Medical Affairs

Medical Affairs at Unity Health Toronto strives to be a caring, trusted and respected source of support and service to credentialed staff (e.g., physicians, dentists and midwives) and medical leadership (e.g., department chiefs and division heads)

Medical Affairs supports the recruitment and retention of high quality credentialed staff and fosters an open, accessible and welcoming environment that strives for equity and collaborates with other interested parties and portfolios to ensure a commitment to high quality patient care delivery. This work supports patient safety and the care experience and other initiatives aligned with the organization’s strategic plan.

Role Overview

Reporting to the Executive Vice-President Clinical & Chief Medical Officer and to the Chief Legal Officer, the Director, Medical Affairs is a key leader in the organization, and works closely with the Medical Advisory Committee, VP Medical Affairs for Providence, Department Chiefs and others on matters pertaining to the Credentialed Staff.

The Director, Medical Affairs provides senior leadership to the Office of Medical Affairs and is accountable for the tactical and operational delivery of Medical Affairs services. This work requires the development of a strategic vision utilizing systems thinking, multi-year strategy to support realization of the vision and relationship management by developing purposeful coalitions with internal and external partners. Recognizing that the relationship between credential staff and the organization differs from the relationship between employees and the organization, the Director, Medical Affairs is responsible for helping to create an environment that supports credentialed staff and fosters their involvement in helping the organization achieve its objectives.

The Director Medical Affairs will oversee all aspects of the Office of Medical Affairs functions and team at Unity Health Toronto including leading and mentoring a high-performing team to support credentialed staff and credentialed staff leaders by ensuring execution and continuous improvement of highly reliable processes including but not limited to recruitment, credentialing, reappointment, onboarding, orientation, contract management, quality, communication and engagement.

Job Duties & Responsibilities

Office of Medical Affairs

• In consultation with the CMO, develops a broad strategic vision for Medical Affairs across Unity Health that will build a work environment that results in top quality credentialed staff work experiences across all sites;
• Develops and operationalize a multi-year strategy that supports the realization of the strategic vision and builds the foundation necessary to recruit and retain top quality credentialed staff;
• Reviews, researches, analyzes and summarizes relevant information for the CMO;
• Identifies emerging strategic issues or influencing or involving Unity Health Toronto Credentialed Staff;
• Supports the recruitment, credentialing and orientation process for new physicians;
• Supports the CMO in the hiring and preparing contracts of some medical leadership positions (e.g. Chiefs) and oversees the credentialing and onboarding process;
• Leads the integration of an equity and anti-racist lens to all Medical Affairs policies and processes
• In partnership with the Chief Legal Officer, Patient Safety, Department Chiefs and Clinical Programs, collaborating and providing support to facilitate timely investigation and response to safety events;
• In partnership with the Chief Legal Officer, HR, Patients Relations, Risk and the University as needed, manage code of conduct issues, patient/family complaints, and medical-legal issues. This includes conducting timely investigations and responses to issues and/or complaints as well as providing support in the ongoing management of reported incidents and remediation and progressive discipline where required;
• Coordinates physician practice reviews as needed;
• Understands, maintains and role models the confidential nature of physician issues, discussions and documentation;
• Provides support in the ongoing management of reported incidents, remediation and progressive discipline as required;
• Liaises with CPSO, HIROC, and other external organizations as needed in support of CMO and Chief Legal Officer
• Oversees the development of CMO communication material/briefings/presentations to the organization, MAC, Board and external partners, working with Communications and others as needed;
• Ensures effective processes are in place to deliver a Unity Health wide credentialing system that meets the requirements of the Credentialed Staff Bylaws and ensures compliance with the Public Hospitals Act, CPSO and other relevant policies and procedures; ensures best practices are used for these and all policies and processed in Medical Affairs;
• In partnership with the CMO, VP Medical Affairs and Department Chiefs, develops and implements a performance evaluation process and system for all Medical Leadership and Credentialed Staff;
• In partnership with the CMO, VP Medical Affairs and Legal, develops and implements a Code of Credentialed Staff Professional Behaviour and Resolution Policy;
• In partnership with the CMO, VP Medical Affairs develops and implements a credentialed staff leadership development, succession planning and talent management program;
• In partnership with Legal, the CMO and VP Medical Affairs, leads regular reviews and updating of the Credentialed Staff Bylaws;
• Oversees the development and coordination of credentialed staff leadership contracts and compensation;
• Oversees policy development for Medical Affairs;
• Develops departmental operational budget; oversees budget and expenditures;
• Provide oversight for financials including HOCC funding and other physician stipends from the Medical Affairs portfolio;
• With CMO, works on and oversees special projects such as those to advance physician wellness, physician leadership development, physician practice (e.g. oversight of physician scheduling tool);
• Oversees all medical quality of care projects initiated by the CMO and VP Medical Affairs and where appropriate leads and supports complex and highly sensitive projects that advance Unity health’s strategic and operational priorities.

Office Operations & Services

Responsible for the activities of Medical Affairs Department in the delivery of effective, efficient and consistent quality processes which support the privileging, credentialing and performance processes for credentialed staff within Unity Health Toronto. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Credentialed staff recruitment;

• Credentialed staff initial application and annual reappointment;

• Credentialed staff general orientation and onboarding;

• Credentialed staff communications, recognition and engagement;

• Providing advice and support on credentialed staff contracts and compensation;

• Providing expertise, advice and support to staff and stakeholders across the organization regarding matters pertaining to credentialed staff;

• Liaising with CMO and Vice President Medical Affairs regarding medical staff appointments as appropriate;

• Manage and monitoring compliance of medical affairs policies and procedures;

• Supervising all Medical Affairs team operational activities, including development and coaching of direct reports, performance management, financial monitoring, and internal/external reporting

• Mentoring and developing direct reports to ensure they have the knowledge, skills and information required to perform well

• Ensuring team documents appropriately

Other

• Attends the Executive Medical Advisory Committee (MAC) and MAC;
• Represents Unity Health Toronto on external committees as appropriate

Qualifications

This position requires someone with a proven track record for leading and driving systems transformation through encouraging and supporting innovation and championing change. This leader will have exceptional analytical and critical thinking skills that contribute to identifying problems and issues, evaluating the interdependence of decisions, questioning and challenging the status quo, and designing and implementing processes for improvement. This position also requires someone who has strong interpersonal skills and who is collaborative. Experience in using trauma-informed approaches to HR matters, knowledge of the Public Hospitals Act, Human Rights and employment legislation are assets. The Director, Medical Affairs will also bring a strong business acumen including management of budgets. Specific qualifications include:

• Completion of an undergraduate degree in Health Sciences or Business Administration required (Master’s Degree in Health Administration or Business Administration is an asset but not a requirement);
• Minimum of 8 to 10 years’ health care related leadership experience, preferably in progressively more responsible leadership position(s) with proven track record of moving forward complex organization change issues and challenging achievements;
• Certification in health law, employment investigations or healthcare risk management is an asset;
• Previous leadership in a Medical Affairs Department with experience working directly with professional staff and its leadership;
• Demonstrated success leading high performing project teams;
• Exceptional analytical skills that contribute to effective problem-solving and decision-making;
• Strong well developed fiscal responsibility skills;
• Proven verbal and written communication and presentations skills within a senior leadership capacity;
• The ability to function effectively during periods of rapid change and transition;
• Demonstrated ability to interact with and lead the broader physician community;
• Self-directed, highly motivated with excellent interpersonal and relationship-building skills with a track record of success and commitment to a culture of partnership and engagement with a focus on high quality deliverables;
• Demonstrated ability to initiate and carry out initiatives and build and maintain connections, partnerships and relationships with internal and external stakeholders;
• Fluent and computer literate with computer systems such as email and Microsoft Office applications (MS Word, Excel & PowerPoint).

While this role is a hybrid role (remote/onsite), travel among the three main sites of Unity Health Toronto is required on an as-needed basis. This role requires flexibility to work outside of regular business hours to meet partner needs as necessary.

Unity Health Toronto is committed to creating an accessible and inclusive organization. We strive to provide a recruitment process that is barrier-free and in compliance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and the Ontario Human Rights Code. We understand that you may require an accommodation at any stage of the recruitment process. When you are contacted, please inform the Talent Acquisition Specialist and we will work with you to meet your accommodation needs. We want to emphasize that all accommodation requests are handled with the utmost confidentiality, respecting your privacy and dignity.

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