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Medical Director

Centene · AZ · Remote available · $225,700–$428,900 a year · Full time

Posted Aug 20, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026

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Likely interview questions for this role

Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.

About your past

You've spent your career with patients in front of you. Why move into a medical director role at a Medicaid and Medicare health plan now?

What they are checking: Whether they understand the shift from treating one patient to shaping care for a whole population, and actually want it.

Tell me about a time you made a call a colleague strongly disagreed with. What happened afterward?

What they are checking: How they handle professional conflict and whether they can stand by a reasoned decision without becoming rigid.

The posting mentions cost containment. How do you think about the line between managing cost and limiting needed care?

What they are checking: Their ethics around utilization management, and whether they see appropriate care and lower cost as usually pointing the same direction.

Tell me about a time you explained a complex clinical decision to a non-clinical audience, such as operations or finance leaders.

What they are checking: Whether they can translate medical reasoning for business partners who will act on it without the clinical background.

What would you do

A treating physician calls you upset after a denial and asks for a peer-to-peer. How do you run that conversation?

What they are checking: Whether they can hold a clinical position respectfully with a colleague while staying open to new information that changes the answer.

How would you approach a quality improvement project if readmissions for heart failure members were climbing in one market?

What they are checking: Whether they can move from a single number to root causes, interventions and measurement at the population level.

You have a stack of urgent reviews due today and a complex case that needs real research. How do you manage your day?

What they are checking: Whether they can protect turnaround time standards without rushing the decisions that deserve careful thought.

About the work

Walk me through how you'd review a request for an experimental or off-label treatment where the evidence is thin but the treating doctor is passionate about it.

What they are checking: How they weigh evidence, criteria and the member's situation to reach a defensible decision on a contested service.

How do you decide when to rely on criteria like InterQual or MCG and when the individual case calls for clinical judgment outside them?

What they are checking: Whether they treat criteria as a guide rather than a script and can explain when and why they deviate.

You're licensed in one of several Midwest states but may review cases across the region. How do you keep state Medicaid rules and timelines straight?

What they are checking: Whether they respect that each state contract carries its own rules, deadlines and benefit definitions that change the right answer.

What role do you think a medical director should play on a credentialing committee when a provider has a pattern of quality concerns?

What they are checking: Their understanding of credentialing as a patient safety function and how they balance fairness to providers with member protection.

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The full job description

As published by Centene.

Position Purpose: Assist the Chief Medical Director to direct and coordinate the medical management, quality improvement and credentialing functions for the business unit. Key Details: Must be a Board Certified Physician and licensed in the state of Arizona. • Provides medical leadership of all for utilization management, cost containment, and medical quality improvement activities. • Performs medical review activities pertaining to utilization review, quality assurance, and medical review of complex, controversial, or experimental medical services, ensuring timely and quality decision making. • Supports effective implementation of performance improvement initiatives for capitated providers. • Assists Chief Medical Director in planning and establishing goals and policies to improve quality and cost-effectiveness of care and service for members. • Provides medical expertise in the operation of approved quality improvement and utilization management programs in accordance with regulatory, state, corporate, and accreditation requirements. • Assists the Chief Medical Director in the functioning of the physician committees including committee structure, processes, and membership. • Conduct regular rounds to assess and coordinate care for high-risk patients, collaborating with care management teams to optimize outcomes. • Collaborates effectively with clinical teams, network providers, appeals team, medical and pharmacy consultants for reviewing complex cases and medical necessity appeals. • Participates in provider network development and new market expansion as appropriate. • Assists in the development and implementation of physician education with respect to clinical issues and policies. • Identifies utilization review studies and evaluates adverse trends in utilization of medical services, unusual provider practice patterns, and adequacy of benefit/payment components. • Identifies clinical quality improvement studies to assist in reducing unwarranted variation in clinical practice in order to improve the quality and cost of care. • Interfaces with physicians and other providers in order to facilitate implementation of recommendations to providers that would improve utilization and health care quality. • Reviews claims involving complex, controversial, or unusual or new services in order to determine medical necessity and appropriate payment. • Develops alliances with the provider community through the development and implementation of the medical management programs. • As needed, may represent the business unit before various publics both locally and nationally on medical philosophy, policies, and related issues. • Represents the business unit at appropriate state committees and other ad hoc committees. • May be required to work weekends and holidays in support of business operations, as needed. Education/Experience: • Medical Doctor or Doctor of Osteopathy. Utilization Management experience and knowledge of quality accreditation standards preferred. • Actively practices medicine. • Course work in the areas of Health Administration, Health Financing, Insurance, and/or Personnel Management is advantageous. • Experience treating or managing care for a culturally diverse population preferred. License/Certifications: • Board certification in a medical specialty recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialists or the American Osteopathic Association’s Department of Certifying Board Services. • Current state license as a MD or DO without restrictions, limitations, or sanctions from government programs. Pay Range: $225,700.00 - $428,900.00 per year At Centene, we connect people to the care they need to live healthier lives — and the work you do here makes that impact real every day. You’ll take on meaningful challenges that directly support individuals, families, and communities, building your skills while making healthcare more accessible and effective. It’s work with a purpose you can see, backed by a team committed to improving lives well beyond the workday. Centene offers a comprehensive benefits package including: competitive pay, health insurance, 401K and stock purchase plans, tuition reimbursement, paid time off plus holidays, and a flexible approach to work with remote, hybrid, field or office work schedules. Actual pay will be adjusted based on an individual's skills, experience, education, and other job-related factors permitted by law , including full-time or part-time status. Total compensation may also include additional forms of incentives. Benefits may be subject to program eligibility. Centene is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity, and values the ways in which we are different. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or other characteristic protected by applicable law. Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered in accordance with the LA County Ordinance and the California Fair Chance Act

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