Chief Administrative Officer, Faculty Practice

University of Chicago•Hyde Park, IL

2d•Onsite

About The Position

The Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Faculty Practice is the senior-most administrative leader of the University of Chicago Faculty Practice (UCFP) and the administrative partner to the physician leadership of the practice. Reporting to the Vice Dean for Academic Finance & Administration and working in a formal dyad with the President of the Faculty Practice & Vice Dean of Clinical Affairs and the Vice President of the Faculty Practice, the CAO leads the administrative and operational execution of the physician enterprise across the UCFP and, in partnership with UCM, the ambulatory and physician-network agenda. As the physician enterprise consolidates under the UCM Chief Clinical Officer (CCO), the CAO is the BSD/UCFP administrative counterpart in that dyad — translating enterprise clinical strategy into faculty-practice execution while safeguarding the academic mission, faculty governance, and the Division’s financial stewardship. A defining feature of the role is that much of its mandate is exercised through influence rather than direct control: substantial portions of clinical operations, revenue cycle, managed care, and enterprise analytics are owned by Central Finance, the Health System, or BSD central. The CAO leads by convening, aligning, and holding the enterprise to shared goals. The CAO leads a team spanning clinical operations and physician compensation administration, practice transformation, program administration and workforce management, and advanced practice provider (APP) leadership, and co-chairs the standing Joint Finance–Operations Operating Review with the CFO. This at-will position is wholly or partially funded by contractual grant funding which is renewed under provisions set by the grantor of the contract. Employment will be contingent upon the continued receipt of these grant funds and satisfactory job performance.

Requirements

Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.
Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 10+ years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Nice To Haves

MBA, MHA, or related graduate degree.
10+ years of progressive administrative leadership in a physician group, faculty practice, or academic health system, including at least 5 years in an academic healthcare environment.
Demonstrated success leading in a matrixed structure with dual academic and health-system accountabilities.
Experience with faculty compensation, funds flow, ambulatory operations, and value-based care.
Track record building and leading multidisciplinary administrative teams.
Ability to lead a large, complex physician enterprise through influence in a highly matrixed academic–health-system structure.
Skill in navigating competing academic and health-system priorities and brokering durable, mission-aligned solutions.
Strong financial and operational acumen; able to partner effectively with a CFO and physician leaders.
Politically astute, collaborative, and highly credible with faculty, administrators, and health-system executives.

Responsibilities

Serve as the senior administrative leader of the UCFP and the BSD/UCFP administrative partner to the CCO, jointly accountable for translating enterprise clinical and ambulatory strategy into faculty-practice execution.
Represent the faculty practice in enterprise governance; prepare and lead UCFP Board and Committee agendas, materials, and discussions.
Lead through influence across functions owned by Finance, the Health System, and BSD central — convening stakeholders, aligning priorities, and holding the enterprise to shared goals and metrics.
Own the faculty-practice governance structure, committees, and decision rights, in partnership with the UCFP President, Vice-President and faculty leadership.
Advise UCFP President, Vice President and BSD Vice Dean for Finance and Administration on key priorities, opportunities, barriers and risks.
Develop and maintain administrative policies and standards for the faculty practice; lead succession planning and contribute to the definition of system chair roles with the Dean’s office and UCM.
Serve as the faculty-practice interface to philanthropy and development for clinical programs.
Direct, through the ED, Clinical Operations & Physician Compensation, the administrative operation of the practice, provider capacity and utilization, physician compensation plan design and administration, and clinical effort allocation.
Engage physicians, departmental leaders, and system partners to design and implement modernized practice models, elevating the physician voice in operational decisions
Direct, through the SD, Physician Strategy & Practice Integration, the practice’s growth, care-model transformation, digital and AI-enabled ways of working, and the operationalization of new hires.
Ensure, through the ED, Clinical Operations & Physician Compensation and its Program Administration function, that provider recruitment management aligns planned expansions with UCM strategy and operations (clinic and operating-room deployment).
Provide executive leadership for the Allied Health and APP workforce through the dual management of the Chief of Advanced Practice including work force expansion, establishing role expectations, compensation and incentive structure and evaluation and benchmarking of productivity.
Partner with UCM’s Ambulatory Care Division on daily operations, access, and throughput optimization leveraging a continuous improvement approach and the define CARES platform.
Facilitate alignment with UCM Strategy on space allocation, market/site expansion, provider business development, etc.
Co-chair, with the CFO, the standing monthly Joint Finance–Operations Operating Review governing the shared swim lanes: revenue cycle optimization, business-plan development, growth planning and performance, benchmarking, and compensation & incentive and UCM funds flow.
Ensure operational decisions are financially grounded, and financial plans reflect operational reality; keep physician compensation design (owned by Operations) tightly linked to funding and payouts (owned by Finance).
Advising and ensuring Provider specific needs are addressed in BSD wide wellness & engagement (Faculty Affairs & Chief Wellness Officer) to engage on going retention and satisfaction among our clinicians.
Advising and ensuring Provider specific needs are addressed in leadership development & programming (Faculty Affairs & Community & Divisional Values).
Work closely with people services team to design optimal processes to ensure a seamless end to end experience for our clinician hires in search, recruitment (OFPRO), faculty appointment (OAA), credentialling (MSO) and onboarding (OFPRO).
Build and lead a high-performing administrative team; recruit, develop, and retain talent consistent with UChicago Medicine’s Mission Vision and Values.
Establish an effective organizational structure and clear accountabilities across the faculty-practice administrative functions.
Directs department priorities, allocates resources and executes strategic plans.
Oversees non-medical activities of the department(s).
Manages policy development and implementation in various departmental areas.
Performs other related work as needed.