OVERVIEW
What is a Clinical Director?
Clinical directors have their hands in nearly every aspect of hospital or clinic operations—from supervising the staff, to managing budgets, to ensuring that a clinic follows all state and federal regulations. In many cases, they have experience working with patients themselves and understand what it takes to provide exceptional care.
Clinical directors can work in hospitals, doctors' offices, mental health facilities, and other organizations—but their number one priority is to make sure that patients have effective and well-organized treatment and recovery plans.
RESPONSIBILITIES
What Does a Clinical Director Do?
Clinical directors are responsible for all the outcomes of care and critical recovery of patients in their healthcare facilities. They must have excellent attention to detail and be able to give evidence-based direction.
A typical day might include:
- Formulating and introducing strategies that improve the clinic's performance and meet clinical and business goals.
- Ensuring facility compliance with legal policies, state guidelines, and federal regulations.
- Hiring staff to meet needs as necessary.
- Organizing patient care.
- Paying careful attention to medical records and documentation and making sure these are maintained according to state and federal requirements.
- Actively reviewing employee performance on a quarterly or annual basis to motivate staff, keep them engaged, and ensure high-quality operations.
- Planning, managing, and budgeting for the clinic's operations, including payroll and programs.
- Using excellent communication and leadership skills to connect patients and families with care staff, nurses, doctors, and administrators.
EDUCATION & BEST DEGREES
How Do I Become a Clinical Director?
- To become a clinical director, you'll need a bachelor's degree in a healthcare-related field, such as health and human services, healthcare administration or health science. A health services coordination degree teaches graduates to navigate changes in technology, insurance, and medicine within the field of health services management. Graduates coordinate with healthcare providers, patients, caregivers, and medical services to improve the effectiveness, safety, and efficiency of an increasingly complex healthcare system.
- A healthcare management degree offers graduates the knowledge, skills, and confidence to play a key leadership role in a wide range of environments, such as doctors' offices, hospitals, nursing and residential care facilities, and government offices that serve the healthcare industry.
- After earning your degree, you'll begin your career in another healthcare role, such as a healthcare administrator—where you'll learn key practices and the standards expected in high-functioning healthcare clinics.
- The next step is to earn a master's degree in healthcare administration or an MBA in healthcare management.
- As you seek a clinical director position, you must meet all state and federal standards for licensure, as well as pass any necessary exams.
Best Degrees for a Clinical Director
Health & Nursing
Health and Human Services – B.S.
An online health degree program for students who are committed to making a...
An online health degree program for students who are committed to making a difference for patients in a variety of ways.
- Time: 63% of students finish this program in 24 months
- Tuition: $4,085 per 6-month term
- Courses: 35 total courses in this program
Skills for your résumé that you will learn in this program:
- Epidemiology
- Community and Public Health
- Cultural Awareness
- Pathophysiology
- Healthcare Values and Ethics
- Substance Abuse Support
This degree allows you to work inside the healthcare industry, while also directly working with patients who need help.
Business
Healthcare Administration – B.S.
You can become a healthcare industry leader:...
You can become a healthcare industry leader:
Compare with B.S. Health Information Management
- Time: 63% of graduates finish within 17 months
- Tuition: $3,755 per 6-month term.
- Courses: 40 total courses in this program.
Skills for your résumé you will learn in this program include:
- Management
- Communication
- Team Leadership
- Operations
- Scheduling
- Strategic Planning
The online courses in this career-focused business degree program will prepare you with management-level skills and an up-to-date understanding of our healthcare delivery system.
Health & Nursing
Master of Healthcare Administration
A master's focused on managing comprehensive, value-based care, directly...
A master's focused on managing comprehensive, value-based care, directly in line with innovations in health and healthcare.
- Time: 60% of grads finish within 21 months.
- Tuition: $4,755 per 6-month term.
- Courses: 12 total courses in this program.
Skills for your résumé that you will learn in this program:
- Collaborative Leadership
- Healthcare Models and Systems
- Healthcare Financial Management
- Enterprise Risk Management
- Healthcare Information Technology
Your rich experience in a health-related field can mean more when you bring a master's level of understanding to the problems that organizations need to solve.
Compare degrees
This program is not the only degree WGU offers designed to create leaders in the field of healthcare. Compare our health leadership degrees.
Health & Nursing
Health Science – B.S.
An online health science program designed for students who want real-world...
An online health science program designed for students who want real-world skills for valuable health careers.
- Time: 63% of students finish similar programs in 24 months.
- Tuition: $4,085 per 6-month term
- Courses: 28 total courses in this program
Skills for your résumé that you will learn in this program:
- Epidemiology
- Disease prevention
- Behavioral health
- Substance abuse support
- Health research
- Medical technology
This degree prepares you with relevant industry skills and experience that will help you move forward in your healthcare career.
Business
MBA Healthcare Management
Prepare for a career leading private or public healthcare organizations....
Prepare for a career leading private or public healthcare organizations.
- Time: WGU lets you set a schedule so you can finish your MBA in just one year.
- Tuition: $4,755 per 6-month term.
- Courses: 11 total courses in this program.
Skills for your résumé you will learn in this program include:
- Regulatory compliance
- Patient care improvement
- Service line development
- Healthcare trends
- Health policy and legislation
Healthcare is big business in today's complex economy. Steer your career with this specialty MBA.
Compare online business degrees
This program is not the only online business degree WGU offers that is designed to create leaders in the field of healthcare. Compare our health leadership degrees.
How Much Does a Clinical Director Make?
$104,830
A clinical director's salary will vary depending on employer, location, experience, and qualifications, but the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows the median annual salary was $104,830 in 2022.
The low end of a clinical director's salary is just under $64,100 per year, and the highest salaries can exceed $209,990 according to BLS.
What Is the Projected Job Growth?
28%
The job outlook for clinical directors is strong from 2021 to 2031, with a projected growth of 28%. This is much higher than the national average of 8% during this period.
SKILLS
What Skills Does a Clinical Director Need?
- To be successful, a clinical director needs a special combination of hard and soft skills. These include:
- Leadership and communication skills. Clinical directors must be adept at building relationships, creating and maintaining a positive work environment, and leading a variety of employees and team members—including doctors, nurses, healthcare administrators, and support staff.
- Planning and organizational skills. Clinical directors are tasked with planning, budgeting, managing, and evaluating clinical operations. They need strong project management skills and the ability to see both the big-picture vision as well as the small details.
- Strong clinical knowledge. Clinical directors are accountable for the delivery of treatment services to clients. They either develop or oversee the development of treatment plans for individual patients. They must have a thorough understanding of policies and procedures for clinical environments.
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