Medical Director, Behavioral Health - SIU
Listed compensation
$174k-$375k
The week · per this posting · weekdays assumed
Ask the employer about call expectations, weekend coverage, nights and shift pattern and time off.
Job Description
We’re building a world of health around every individual — shaping a more connected, convenient and compassionate health experience. At CVS Health®, you’ll be surrounded by passionate colleagues who care deeply, innovate with purpose, hold ourselves accountable and prioritize safety and quality in everything we do. Join us and be part of something bigger – helping to simplify health care one person, one family and one community at a time.
Behavioral Health SIU Medical Director — Turn Clinical Insight into National Impact
Position Summary
Bring your psychiatric expertise to a role where clinical judgment can improve care at scale. As health care costs rise and access to consistent, high-quality care remains challenging, care with limited clinical benefit and fraud, waste, and abuse divert resources from members who need them.
At Aetna, a CVS Health Company, you will proactively surface new investigative opportunities and support existing investigations to advance quality, safety, and responsible stewardship across one of the nation’s largest health care organizations.
Join a high-impact Behavioral Health Special Investigations Unit that protects members from potential harm, reduces unwarranted variation in care, and safeguards health care resources.
Over the past three years, investigative efforts—including collaboration with the FBI—have identified more than $300 million in fraudulent claims. In this role, you will combine psychiatric expertise, population-level data, and advanced analytics to uncover meaningful patterns and help turn insight into action.
This full-time, remote position may be based anywhere in the United States.
Why This Role
You will influence decisions at scale, collaborate with clinical, investigative, legal, compliance, and data experts, and help shape how advanced analytics and AI support safer, higher-value behavioral health care.
As the Behavioral Health SIU Medical Director, you will apply psychiatric expertise to reviews of medical records, CPT codes, and HCPCS codes involving suspected fraud, waste, abuse, care of limited clinical benefit, or potentially harmful practice variation. You will translate complex clinical evidence and data into clear findings, strategic recommendations, and practical interventions that protect members and resources.
In this role, a successful candidate will:
- Serve as the psychiatric advisor to SIU investigators and leaders, reviewing medical records, coding, and claims involving suspected fraud, waste, abuse, or harmful practice variation.
- Proactively surface new investigative opportunities while providing clinical support for active investigations and related legal actions.
- Use clinical expertise, population-level data, advanced analytics, AI, and practice-pattern insights to identify trends, prioritize investigations, and scale clinical impact.
- Lead cross-functional investigations with clinical, claims, legal, compliance, network, quality, data, and operational partners to address root causes and implement sustainable solutions.
- Assess member risk and care variation, document clear findings, and translate complex evidence into recommendations for leaders, customers, and other stakeholders.
- Prepare well-supported cases for clinical and legal review and, when required and approved by Legal, provide testimony in civil or criminal proceedings.
- Conduct required peer-to-peer reviews and model Aetna’s Employee Competencies in all interactions.
Required Qualifications
- Five or more years of experience in a health care delivery setting, including clinical practice.
- Board certification in psychiatry; board eligibility alone is not sufficient. Additional board certification in child, addiction or forensic psychiatry helpful but not required
- Knowledge of policies and procedures governing payment of health care claims.
Preferred Qualifications
We are especially interested in candidates who bring one or more of the following:
- At least two years of health care industry experience, including knowledge of CPT and HCPCS coding guidelines.
- Experience applying psychiatric expertise to medical record review and claim-payment determinations under company, state, federal, and industry standards.
- Experience providing psychiatric guidance in the development of business analytics.
- Familiarity with advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, health care technology, population health data, and physician practice-pattern analysis.
- Experience partnering with clinical, investigative, legal, compliance, data science, and operational teams to evaluate complex utilization or claims patterns and drive results.
Education
- M.D. or D.O.; board certification in psychiatry; active, unrestricted state medical license(s); and five years of post-graduate direct patient care experience.
Pay Range
The typical pay range for this role is:
$174,070.00 - $374,920.00
This pay range represents the base hourly rate or base annual full-time salary for all positions in the job grade within which this position falls. The actual base salary offer will depend on a variety of factors including experience, education, geography and other relevant factors.
This position is eligible for a CVS Health bonus, commission or short-term incentive program in addition to the base pay range listed above. This position also includes an award target in the company’s equity award program.
Our people fuel our future. Our teams reflect the customers, patients, members and communities we serve and we are committed to fostering a workplace where every colleague feels valued and that they belong.
Great Benefits for Great People
We take pride in offering a comprehensive and competitive mix of pay and benefits that reflects our commitment to our colleagues and their families.
This full‑time position is eligible for a comprehensive benefits package designed to support the physical, emotional, and financial well‑being of colleagues and their families. The benefits for this position include medical, dental, and vision coverage, paid time off, retirement savings options, wellness programs, and other resources, based on eligibility.
Additional details about available benefits are provided during the application process and on Benefits Moments.
We anticipate the application window for this opening will close on: 11/14/2026
Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state and local laws.
Key Responsibilities
The Medical Director will lead investigations into behavioral health claims to identify fraud, waste, and abuse while providing clinical expertise to support investigative and legal teams. They will translate complex clinical data into strategic recommendations to improve care quality and ensure responsible resource stewardship.
Requirements
Candidates must hold an M.D. or D.O. degree with board certification in psychiatry and at least five years of post-graduate clinical experience. Proficiency in healthcare coding guidelines and experience in medical record review are required.
Qualifications
- Education
- Professional certificate or licensure
- Experience
- 5+ years of experience
Key Skills
Psychiatry — Physician Career Context
Of the 50 active Psychiatry listings this role was benchmarked against, 66% are remote, 78% have no call, 80% require no weekends — this position is remote.
Psychiatry pay on WeekdayDoc is down 3.0% vs. the prior quarter (through Oct 2026).
| Measure | This job | Market |
|---|---|---|
| Work-life score | 6.1 / 10 · above average in physician roles | ranked against 22,355 Physician roles listingslisting-based score, 0–10 |
| Work setting | remote | peers: 66% remote · 78% no call · 80% no weekends50 benchmarked listings |
| Sign-on & loan repayment | sign-on bonus | US Physician listings: 40% state a sign-on bonus (median $50k) · 11% offer loan repayment1,000 active listings, Nov 2026 |
| Psychiatry hiring demand | #27 of 28 specialties | postings stay open a median 34 days · 28% state a sign-on bonusWeekdayDoc Hiring Index, October 2026 · 728 postings, 654 closed |
| New Psychiatry listings | 1,299 in the last 30 days | 1,041 the 30 days before (+25%)U.S., first seen on WeekdayDoc, Nov 2026 |
| Psychiatry pay trend | −3.0% vs prior quarter | —through Oct 2026 |
Work-Life Balance Analysis
WeekdayDoc's proprietary algorithm rates Medical Director, Behavioral Health - SIU at CVS Health a 6.1 out of 10 for work-life balance — classified as good. This places the position in the Above average in Physician roles — ranked against 22,355 active Physician roles listings on WeekdayDoc. Contributing factors include remote work flexibility.
Location & Logistics
Nevada has no state income tax, which can significantly increase take-home pay compared to high-tax states. At the posted ~$274k midpoint, that is roughly $11k–$19k a year versus a typical 4–7% state rate.
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