Vice President of Medical Direction

Lifecare Home Health Family•Irving, TX

21d

About The Position

The Vice President of Medical Direction (VP, Medical Direction) is a senior physician executive responsible for the clinical, regulatory, and strategic oversight of hospice medical direction across LifeCare Home Health Family’s multi-state footprint. This role provides enterprise leadership for hospice physicians and hospice nurse practitioners, ensures defensible medical eligibility and documentation practices, and supports sustainable growth through proactive physician workforce planning. The VP of Medical Direction serves as a key clinical authority in regulatory proceedings, including Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) hearings, and acts as a national clinical and policy advocate for hospice care.

Requirements

Medical Doctor (MD) or Doctor of Osteopathy (DO) with an active, unrestricted license.
Board certification in an appropriate specialty; hospice and palliative medicine certification strongly preferred.
Significant clinical leadership experience in hospice and palliative care.
Demonstrated experience defending hospice eligibility and documentation in ADRs, appeals, and ALJ hearings.
Strong understanding of CMS hospice Conditions of Participation and Medicare hospice eligibility requirements.
Ability to operate effectively in a multi-state, highly regulated environment.

Nice To Haves

Prior experience in an enterprise or regional medical director role.
Experience supporting growth, integration, or private equity-backed healthcare organizations.
Established credibility as a speaker, educator, or policy advocate in hospice or palliative medicine.

Responsibilities

Provide enterprise-level medical oversight for hospice physicians and hospice nurse practitioners across all operating states.
Establish and maintain clinical standards, expectations, and best practices related to hospice eligibility, certification, and recertification.
Support consistent, high-quality physician engagement and accountability across local hospice programs.
Lead, mentor, and manage hospice Medical Directors and hospice Nurse Practitioners.
Ensure appropriate coverage and continuity of medical direction services across all markets.
Maintain a consistent and scalable pipeline of physicians to support organizational growth and ensure compliant patient-to-Medical Director ratios.
Serve as the organization’s primary or delegated physician representative in Additional Documentation Request (ADR) responses and Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) hearings.
Provide expert medical testimony and written opinions supporting hospice eligibility, prognosis, and clinical appropriateness.
Partner with compliance, legal, and operations teams to ensure documentation is accurate, complete, and defensible.
Fill in for local Medical Directors, as directed by the PTAN Medical Director or executive leadership, to address gaps in service, leaves, or urgent coverage needs.
Temporarily replace or supplement Medical Directors to ensure uninterrupted compliance with hospice Conditions of Participation and payer requirements.
Support onboarding, transition, and remediation of Medical Directors as needed.
Align medical direction capacity with census growth, geographic expansion, and acquisition activity.
Advise executive leadership on physician staffing models, ratios, and coverage strategies.
Support integration of newly acquired or de novo hospice programs from a medical oversight perspective.
Serve as a national clinical and policy advocate for hospice care.
Monitor and engage in federal and state regulatory, reimbursement, and policy developments impacting hospice medicine.
Represent the organization in professional associations, industry forums, and policy discussions, as appropriate.