| Detail | For this role |
|---|---|
| Department | Clinical and Medical |
| Level | Senior management |
| Reports to | Chief Executive Officer |
| Direct reports | Clinical Director, Medical Superintendent, Head of Department (Clinical), Laboratory Director |
| Experience | 18+ years in medicine, including 5 or more years in senior medical administration |
Medical Director job description template
Copy this job description, replace the text in square brackets and post it on your careers page or a job portal.
Job title: Medical Director
Department: Clinical and Medical
Reports to: Chief Executive Officer
Location: [City], [office, branch or site]
About the role
A Medical Director is the senior-most doctor in the management of a hospital or diagnostic chain. They answer to the CEO or the board for the medical side of the business: which specialties to run, which consultants to bring in, how doctors are engaged and governed, and whether licences and accreditations are in order. A good Medical Director grows clinical services without compromising patient safety, keeps consultant turnover low and handles medico-legal matters with a steady hand.
Key responsibilities
- Build the annual medical plan with the CEO, covering specialties to add or close, bed and OT capacity, major equipment and the consultant hiring budget.
- Recruit senior consultants and heads of department, agree fixed or fee-for-service engagement terms, and approve their contracts with HR and finance.
- Keep hospital licences current with the Medical Superintendent, including clinical establishment registration, biomedical waste authorisation, PCPNDT, AERB and blood bank licences.
- Approve medical policies on admission criteria, consent, do-not-resuscitate orders, restraint, referrals and brought-dead cases, and check that wards follow them.
- Oversee the Clinical Director's quality programme and review hospital-wide indicators, sentinel events and accreditation status every month.
- Handle medico-legal cases, consumer court notices and police queries with the legal team, and decide what the hospital puts in writing.
- Resolve disputes between consultants, between departments and between doctors and nursing, and act on complaints of clinical misconduct.
- Review each consultant's outcomes, patient feedback, OPD volumes and revenue per bed, and decide contract renewals or changes.
- Represent the hospital on medical matters with insurers, TPAs, government health schemes, the local medical association and health authorities.
- Grow referrals by building relationships with general practitioners, nursing homes and corporate clients in the hospital's catchment area.
Requirements
- MBBS with MD, MS or DNB, with valid registration with the National Medical Commission or a State Medical Council
- MBA or PG diploma in hospital or healthcare management is an advantage
- Hands-on experience of NABH, NABL or JCI accreditation is an advantage
- 18+ years in medicine, including 5 or more years in senior medical administration
KRAs and KPIs for a Medical Director
Key result areas for the appraisal form, each with a KPI you can measure every month or quarter.
| Key result area | How to measure it |
|---|---|
| Clinical services growth | New specialties and services launched on the dates set in the annual medical plan |
| Consultant retention | Senior consultant exits within the annual plan, with every exit replaced within 90 days |
| Licences and accreditation | Every licence renewed before expiry and NABH accreditation maintained without suspension |
| Patient safety | Sentinel events reviewed monthly, with 100 percent of corrective actions closed by their due dates |
| Medico-legal risk | Replies to legal notices and police queries sent within the deadline in every case |
| Patient experience | Inpatient satisfaction score at or above 4.5 out of 5 each quarter |
Skills and tools
Tools used day to day: Hospital information system (HIS), MIS dashboards for occupancy and revenue, Electronic medical records, Incident reporting system, MS Excel and PowerPoint.
Reporting line and career path
Next roles: Chief Medical Officer, Hospital Director, Chief Executive Officer
Interview questions for a Medical Director
- How would you decide whether to start a cardiac surgery programme in a 200-bed hospital?
- Two senior consultants refuse to share an OT. How do you settle it?
- A family files a consumer case alleging negligence in their father's surgery. What are your first three steps?
- How do you weigh a consultant's revenue against repeated complaints about their conduct?
- What would you check in the four weeks before an NABH surveillance assessment?
- How would you structure the engagement of a visiting consultant compared with a full-time consultant?
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What does a medical director do in a hospital?
A medical director runs the medical side of a hospital. They plan specialties and capacity with the CEO, hire and manage consultants, approve medical policies, keep licences and accreditation in order, handle medico-legal cases and resolve serious disputes involving doctors. Many medical directors in India continue limited practice in their own specialty.
Who does a medical director report to?
A medical director usually reports to the chief executive officer or managing director of the hospital. In trust hospitals the report may go to the board of trustees, and in hospital chains to a group chief medical officer who sets common clinical policy across all units.
What is the difference between a medical director and a medical superintendent?
The medical director decides medical strategy, consultant hiring and clinical policy. The medical superintendent runs day-to-day medical administration: duty rosters of medical officers, bed allocation, medico-legal registers, licence paperwork, patient complaints and coordination between departments. In many hospitals the superintendent reports to the medical director.