About this role
Department: Behavioral Health
Position: Medical Director, Psychiatry
Exemption Status: Exempt
Reporting Relationship: Chief Medical Officer, Psychiatry and Behavioral Health
Direct Reports: Psychiatrists, Psychiatric Advanced Practice Providers
Work Environment: Office and clinic-based, with telehealth
Core Values
- Teamwork: Collaborates effectively across departments.
- Belonging: Creates an environment where all individuals feel respected and valued.
- Compassion: Demonstrates empathy and professionalism in all interactions.
- Resilience: Adapts positively to changing priorities and challenges.
- Stewardship: Uses organizational resources responsibly.
- Quality: Delivers accurate, reliable, and high-quality work.
- Value: Identifies opportunities to improve efficiency and outcomes.
Position Summary
The Medical Director, Psychiatry leads designated psychiatric services across Variety Care and NorthCare under the supervision of the CMO of Psychiatry. This role sets the strategy for psychiatric services, oversees psychiatric providers, grows the service line, and promotes integrated, high-quality care.
The Medical Director, Psychiatry also maintains an active psychiatric practice, providing evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, and medication management to adult patients in person and by telehealth, in partnership with primary care, OB/GYN, and behavioral health teams. Cases outside a providers usual scope (such as age group) are reviewed with the Chief Medical Officer/Chief of Behavioral Health to determine training and oversight needs.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Leadership and Strategy
- Under the leadership of the CMO, sets the strategic vision for psychiatric service in line with the organizations mission and community needs.
- Lead and provide clinical oversight for designated psychiatrists and psychiatric Advanced Practice Providers (APPs) across Variety Care and NorthCare.
- Serve as Delegating Physician of record for APPs (APRNs, NPs, and PAs) as needed, in accordance with state law and organizational policy.
- Develop clinical standards and evidence-based practices that support safe, patient-centered care.
- Advise leadership on psychiatric practice, regulatory requirements, and behavioral health trends.
- Grow psychiatry services by identifying new opportunities, improving access, and building partnerships with community providers, hospitals, and academic institutions.
- Evaluate service utilization, provider capacity, and community needs to guide future investment.
Clinical Practice
- Conduct psychiatric evaluations, diagnose conditions, and develop individualized treatment plans for new and established patients, in person and by telehealth.
- Prescribe and manage psychiatric medications, including controlled substances, in compliance with DEA and OBNDD requirements.
- Perform urgent and emergency assessments, determine the appropriate level of care, and provide on-call coverage as assigned.
- Complete accurate and timely clinical documentation.
- Coordinate care through warm handoffs and ongoing communication with primary care, OB/GYN, behavioral health, patients, and families.
- Provide psychiatric consultation to physicians, APPs, nursing, and behavioral health staff.
Quality and Operations
- Lead quality improvement efforts that improve patient outcomes, safety, access, and experience.
- Monitor clinical performance, access, and productivity metrics, and act on the results.
- Ensure compliance with accreditation standards, regulations, and organizational policies.
- Support peer review, mentoring, and physician development.
Financial and Organizational Leadership
- Partner with Finance to develop and manage service line budgets, staffing models, and resource requests.
- Contribute to organizational strategy and major initiatives as a member of the leadership team.
- Support physician recruitment, onboarding, retention, and succession planning.
- Represent the organization in professional, community, and healthcare forums.
- Promote a culture of collaboration, accountability, and continuous learning.
- Maintain board certification requirements and continuing medical education.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
Success Indicators / Key Performance Metrics
- Psychiatry service line growth.
- Patient access, including time to new psychiatric evaluation.
- Provider recruitment, retention, and engagement.
- Patient and provider satisfaction.
- Clinical quality and patient outcomes.
- Behavioral health integration across service lines.
- Financial performance of psychiatry services.
- Regulatory, accreditation, and prescribing compliance.
- Personal clinical productivity and continuity of care.
- Documentation accuracy and timeliness.
Top performers grow psychiatric services, improve access, engage and develop providers, and model timely, evidence-based psychiatric care.
Qualifications
Required Qualifications
Education
- Doctor of Medicine (MD) or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) from an accredited medical school.
- Completion of an accredited psychiatry residency program.
Experience
- Minimum 5 years of progressive physician leadership experience.
- Minimum 5 year of practice as a licensed psychiatrist.
- Experience leading psychiatrists or behavioral health physicians.
- Experience managing budgets and quality initiatives.
Certifications/Licensure
- Current unrestricted Oklahoma medical license.
- Board eligible in Psychiatry.
- Current DEA and Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (OBNDD) registrations.
- Current Basic Life Support (BLS) certification.
Technical Skills
- Strategic planning and physician leadership
- Financial management
- Quality improvement and data analysis
- Healthcare regulations and compliance
- Psychiatric assessment, diagnosis, and treatment planning
- Psychopharmacology and controlled-substance prescribing
- Crisis assessment and intervention
- Telepsychiatry
- Integrated behavioral healthcare
- Electronic health record documentation
- Written and verbal communication
Preferred Qualifications
- Board certification in Psychiatry.
- Experience in a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) or Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC).
- Experience integrating behavioral health with primary care and OB/GYN services.
- Experience with telepsychiatry and with supervising APPs.
- Experience serving underserved or medically complex populations.
- MBA, MHA, MPH, or equivalent leadership education.
Working Conditions / ADA Requirements
- Office, clinic, and telehealth settings.
- Frequent patient interaction, meetings, and computer use.
- Ability to handle urgent, emergent, and emotionally demanding situations.
- On-call coverage, occasional travel between locations, and evening events as needed.
- Ability to lift up to 25 pounds.