The posting
Job Description
ACO, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER
POSITION SUMMARY
As health care payment reform advances, ACOs must deliver meaningful innovation that improves population health, enhances patient experience, and reduces cost. As ACOs and integrated systems assume increasing quality and financial functions it is necessary to have executive leadership with the operational experience to manage utilization, unit cost, and quality improvement, and the judgment to lead organizational change fostering innovation across people, process, and technology that payment reform and financial risk demand.
The ACO Chief Medical Officer carries enterprise accountability for that agenda: the strategy, growth, external partnerships, payer economics, and data and analytics platform on which Atlantic ACOs performance depends. The CMO works collaboratively across the entire ACO team, partnering especially with the Associate CMO to lead execution across the operational and clinical program portfolio.
STANDING ACCOUNTABILITIES
ACO Operations
Provide leadership, direction, and support in the development and management of ACO daily operations, including utilization management, care management, credentialing, and network development.
- Lead the development and implementation of the utilization management program.
- Provide leadership and support to all operational committees and task forces of the ACO.
- Participate in executive management business and clinical strategy development and implementation.
- Build and leverage cross-functional collaborative relationships with key stakeholders to achieve shared ACO goals.
- Develop and implement strategic goals related to quality improvement.
- Oversee outcomes for the ACO's beneficiary population.
- Remain informed about political, government, insurance, and local practice developments affecting physicians and the ACO.
- Maintain awareness and understanding of emerging models in health care delivery; identify and define new and innovative strategies to achieve the business goals and objectives of the ACO.
- Work collaboratively with Integrated Care to support complex case management, rising risk, and post-acute care initiatives.
Utilization Management Program
Ensure physicians and providers have the tools and education they need to understand financial risk, and that physician and ACO leaders have metrics to identify and react quickly to outlier activity including data to promote preventive care, manage chronic disease, identify ambulatory-sensitive conditions, and achieve payer utilization requirements.
Management of Post-Acute Care
Post-acute cost is a growing concern among payers and a significant opportunity for our ACOs to affect cost and quality. Apply thoughtful approaches to prior authorization, concurrent review, and medical necessity criteria; equip ACO physicians and providers with the tools and education to manage post-acute admissions and length of stay; and support and optimize the post-acute care network strategy.
- 2027 focus: post-acute care utilization, outcomes, and costs
Practice/Network Relations
Lead the ACO's efforts to partner with healthcare teams and providers to improve population health, enhance the patient experience, and reduce cost.
- Promote collaboration among internal and external healthcare team members.
- Identify opportunities to collaborate and develop clinical integration opportunities that achieve best-practice outcomes.
- Educate and appropriately manage interactions across and between Atlantic ACO participants.
- Serve as a liaison for the ACO to the community.
- Communicate consistently and routinely with all participants.
- Train physicians and others to foster effective leadership within the ACO system.
- Meet 1:1 with ACO physicians, providers and staff, review pertinent data points, make recommendations, and develop and communicate performance improvement action plans with outlier participants. Shared responsibility with Associate ACO CMO.
MA Risk Scoring
Risk scoring is a key opportunity to increase revenue for ACO and for individual practices. Support practices to ensure proper coding of complex conditions and close gaps in care supporting value-based contract goals. Maintain a strong command of risk score metrics and communicate them clearly to physicians and providers.
Payer Relations and Contracting
Provide direction and support for the ACO's arrangements with payers.
- Assist with analytics and the development of quality measures for new value-based and risk-based payment models.
- Work collaboratively with executive leadership to design, negotiate, and monitor payment arrangements with payers.
- Participate in payer joint operating committee meetings and other clinical and financial review sessions.
2027 PRIORITIES
Priority 1 — Unburden: technology, AI, and workflow re-engineering
- Patient empowerment and engagement tech-stack — evaluation, partnerships, implementation, and impact analytics.
- Generative AI agent design empowering patients and the primary care provider and care team.
- Key vendor partners: Medical Brain, FeelBetter, Innovaccer
Priority 2 — Growth: strategy, branding, and incentive design
- CIN strategic actions — value proposition, differentiator, convener, disruptor.
- Professional targeted marketing and patient targeted marketing.
- Shared savings distribution formula; incentive model; evaluation of new and existing CMS models.
Priority 3 — Performance: accountability, payers, and care delivery
- ACO Performance Improvement Committee and ACO Boards — practice selections, messaging, and accountability parameters for performance year.
- Review of the Atlantic Health risk readiness assessment.
- Payer negotiations — terms, strategies, carve-outs, opportunities, and proforma design.
- Remediation and remuneration discussions with Innovaccer; ACO EHR vendor quality reporting.
- Integrated Care Team
- ACO Clinical Pharmacist oversight
- Assist ACO President and COO with identifying needed ACO positions and roles, and budget considerations
Priority 4 — Data, analytics, partnerships, and ventures
- AHS-EDAP resources; population health data aggregation and mastering within EDAP — analytics, report generation, and QA.
- Data flow diagrams and integration of vendor data; data governance, access, and security management.
- Additional data sources — Quest and other laboratories.
- Vendor resources — Innovaccer analysts, AI, and contract performance modeling; AWS Insights services and generative AI tooling.
- Atlantic Health partnerships — evaluation and management; HTC services, Garner, and other partnership and product due diligence, integration, and impact analytics.
- EDAP services and monetization — SaaS, DaaS, CaaS, AaaS; direct-to-employer services; joint ventures and the Newco product and company offering.
- Platform integration — Innovaccer, Medical Brain, Feel Better, NeuroTrak, and AHS/EDAP into a full AI-supported, evidence-based platform.
Qualifications
- MD or DO degree.
- Advanced management degree or certifications preferable.
- Previous executive management experience, at least five (5) years, full time.
- Experience in value-based care/accountable care required.
About Us
At Atlantic Health, our promise to our communities is; Anyone who enters one of our facilities will receive the highest quality care delivered at the right time, at the right place, and at the right cost. This commitment is also echoed in the respect, development and opportunities we give to our more than 22,000 team members. Headquarters in Morristown, New Jersey, we are one of the leading non-profit health care systems in the nation. Our facilities and sites of care include:
- Atlantic Health Morristown Medical Center, Morristown, NJ
- Atlantic Health Overlook Medical Center, Summit, NJ
- Atlantic Health Newton Medical Center, Newton, NJ
- Atlantic Health Chilton Medical Center, Pompton Plains, NJ
- Atlantic Health Hackettstown Medical Center, Hackettstown, NJ
- Atlantic Health Goryeb Children's Hospital, Morristown, NJ
- Atlantic Health CentraState Healthcare System, Freehold, NJ
- Atlantic Medical Group
- Atlantic Visiting Nurse
- Atlantic Mobile Health
- Atlantic Rehabilitation
We have more than 900 community-based healthcare providers affiliated through Atlantic Medical Group.
We have received awards and recognition for the services we have provided to our patients, team members and communities. Below are just a few of our accolades:
- Chosen for 17 years by Fortune as one of the magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For."
- Atlantic Health Morristown and Atlantic Health Overlook Named by Newsweek as two of the “World’s Best Hospitals” in 2026.
- Atlantic Health Morristown and Atlantic Health Overlook ranked within the top three hospitals in New Jersey by U.S. News & World Report’s 2025-2026 Best Hospital rankings.
- Atlantic Health scored four “A” grades by The Leapfrog Group in its Fall 2025 Hospital Safety Grades, performance measures reflecting errors, accidents, injuries and injections, as well as systems hospitals have in place to prevent harm.
- Atlantic Health Morristown and Atlantic Health Overlook are New Jersey's only hospitals to be named among America's 50 Best hospitals by Healthgrades in 2026.
- Named by Becker's Healthcare as one of the "165 Top Places to Work in Healthcare – 2026.
- Atlantic Health Morristown, Atlantic Health Overlook, Atlantic Health Chilton and Atlantic Health Newton all Forbes Top Hospitals for 2026.
- Named by Newsweek as one of America’s Greatest Workplaces for Inclusion & Diversity 2025.
- Atlantic Health rated LEVEL 9 - 2025 CHIME Digital Health Most Wired.
Atlantic Health offers a competitive and comprehensive Total Rewards package that supports the health, financial security, and well-being of all team members. Offerings vary based on role level (Team Member, Director, Executive). Below is a general summary, with role-specific enhancements highlighted:
Team Member Benefits
- Medical, Dental, Vision, Prescription Coverage (22.5 hours per week or above for full-time and part-time team members)
- Life & AD&D Insurance.
- Short-Term and Long-Term Disability (with options to supplement)
- 403(b) Retirement Plan: Employer match, additional non-elective contribution
- PTO & Paid Sick Leave
- Tuition Assistance, Advancement & Academic Advising
- Parental, Adoption, Surrogacy Leave
- Backup and On-Site Childcare
- Well-Being Rewards
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
- Fertility Benefits, Healthy Pregnancy Program
- Flexible Spending & Commuter Accounts
- Pet, Home & Auto, Identity Theft and Legal Insurance
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Note: In Compliance with the NJ Pay Transparency Act (effective Sunday, June 1, 2025), all job postings will include the hourly wage or salary (or a range), as well as this summary of benefits. Final compensation and benefit eligibility may vary by role and employment status and will be confirmed at the time of offer.
EEO STATEMENT
Atlantic Health, Inc. is an equal employment opportunity employer and federal contractor or subcontractor and therefore abides by applicable laws to protect applicants and employees from discrimination in hiring, promotion, discharge, pay, fringe benefits, job training, classification, referral, and other aspects of employment, on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity and sexual orientation), national origin, citizenship status, disability, age, genetics, or veteran
Atlantic Health System is at the forefront of medicine, setting standards for quality health care powered by a workforce of more than 18,000 team members and 4,800 affiliated physicians dedicated to building healthier communities, the system offers more than 400 sites of care, including eight award-winning medical centers. Specializing in cardiovascular care, cancer care, orthopedics, neuroscience, pediatrics, women's health and rehabilitation medicine. Atlantic Medical Group, comprised of 1,000 physicians and advanced practice providers, represents one of the largest multi-specialty practices in New Jersey and includes finance, legal, marketing, human resources, talent acquisition, ISS and more. Caring for our patients, our team members and the communities we serve is our central mission.
