Chair of Surgical Specialties

Sutter Health•San Francisco, CA

14d

About The Position

The Chair of Surgical Specialties is the medical group physician leader responsible for the clinical vision, service line performance, and physician leadership across surgical specialties. This role establishes how surgical services are organized, resourced, and optimized to deliver safe, timely, and high ‑ quality procedural care while advancing access, operational efficiency, and financial sustainability. The Chair partners in a dyad leadership model to drive perioperative performance, surgical access, quality and safety outcomes, workforce strategy, and growth, while ensuring consistent standards, strong physician engagement, and alignment with enterprise strategy.

Requirements

MD or DO with board certification in a surgical specialty.
Significant clinical experience in surgical practice.
Demonstrated senior physician leadership experience.
Experience with perioperative operations, quality improvement, and service line performance.
Familiarity with value ‑ based care, bundled payments, and utilization management.
Experience working in dyad leadership models.
Strong strategic, communication, and change management skills.
Systems Thinking: Designs integrated surgical care across sites and services.
Operational Excellence : Drives efficiency, throughput, and reliability.
Physician Influence : Builds trust and alignment among surgeons.
Strategic Vision : Translates enterprise goals into clear surgical strategy.
Operational Partnership : Effectively partners with administrative and perioperative leaders.
Change Leadership : Leads transformation with clarity and respect for surgical culture.
Accountability & Results: Drives measurable clinical and financial outcomes.
Strong performance on surgical quality and safety metrics.
Timely surgical access and efficient case flow.
Optimized OR/ASC utilization and reduced variation.
Achievement of budget, productivity, and contribution margin targets.
High engagement and low voluntary turnover.
Successful expansion of specialty services and access models.

Responsibilities

Strategic & Operational Leadership Define and operationalize the Surgical Specialties service line strategy, including ambulatory surgery, inpatient surgical services, and procedural care delivered in hospital and ASC settings.
Establish and oversee service segmentation (e.g., elective vs. urgent surgery, ambulatory vs. inpatient procedures, high ‑ acuity and tertiary care services).
Ensure surgical care models are aligned with case mix, patient acuity, site ‑ of ‑ care optimization, and perioperative capacity.
Set clinical expectations for staffing models, block utilization, call coverage, procedural templates, and team ‑ based perioperative workflows.
Lead long ‑ range planning for OR and ASC capacity, workforce needs, service mix, and market growth.
Ensure integration of Surgical Specialties with Primary Care, Medical Specialties, anesthesia, hospital operations, and perioperative services.
Quality, Safety & Perioperative Excellence Ensure the highest standards of evidence ‑ based surgical care, patient safety, and regulatory compliance.
Champion surgical quality improvement initiatives, including outcomes, complications, readmissions, and length of stay.
Lead standardization of perioperative pathways, enhanced recovery protocols, and best practices.
Promote a strong culture of safety, reliability, and accountability across surgical teams.
Access, Throughput & Utilization Management Establish standards for timely surgical access, referral ‑ to ‑ procedure timelines, and case scheduling.
Optimize OR and ASC utilization, block management, turnover times, and throughput.
Partner with anesthesia and perioperative leadership to align staffing, scheduling, and capacity.
Reduce variation, delays, and inefficiencies across the surgical continuum.
Value ‑ Based Care & Financial Stewardship Champion the role of Surgical Specialties in value ‑ based and bundled payment models, including quality, utilization, and cost management.
Partner with payer strategy, finance, and population health leaders to support performance in bundled, episode ‑ based, and risk ‑ based arrangements.
Define physician leadership expectations related to appropriate case selection, site of care, and resource utilization.
Ensure alignment between physician compensation, incentives, and quality, efficiency, and financial performance goals.
Physician Leadership, Engagement & Workforce Strategy Lead the physician leadership structure for Surgical Specialties.
Oversee surgeon recruitment, retention, and succession planning in partnership with Chiefs and enterprise recruitment teams.
Ensure consistent onboarding, mentoring, and leadership development for surgeons.
Deliver clear, timely performance feedback through the annual evaluation process.
Drive physician engagement, retention, and a culture of accountability and collaboration.
Serve as escalation point for complex surgeon performance, professionalism, or practice pattern issues.
Operational & Financial Performance (Dyad Leadership) Partner with the administrative dyad leader to oversee access, staffing models, productivity, and financial performance across surgical services.
Ensure alignment of surgical practice patterns with operational, quality, and financial objectives.
Review and act on performance dashboards, KPIs, and utilization trends.
Support development of sustainable surgical operating models across hospital and ambulatory settings.
Growth, Innovation & Care Transformation Identify and sponsor new surgical programs, service expansions, and procedural innovations.
Champion innovation in minimally invasive surgery, outpatient migration, and new site ‑ of ‑ care strategies.
Support integration of care management, rehabilitation, and post ‑ acute services to improve surgical outcomes and patient experience.
Communication & Alignment Ensure clear, consistent communication across Surgical Specialty physicians and leaders.
Align Chiefs, Medical Directors, and frontline surgeons to strategic priorities.
Serve as a visible, trusted leader and advocate for Surgical Specialties.