical director agreements. |
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Identify additional administrative physician roles that may perform duties and responsibilities similar to a medical director’s, yet possess different titles (e.g., program directors and/or managing physicians). |
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Review the organization’s medical director philosophy (i.e., establishing, maintaining, and compensating medical directors). |
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Gather documentation (e.g., time sheets or identified deliverables) demonstrating the completion of the defined activity included in the agreement. |
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Comments: | |
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2. Create and populate a medical director inventory or matrix by specialty and subspecialty. Consider factors including, but not limited to, the following: | |
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Medical director title(s) |
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Number of annual hours required by the medical director agreement |
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Number of annual hours reported via time sheets or otherwise |
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Defined goals or deliverables (if applicable) |
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Size of the department or program the medical director is responsible for overseeing |
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Identified supervisor or individual required for medical director oversight and approval |
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Number of locations where the medical directorship services are performed |
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Service line certifications/designations/centers of excellence |
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3. Conduct interviews with key stakeholders. | |
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Discuss medical directorship arrangements with the executive(s) responsible for arrangement oversight (e.g., chief medical officer) to: Identify and resolve outstanding information gaps |
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Obtain additional insight to understand:
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Speak with service line/department administrators to gain operational insight, as necessary. |
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4. Research and verify legal, regulatory, and/or accreditation requirements | |
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Determine whether the medical director is required by federal and/or state law, or is otherwise necessary for regulatory or accreditation purposes. |
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Perform additional analyses, including the following, to determine the prevalence of an identified position: |
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Comments: | |
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5. Additional Considerations | |
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Does the organization have a defined mission or philosophy for its medical director program? |
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What is the organization’s process for determining medical directorship need? How often is need assessed and by whom? |
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Who approves the appointment of new, or continuation of existing, medical directors? Is the approval process centrally or otherwise organized to ensure no duplication of duties and/or responsibilities occurs (e.g., across hospital campuses within a single health system)? |
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How does the organization maintain and track its various medical directorships (i.e., adherence to, and audit of, a defined policy; periodic review of individual medical directorships; etc.)? |
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Comments: | |
