Chief Dental Officer Job Summary:Reporting to the President/Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Dental Officer (CDO) provides clinical leadership and oversight for CHC's dental program and is responsible for advancing high-quality, safe, accessible, and patient-centered dental care. The position provides leadership for clinical standards, quality improvement, provider performance, regulatory compliance, and dental program goals.
The CDO collaborates with organizational leaders on operational planning, financial performance, access, growth initiatives, and strategic priorities. The CDO also provides direct patient care and clinical consultation as needed, serves on assigned committees, and represents CHC with community, academic, and professional partners.
Primary Responsibilities and Specific Duties:Executive Clinical Leadership and Patient Care - Ensures dental services are delivered in accordance with evidence-based clinical guidelines, standards of care, scope-of-practice requirements, and applicable regulatory requirements.
- Provides direct patient care, clinical consultation, and clinical coverage as needed to support continuity of dental services and patient access.
- Serves as a clinical resource for interdisciplinary care coordination, complex cases, after-hours escalation, and timely clinical decision-making.
- Aligns dental services with the needs of medically underserved populations to improve access, patient safety, quality of care, and health outcomes.
- Provides oversight and ensures timely resolution of clinical and practice-related issues, including incident review, adverse events, and other matters affecting patient care or safety.
- Leads the development, review, and implementation of dental clinical policies, protocols, practice standards, and clinical guidelines to promote consistent, high-quality patient care.
- Reviews dental patient experience, complaints, grievances, and identified clinical concerns and partners with appropriate leaders to implement corrective actions and opportunities for improvement.
Quality, Compliance, and Risk Management - Provides leadership and oversight for dental quality assurance, quality improvement, peer review, infection control, patient safety, and clinical risk-management activities.
- Promotes accountability, professionalism, clinical excellence, patient safety, and continuous improvement across dental services.
- Partners with appropriate departments to support dental provider credentialing, privileging, renewals, audits, and site visits.
- Ensures dental services are provided in accordance with applicable federal, state, and regulatory requirements, including Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) requirements and standards.
- Partners with Compliance, Revenue Cycle, and Managed Care to support regulatory compliance, accurate claims, appropriate reimbursement, and adherence to payer and contractual requirements.
- Identifies and addresses trends in provider clinical performance, quality, patient safety, and peer-review findings in collaboration with appropriate organizational leaders.
- Serves as a member of the Risk Management, Infection Control, Quality Improvement/Quality Assurance, and Safety Committees, and participates in other committees as assigned by the President/Chief Executive Officer.
Leadership and Workforce Development - Partners in the recruitment, onboarding, development, evaluation, and retention of dental providers and department team members.
- In partnership with the Associate Dental Director, supervises and evaluates dentists, the Director of Dental Operations, the Dental Administrative Assistant, and other assigned direct reports.
- Develops staffing and coverage plans, including vacation and leave coverage, and communicates plans to the appropriate managers.
- Reviews continuing education requests and verifies compliance with credentialing, privileging, and scope-of-practice requirements.
- Reviews and approves timekeeping for assigned direct reports in accordance with organizational policies and procedures.
- Mentors dental students and residents and supports workforce pipeline development.
- Promotes team member engagement, open communication, respect, professional growth, and a supportive work environment.
- Partners with Human Resources to address professional concerns promptly and reduce legal and regulatory risk.
Strategic and Operational Leadership - Contributes to organizational strategy and growth initiatives and leads the development, implementation, and evaluation of dental program goals.
- Participates in the development and monitoring of the dental expense budget in alignment with productivity, access, quality, and organizational financial goals.
- Provides clinical leadership for dental workforce planning, staffing models, productivity standards, and optimization of dental clinical systems in collaboration with operational leaders.
- Collaborates with organizational leaders to plan for future dental program needs related to facilities, equipment, technology, and specialty services.
- Monitors key dental clinical, quality, access, workforce, and financial performance measures and provides updates to executive leadership and the Boad of Directors.
- Establishes and monitors clinical and program performance expectations for assigned dental leaders and providers, including achievement of established goals, productivity, quality, and budget expectations, as applicable.
- Partners with clinical and operational leaders to strengthen care coordination, communication, patient safety, access, and outcomes.
Community and External Relations - Represents and advances the organization's mission, vision, and values through internal and external engagement.
- Develops and maintains strategic relationships with academic partners, community organizations, public agencies, advisory boards, and professional associations.
- Serves as a clinical leader and represents the organization within the healthcare, professional, and community environment.
- Ensures dental services remain responsive to community needs, patient populations, and relevant public health priorities.
- Supports academic partnerships, workforce development initiatives, and opportunities that strengthen the dental workforce and expand access to care.
Additional Duties - Performs other duties as assigned.
Qualifications:Education - Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) or Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) degree from a dental education program accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA).
Experience - Seven (7) years of practice experience, including management experience.
- Leadership experience in a federally qualified health center, community health center, or similar healthcare environment preferred.
Licensure and Certification - Current, active, and unrestricted license to practice dentistry in the State of Florida.
- Current Basic Life Support (BLS) certification, maintained throughout employment.
- Maintains all credentialing, privileging, and other professional requirements necessary to perform the clinical responsibilities of the position.
- Maintains applicable DEA registration if required for assigned clinical responsibilities.
Additional Requirement - Ability to work flexible hours as organizational and patient-care needs require.
Background Screening RequirementThis position requires background screening through the Florida Care Provider Background Screening Clearinghouse. Applicants can find the Clearinghouse Education and Awareness information available at: https://info.flclearinghouse.com
