Physician, Medical Director, Patient Experience (San Francisco, CA)

Sutter Health - Bay Area

About The Position

The Medical Director of Patient Experience provides physician leadership to advance a culture of exceptional patient-centered care across the medical group. This role partners with operational leaders, physician chiefs, and clinic medical directors to improve the patient experience across ambulatory settings while aligning efforts with organizational quality, access, and service goals. The Medical Director champions initiatives that enhance communication, patient engagement, care coordination, and service excellence. Through collaboration, coaching, and data-driven improvement strategies, this role supports clinicians and care teams in delivering consistently high-quality patient experiences. Role is 0.2 FTE administrative/0.8 FTE clinical

Requirements

MD or DO with active board certification in an applicable specialty.
Active member of the medical staff or eligibility for appointment.
Minimum of 5 years of clinical practice experience.
Demonstrated interest or experience in patient experience, quality improvement, or physician leadership.
Strong interpersonal, communication, and facilitation skills.

Responsibilities

Provide physician leadership for patient experience strategy across the medical group.
Partner with operational leaders to implement system-wide service excellence initiatives.
Support development of standards, policies, and best practices that promote patient-centered care.
Identify opportunities to improve the patient journey across access, care delivery, and follow-up.
Serve as a physician champion for patient-centered care and service excellence.
Partner with Chiefs and Medical Directors to promote provider engagement in patient experience initiatives.
Support development of a culture of empathy, communication excellence, and responsiveness to patient needs.
Lead peer-to-peer engagement and coaching to support improvement in patient experience metrics.
Monitor and interpret patient experience data (e.g., CAHPS, Press Ganey, or equivalent surveys).
Collaborate with clinical and operational leaders to address performance gaps and implement improvement plans.
Support implementation of best practices that improve patient communication, care coordination, and service reliability.
Promote integration of patient experience goals with quality, safety, and operational performance initiatives.
Provide physician-to-physician coaching related to communication, professionalism, and patient engagement.
Partner with Chiefs and Medical Directors to support performance feedback when patient experience concerns arise.
Contribute to training and educational programs focused on communication skills and patient-centered care.
Support innovative approaches to improving patient experience, including digital tools, access improvements, and care navigation models.
Collaborate with population health and care delivery teams to enhance continuity and coordination of care.
Maintain strong partnerships with physician leadership, clinic operations, nursing leadership, and patient experience teams.
Communicate patient experience priorities, trends, and improvement strategies across the medical group.
Represent physician leadership in system-level patient experience initiatives when appropriate.