Chief of General Surgery (San Francisco, CA)

Sutter Health•San Francisco, CA

About The Position

The Chief of General Surgery is the physician leader responsible for the clinical excellence, operational performance, and workforce leadership of the General Surgery department. This role ensures safe, timely, and high-quality surgical care while optimizing access, throughput, quality outcomes, and financial performance across hospital and ambulatory surgical settings. Reporting to the Chair of Surgical Specialties, the Chief of General Surgery partners in a dyad leadership model with administrative leadership to manage day-to-day departmental operations, standardize care delivery, support surgeon engagement, and align General Surgery performance with enterprise goals. This role is 0.2 FTE admin/0.6-0.8 clinical.

Requirements

MD or DO with board certification in General Surgery.
Significant clinical experience in general surgical practice.
Experience with perioperative operations, quality improvement, and performance management.
Familiarity with value-based care, utilization management, and surgical efficiency initiatives.
Strong leadership, communication, and change management skills.

Nice To Haves

Prior physician leadership experience preferred (e.g., Medical Director, Section Chief).
Experience working in dyad leadership models strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead the General Surgery department in alignment with Surgical Specialties and organizational strategy.
Partner with the Administrative Director to oversee staffing models, call coverage, scheduling templates, block utilization, and resource allocation.
Ensure appropriate alignment of case mix, acuity, and site of care across inpatient, outpatient, and ASC settings.
Define and standardize departmental expectations for clinical workflows, perioperative processes, and team-based care.
Support short- and long-range planning for workforce needs, OR and ASC capacity, and access growth.
Ensure effective integration with anesthesia, perioperative services, hospital operations, and referring providers.
Ensure adherence to evidence-based surgical practices, patient safety standards, and regulatory requirements.
Champion quality improvement initiatives focused on outcomes, complications, readmissions, and length of stay.
Lead standardization of perioperative pathways, enhanced recovery protocols, and best practices within General Surgery.
Promote a culture of safety, reliability, accountability, and continuous improvement.
Establish standards for timely access to surgical consultation and procedures.
Optimize OR and ASC utilization, block management, turnover times, and daily throughput.
Partner with perioperative and anesthesia leadership to align staffing, scheduling, and capacity.
Reduce unwarranted variation, delays, and inefficiencies across the surgical continuum.
Support General Surgery participation in value-based, bundled, and episode-based care models.
Partner with finance, payer strategy, and population health teams to manage cost, utilization, and outcomes.
Ensure alignment of surgical practice patterns with quality, efficiency, and financial objectives.
Contribute to the development and alignment of physician compensation and incentive models.
Lead the physician leadership structure within General Surgery.
Oversee surgeon recruitment, onboarding, retention, and succession planning in partnership with Surgical Specialties leadership and recruitment teams.
Ensure consistent onboarding, mentoring, and professional development for General Surgery surgeons.
Deliver clear, timely performance feedback through the annual evaluation process.
Promote physician engagement, accountability, collaboration, and a positive Experience of Work.
Serve as escalation point for complex surgeon performance, professionalism, or practice pattern concerns.
Partner with administrative leadership to monitor and improve access, staffing, productivity, and financial performance.
Review departmental dashboards, KPIs, and utilization data; drive action on identified gaps.
Ensure alignment between clinical practice, operational performance, and financial sustainability.
Support growth initiatives within General Surgery, including service expansion and access optimization.
Champion innovation in minimally invasive surgery, outpatient migration, and site-of-care optimization.
Support integration with post-acute care, rehabilitation, and care management to improve outcomes and patient experience.
Ensure clear, consistent communication across General Surgery physicians and leaders.
Align Medical Directors and frontline surgeons to departmental and enterprise priorities.
Serve as a visible, trusted leader and advocate for General Surgery within Surgical Specialties.