Clinical Safety Director – Cigna Healthcare – Hybrid

The Clinical Safety Director is responsible for advancing patient safety initiatives across all care and health services delivery environments. Reporting to the Chief Clinical Quality and Safety Officer, this role focuses on translating enterprise clinical safety strategy into effective programs, practices, and measurable outcomes.

The Director is accountable for designing, implementing, and continuously strengthening a comprehensive clinical safety framework that proactively identifies risk, mitigates harm, and supports safe, reliable care. This role requires deep clinical safety expertise to lead complex initiatives, guide decision-making, and influence safety performance across all the care ecosystem.

Working in close partnership with clinical, operational, legal, compliance, pharmacy, technology, and fraud, waste, and abuse (FWA) partners, the Clinical Safety Director supports systems that reduce risk, promote transparency, and reinforce a culture of learning and high reliability.

Key Responsibilities

• Clinical Safety Program Execution

  • Lead the implementation and advancement of enterprise clinical safety priorities across all care and health services delivery settings.

  • Translate clinical safety strategy into actionable frameworks, programs, and operating practices that can be consistently applied across the organization.

  • Serve as a subject matter expert in clinical safety, providing guidance on complex safety issues, emerging risks, and high-impact improvement opportunities.

  • Partner with clinical and operational leaders to integrate safety expectations into care models, workflows, and patient-facing processes.

• Safety Governance and Risk Management

  • Oversee clinical event reporting, investigation, and follow-up processes to ensure timely identification, escalation, and management of safety risks.

  • Lead or provide expert oversight for root cause analyses, failure mode and effects analyses, and other structured reviews to identify system vulnerabilities and prevent recurrence.

  • Ensure corrective and preventive actions are clearly defined, implemented, and monitored for effectiveness.

  • Collaborate closely with legal, compliance, and fraud, waste, and abuse (FWA) teams to support appropriate documentation, internal review, and external reporting of safety-related events.

• Measurement, Monitoring, and Reporting

  • Define and manage clinical safety performance indicators, including adverse events, serious safety events, and near-miss trends.

  • Leverage analytical tools to provide clear, actionable insights for executive leadership and clinical stakeholders.

  • Analyze safety data to identify patterns, emerging risks, and opportunities for system-level improvement.

  • Prepare and deliver clinical safety updates, analyses, and recommendations to leadership and governance forums, as appropriate.

• Clinical Safety Initiatives and Harm Reduction

  • Lead the execution of organization-wide initiatives focused on reducing preventable patient harm, including medication safety, infection prevention and control, and diagnostic or care transition safety.

  • Support the adoption of evidence-informed safety practices and standardized approaches across clinical programs and markets.

  • Partner with clinical informatics and technology teams to ensure systems effectively support safety reporting, monitoring, and improvement.

  • Evaluate the effectiveness of safety interventions and refine approaches based on outcomes, data, and operational feedback.

• Culture, Education, and Engagement

  • Support the advancement of high-reliability practices by reinforcing principles of safety science, human factors, and systems-based thinking.

  • Contribute to education and engagement efforts that equip clinicians and care teams with practical safety tools and knowledge.

  • Encourage multidisciplinary collaboration, open communication, and shared accountability for safety outcomes.

  • Act as a trusted advisor on clinical safety topics across the organization.

Qualifications:

• Clinical safety background with 5+ years of relevant experience.

• Clinical background (e.g., RN, PharmD) and patient safety certification (e.g., CPPS, CPHQ) preferred.

• Demonstrated experience in patient safety, quality, or clinical risk management, including responsibility for leading programs or initiatives at scale.

• Experience designing, implementing, or transforming a clinical or patient safety program, or overseeing an established program, to manage t