Assistant Chief (MD/DO) - Department of Emergency Medicine

Care New England Health System•Warwick, RI

About The Position

The Assistant Chief of the Department of Emergency Medicine supports the Chief in providing strategic, clinical, operational, and administrative leadership for the Emergency Department at a community-based hospital. The role promotes safe, timely, equitable, high-quality, patient-centered emergency care while advancing departmental goals, operational efficiency, provider engagement, and organizational performance. The Assistant Chief collaborates with emergency physicians, advanced practice providers, nursing leadership, hospitalists, specialists, ancillary departments, and hospital administration to optimize patient flow, improve clinical outcomes, reduce boarding, enhance patient experience, and strengthen interdisciplinary teamwork. The role helps turn organizational priorities into measurable departmental initiatives and assumes delegated responsibilities for the department when the Chief is unavailable. The position includes clinical practice responsibilities, as applicable, as well as administrative duties, meetings, quality reviews, and participation in hospital leadership activities. The Assistant Chief may need to respond to significant clinical or operational issues outside standard business hours and participate in emergency preparedness or disaster response activities. The role operates within authority delegated by the Chief and established hospital bylaws, medical staff rules, policies, and procedures. Care New England Health System is an integrated healthcare organization comprising Butler Hospital, Women & Infants Hospital, Kent Hospital, VNA of Care New England, Integra, The Providence Center, and Care New England Medical Group. It focuses on medical research, specialty-trained physicians, innovative programs, and the health of the individuals and communities it serves.

Requirements

Doctor of Medicine (MD) or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO).
Board certification or board eligibility in Emergency Medicine, consistent with hospital medical staff requirements.
Current unrestricted medical license in the state of practice.
Current applicable certifications and credentials required for emergency medicine practice.
Eligibility for appointment to the hospital's medical staff and emergency medicine clinical privileges.
Demonstrated clinical experience in emergency medicine with at least two years of post-residency independent practice.
Ability to collaborate across disciplines and contribute to quality, safety, or operational improvement.
Strong clinical judgment and commitment to evidence-based care.
Collaborative and inclusive leadership, effective communication, and relationship-building skills.
Commitment to high reliability, patient safety, and continuous improvement.
Ability to analyze performance data and translate findings into actionable strategies.
Operational awareness and sound resource stewardship.
Accountability, professionalism, integrity, adaptability, and ability to influence change and build consensus across physician, nursing, and administrative teams.

Nice To Haves

Previous experience in physician leadership, departmental administration, quality improvement, or medical staff governance.
Experience in a community hospital or community-based emergency department.
Demonstrated success improving patient flow, throughput, clinical quality, or patient experience.
Experience with performance dashboards, data analysis, regulatory readiness, and change management.
Formal training or education in healthcare leadership, quality improvement, patient safety, or healthcare administration.

Responsibilities

Promote evidence-based emergency medicine practices and adherence to clinical policies, procedures, and protocols.
Support consistent clinical decision-making, appropriate resource use, and timely evaluation and treatment of emergency patients.
Collaborate with medical staff and nursing leadership on clinical concerns, adverse events, near misses, and improvement opportunities.
Participate in clinical case reviews, morbidity and mortality conferences, peer review, and patient safety activities.
Support emergency preparedness, disaster response, and compliance with regulatory and accreditation standards.
Partner with the Chief and ED nursing leadership to optimize patient flow from arrival through discharge, admission, or transfer.
Monitor operational performance indicators, including door-to-provider time, length of stay, left-without-being-seen rates, time to disposition, boarding hours, and patients leaving before treatment is complete.
Identify operational barriers and lead initiatives to improve access, efficiency, and timely care.
Collaborate with inpatient units, hospitalists, case management, radiology, laboratory services, and other departments to reduce delays in testing, consultation, admission, and transfer.
Support effective use of ED beds, staffing resources, observation services, and alternative care pathways; participate in surge management and capacity planning.
Lead or co-lead departmental quality improvement initiatives aligned with hospital priorities and national emergency medicine standards.
Review clinical quality indicators, patient safety trends, documentation compliance, and improvement opportunities.
Support performance improvement activities related to sepsis, stroke, acute coronary syndromes, trauma, behavioral health, and other high-priority conditions.
Participate in HRO, Quality, Patient Satisfaction, and Risk meetings and collaborate with Quality, Risk Management, Infection Prevention, and Compliance departments.
Assist with regulatory readiness, policy review, chart audits, and corrective action plans; use data and outcome measures to evaluate and sustain improvements.
Support recruitment, onboarding, orientation, retention, scheduling, coverage planning, performance feedback, and resolution of operational concerns for emergency physicians and advanced practice providers.
Promote provider accountability, collegiality, clinical excellence, respectful communication, peer review, and professional practice evaluation.
Encourage provider participation in committees, education, and quality improvement projects, and help develop future physician leaders.
Promote compassionate, respectful, patient-centered, and equitable emergency care.
Review patient experience results, complaints, compliments, and service recovery opportunities; implement initiatives to improve communication, responsiveness, care transitions, and discharge instructions.
Collaborate with nursing leadership to improve communication with patients and families, particularly during prolonged waits and boarding.
Support efficient departmental resource use and partner with the Chief and hospital leadership to evaluate staffing models, productivity, coverage, and operating costs.
Identify opportunities to improve resource utilization, reduce avoidable delays, and enhance departmental sustainability.
Assist in evaluating equipment, clinical programs, staffing requests, service expansions, budget planning, and business cases for initiatives.
Support development of emergency medicine services responsive to local community needs; identify opportunities to improve access, develop clinical pathways, and strengthen relationships with referring providers and EMS.
Collaborate with EMS leadership on prehospital protocols, transfer processes, and community emergency preparedness.
Participate in initiatives for high-utilization populations and patients with complex medical or social needs, as well as recruitment, community outreach, and program development.
Participate in departmental meetings, hospital committees, leadership rounds, and multidisciplinary quality initiatives.
Support education and professional development for physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, residents, students, and other healthcare professionals, as applicable.
Communicate departmental performance, operational challenges, and improvement opportunities to hospital leadership.
Model professionalism, emotional intelligence, accountability, and constructive conflict resolution; promote a high-reliability culture focused on standardization, teamwork, learning, and harm prevention.
Assist the Chief in developing departmental goals, policies, performance standards, and strategic priorities.
Assume designated leadership responsibilities when the Chief is unavailable and exercise designated authority when acting on the Chief's behalf.
Participate in developing and monitoring departmental dashboards, action plans, and performance improvement initiatives.
Assist with investigation and resolution of escalated clinical, operational, and personnel concerns within delegated authority, and provide regular updates and recommendations.
Contribute to performance outcomes including ED throughput, length of stay, time to disposition, boarding, left-without-being-seen rates, clinical quality, patient safety, patient experience, provider engagement, project sustainability, compliance, financial stewardship, and community service.