Correctional Medical Director - TDCJ

Summary:

The Correctional Medical Director provides administration, coordination, and oversight of health care delivery for the state’s adult corrections system, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ).  Collaborates with the Correctional Management Health Care Committee (CMHCC), the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), and the Texas Tech University Health Science Center (TTUHSC) to ensure effective and efficient delivery of high-quality medical care to those incarcerated in TDCJ.

The Correctional Medical Director leads TDCJ’s Health Services Division, which ensures access to care, monitors quality of care, investigates medical grievances, and conducts operational review audits of health care services at TDCJ facilities.

Responsibilities:

• Leads health care operations across one of the largest correctional systems in the nation, ensuring incarcerated individuals receive timely access to care comparable to community standards.
• Formulates and aligns system-wide policies, professional standards, and preventive medicine initiatives to govern comprehensive medical, mental health, and dental services.
• Collects, monitors, and audits data to ensure strict compliance with agency policy, healthcare contracts, Texas government code, and national accreditation standards.
• Serves as the primary TDCJ representative on the CMHCC and acts as the executive liaison to academic institutions, governmental agencies, private organizations, and public stakeholders.
• Monitors the administration and operations of contracted healthcare providers (UTMB and TTUHSC) to ensure full compliance with healthcare contracts, national accrediting agencies, including the American Correctional Association and the National Commission on Correctional Healthcare.
• Directs the comprehensive operations of the Health Services Division, providing executive oversight to six specialized departments and statewide healthcare staff deployed across all TDCJ facilities.
• Provides strategic leadership and supervision to multidisciplinary professionals, planning and assigning workloads to optimize division-wide performance.
• Coordinates specialized patient placement and medical transportation for incarcerated individuals with complex medical needs to optimize resource utilization and security.
• Develops and implements occupational health programs designed to enhance the health, wellness, and safety of TDCJ employees.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Strategic leadership skills
• Complex problem-solving skills
• Program innovation, implementation, and scaling
• Interdivisional and interagency collaboration skills
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to monitor contract compliance
• Knowledge of laws, policies, and practices related to correctional health care preferred

Minimum Qualifications:

• A Doctor of Medicine (MD) or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) degree from an accredited medical school plus eight (8) years full-time, wage-earning experience in providing direct patient care, clinical management, or health services administration in a health care organization such as a federal or state agency, institution, hospital, academic health science center, or managed care organization, at least two (2) years of which must have involved managerial duties incorporating responsibility for administration and fiscal oversight.
• Active, unrestricted Texas Medical License.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Correctional health care experience or academic health care institution experience.
• Significant experience in health-care leadership and administration.
• Demonstrated success leading multidisciplinary teams and complex healthcare operations.
• A commitment to quality, accountability, innovation, and ethical patient care.
• Board certification in primary care (family practice, OB/GYN, or internal medicine).