Chief Medical Officer

Why This Opportunity?

Wallowa Memorial Hospital & Medical Clinics is seeking an exceptional Chief Medical Officer (CMO) to join our Executive Leadership Team. This person will help shape the future of healthcare in one of Oregon's most beautiful and close-knit rural communities.

This is an opportunity for a physician leader who wants to do more than hold an executive title. We are looking for someone who wants to influence how care is delivered, strengthen physician engagement, champion quality and patient safety, and help build a healthcare organization where clinicians can do their best work.

The CMO serves as the organization's senior physician executive, partnering closely with the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Nursing Officer, medical staff, and clinical leaders. The role combines strategic physician leadership with an active, part-time clinical practice, allowing you to remain connected to patients, colleagues, and the realities of rural healthcare.

At Wallowa Memorial, physician leadership is not confined to the boardroom.

As CMO, you will have the opportunity to:

• Shape the clinical future of a rural healthcare organization and influence strategic decisions that directly affect patients and the community.
• Build strong relationships with physicians and advanced practice providers, strengthening engagement, communication, accountability, recruitment, and retention.
• Partner with nursing and executive leadership through a collaborative physician-nursing dyad model.
• Champion clinical quality and patient safety, translating data and evidence into meaningful improvements in care.
• Support and develop physician leaders while partnering with department-specific medical directors.
• Help advance access, service lines, care delivery, and clinical operations across the hospital and clinics.
• Maintain meaningful clinical practice, preserving the credibility and connection that come from continuing to care for patients.
• Serve as a trusted physician voice with the Medical Staff, Executive Leadership Team, and Governing Board.

As CMO, you will provide physician leadership across a broad continuum of services, collaborating with leaders across hospital, clinic, emergency, surgical, obstetric, swing bed, rehabilitation, pharmacy, laboratory, imaging, EMS, and ancillary services.

You will provide leadership for:

• Serve as the principal liaison between Medical Staff and Administration.
• Promote physician and APP engagement, communication, recruitment, onboarding, retention, and leadership development.
• Support Medical Staff governance, credentialing, privileging, professional practice standards, and established processes for addressing provider performance and professionalism concerns.
• Partner with physician medical directors to strengthen collaboration, accountability, and interdisciplinary care.

• Provide physician leadership for the organization's QAPI program.
• Champion evidence-based practice, patient safety, quality improvement, and clinical performance.
• Participate in peer review, FPPE, OPPE, mortality review, case review, and other professional practice evaluation activities.
• Partner with Quality, Nursing, Infection Prevention, Risk Management, and clinical leaders to improve outcomes and respond to patient safety concerns.
• Provide visible physician leadership during accreditation surveys and regulatory reviews.

• Advise the CEO and Executive Leadership Team on clinical matters and healthcare delivery.
• Provide physician leadership for clinical operations, patient access, staffing models, service line development, and care delivery.
• Help develop and evaluate clinical policies, protocols, documentation standards, order sets, and care coordination processes.
• Collaborate with leaders to improve utilization management, medical necessity, documentation integrity, and patient throughput.
• Contribute to organizational strategy, operational planning, growth, and executive decision-making.

The CMO will maintain an active clinical practice consistent with specialty, credentials, organizational needs, and approved privileges.

Clinical practice may include:

• Rural Health Clinic
• Emergency Department
• Hospital Medicine/Swing Bed
• Obstetrics, if appropriately privileged
• Other approved clinical services

Maintaining clinical practice is an intentional part of this position, providing the CMO with continued visibility, credibility, and connection…