Vice President - Quality, Accreditation and Patient Safety

Carilion Clinic•Roanoke, VA

About The Position

The Vice President of Quality, Accreditation and Patient Safety provides enterprise-wide executive leadership for quality, safety, risk management, patient advocacy, and accreditation across Carilion Clinic’s integrated healthcare system, including acute care hospitals, specialty services, and across the ambulatory practice footprint. This leader is responsible for advancing Carilion Clinic’s mission to improve the health of the communities it serves by ensuring the consistent delivery of safe, high-quality, patient-centered care. The Vice President partners closely with physician, nursing, academic, and operational leaders to foster a culture of safety, transparency, continuous improvement, and high reliability across all care settings.

Requirements

Education Required: Master’s degree required (MSN, MHA, MPH, MBA, or equivalent)
Clinical background (RN, MD, DO, or other licensed clinician) strongly preferred
Experience Minimum of 7-10 years of progressive system-level leadership experience in healthcare quality, patient safety, risk management, and accreditation
Senior leadership experience within a large, integrated healthcare system required
Demonstrated success leading multi-hospital and ambulatory quality programs
Extensive experience with regulatory agencies such as Joint Commission/DNV, CMS, and state regulatory departments
Licensure, certification, and/or registration/Life Support Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ) strongly preferred
Knowledge, Skills & Competencies Expertise in healthcare quality improvement, patient safety science, and high-reliability principles
Strong understanding of value-based care, regulatory compliance, and accreditation standards
Proven ability to lead complex change and influence across a matrixed organization
Excellent communication and relationship-building skills with physicians, nurses, executives, and Board members
Strong analytical skills and comfort using data to drive improvement
Commitment to Carilion Clinic’s mission, values, and patient-centered culture

Nice To Haves

Clinical background (RN, MD, DO, or other licensed clinician) strongly preferred
Licensure, certification, and/or registration/Life Support Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ) strongly preferred

Responsibilities

Enterprise Quality Strategy Provide executive leadership for Carilion Clinic’s system-wide quality strategy, ensuring alignment with organizational goals, regulatory requirements, and value-based care initiatives.
Oversee clinical quality outcomes across inpatient, outpatient, and ambulatory settings, with a focus on safety, effectiveness, equity, and patient-centered care.
Lead quality measurement, analytics, benchmarking, and performance improvement initiatives, including public reporting and external quality programs (e.g., CMS, Leapfrog).
Ensure alignment of quality goals across hospitals, service lines, and ambulatory practices.
Oversees Medical Staff quality and performance review processes, including peer review and OPPE/FPPE, in partnership with Medical Affairs to support safe, compliant, and high-quality clinical care.
Patient Safety & High Reliability Champion a culture of safety and high reliability across Carilion Clinic, grounded in just culture, prevention of harm, and learning systems.
Oversee event reporting, serious safety event management, root cause analyses, and system-wide corrective action plans.
Partner with clinical leaders to standardize evidence-based safety practices and reduce variation across care settings.
Lead system response to sentinel events and other significant patient safety issues.
Patient Advocacy & Experience Provide executive oversight of patient advocacy functions, including grievance and complaint management across the enterprise.
Ensure timely, compassionate, and transparent resolution of patient and family concerns.
Collaborate with Patient Experience and clinical leaders to integrate patient feedback into quality and safety improvement efforts.
Support disclosure and communication processes following adverse events in alignment with Carilion Clinic values.
Risk Management & Claims Lead enterprise clinical risk management and loss prevention strategies to reduce harm and liability exposure.
Oversee professional and general liability risk processes, including claims management, trend analysis, and risk mitigation.
Partner closely with Legal, Compliance, and Insurance/Risk Financing teams.
Use data and analytics to proactively identify and address emerging risk trends.
Accreditation & Regulatory Readiness Provide executive leadership for accreditation and regulatory readiness across Carilion Clinic, including but not limited to The Joint Commission, CMS, state regulatory agencies, and specialty accreditations.
Ensure continuous readiness for surveys across all hospitals and ambulatory practices.
Lead system-wide survey preparation, on-site management, and post-survey corrective action planning.
Serve as an executive representative during accreditation and regulatory surveys.
Governance, Leadership & Culture Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leadership and the Board on matters related to quality, patient safety, risk, and accreditation.
Prepare and present quality and safety reports to Board committees and senior leadership forums.
Lead, mentor, and develop a multidisciplinary team of quality, safety, risk, and accreditation professionals.
Promote collaboration, accountability, and engagement among clinical and operational leaders.
Builds and sustains an effective team for continuity, career progression, success, growth, and sustainability of the organization.
Ensures there is a high performing and diverse team recognized for collaboration, innovation, and results.
Supports the organization’s developing of a high performing, engaged and diverse workforce.
Oversees the development and alignment of annual budget for assigned function(s) to ensure the effective use of resources and financial sustainability of the organization to achieve organizational strategies and plans.