Clinical Informatics Specialist

Riverside Health System•Newport News, VA

3d•Onsite

About The Position

Clinical Informatics Specialists (CIS) play a pivotal role in optimizing the use of healthcare information technology to enhance patient care delivery, clinical workflows, and overall operational efficiency. This role participates in the development, prioritization, and determination of core clinical systems by working with end-users and the team to align technologies with clinical process needs and requirements while understanding system capabilities and limitations. Responsible for facilitating communication from the clinical end users across the patient care areas while working collaboratively and directly with system teams, system vendors, and technical experts. Facilitate seamless communication among clinical end users throughout patient care areas with system teams, vendors, and technical experts fostering collaborative partnerships throughout the organization. The CIS works to optimize the clinical design to meet the needs of large groups of interdisciplinary end users, including providers, nurses, ancillary, clinical, and administrative staff. In addition to understanding clinical processes, the CIS must stay abreast of regulatory requirements, industry standards, and best practices related to clinical informatics. In collaboration with the infrastructure and quality teams, this role ensures compliance with relevant regulations, including but not limited to, HIPAA, and cybersecurity best practices. This role is responsible for analyses of clinical workflows to identify inefficiencies and areas for improvement. By closely examining these processes and working closely with healthcare providers, the CIS develops and implements strategies to optimize workflow efficiency and enhance patient care delivery. Identify system or application issues, make recommendations for, and implement solutions. Collaborate with other health care technology and clinical leaders to ensure that clinical-related systems support interoperability and transportability of clinical information while maintaining patient safety and confidentiality. Participate on quality improvement initiatives, leveraging technology and data analytics tools to track performance metrics, identify trends, and implement evidence-based practices that drive better patient outcomes. Work collaboratively with clinical stakeholder to leverage the power of data and informatics to improve clinical outcomes and streamline healthcare processes. This role plays a vital role in leveraging technology to improve the delivery of healthcare services, enhance patient outcomes, and drive innovation within healthcare organizations by fostering teamwork and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Requirements

Masters Degree, Clinical Informatics, Nursing or Healthcare related field. Program of study: Informatics, Information Technology or specialized healthcare field (Required)
8 years of progressive healthcare industry experience preferably in an Integrated Delivery Network in clinical care, operations, or IT system support to include clinical experience in one or more of the following areas: OR, Anesthesia, Emergency, Pharmacy, Oncology, OB/GYN, or IT experience in CPOE, Clinical documentation. (Required)
3-4 years of hands-on EPIC clinical systems experience with relevant EPIC training/certifications in at least one application area. Experience with leading multiple integrated workgroups (Epic defined formal and informal/ad-hoc) and represent multiple applications/areas within those groups. (Required)
2 Epic Certifications required. May substitute 1 Epic badge for a certification.
Registered Nurse (RN) - State Department of Health Professions (Preferred)
Informatics Nursing (IN) - American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) if RN (Required)
Change Acceleration Process Training - Riverside Health System (RHS) within 180 Days (Required)
Six Sigma Yellow Belt - Riverside Health System (RHS) within 180 Days (Required) or Six Sigma Green Belt - Riverside Health System (RHS)
Certified Associate in Healthcare Information and Management Systems (CAHIMS®) - Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) if non-RN (Required) or Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems (CPHIMS®) - Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) if non-RN (Required)
Epic Certification - EPIC (Required)

Nice To Haves

Epic Cogito Certification (in addition to requirement above) preferred within 1 year of hire
Epic Cogito Tools Admin - EPIC within 1 Year (Preferred)

Responsibilities

Clinical Systems Implementation and Integration - Maintain a working knowledge of all clinical information systems in place as well as the infrastructure for the clinical information systems to support staff and leadership in troubleshooting, upgrades, and training.
Provide technical and clinical expertise in the design, programming, testing, and implementing of clinical applications.
Communicate clinical system functionality and capabilities as well as in-depth knowledge of policy and procedures.
Collects data, information, and knowledge to analyze current practice and workflow throughout the system life cycle.
Anticipate the needs of end-users and assess and recommend suitable solutions.
Maintain understanding of Epic capabilities and other software and technologies utilizing resources such as Epic UserWeb, conferences and collegial collaboration to recommend solutions and to participate in for proactive process improvement projects.
Data Management and Analytics - Collaborate with the reporting team to understand healthcare data collection, storage, retrieval, and analysis processes.
Utilize analytical tools and techniques to extract actionable insights from clinical data and support evidence-based decision-making.
Participate in data validation and ensure clinical end-users understand the process of data validation when appropriate.
Workflow Analysis and Optimization - Conduct comprehensive assessments of clinical workflows and processes to identify opportunities for improvement.
Collaborate with colleagues and other stakeholders to implement changes within the clinical application systems using principles and concepts of quality, project or systems management, interoperability and transportability of clinical information while maintaining patient safety and confidentiality are maintained .
Define and manage implementation projects utilizing systems development life cycle approach and lean six sigma/CAP skills.
Serve as an active member of the Clinical Informatics Team, promoting and educating the use of clinical informatics, standardization, and point-of-care decision support.
Project Management/Leadership - Lead or participate in informatics-related projects from initiation to completion.
Develop project plans in collaboration with stakeholders, that prescribes strategies, alternatives, and recommendations, set timelines, allocate resources, and coordinate activities to achieve project objectives within scope, budget, and timeline constraints.
Lead meetings with stakeholders, including clinicians, IT professionals, and administrators, to discuss project progress, address issues, and make decisions collaboratively.
Training, Education and Support - Provide training and education to clinical staff on the use of informatics systems and best practices for leveraging technology to enhance patient care.
Utilize developed training materials, round and provide in-person support when needed and facilitate ongoing support to ensure proficiency among end-users.
Facilitate communication from clinical end-users across patient care areas while working collaboratively with system teams, system vendors, reporting team and technical experts.
Key support of clinical end-users during go-live of new initiatives or systems and during downtimes or system outages.
Process Improvement - Participate in evaluation, review, and revision of clinical and information system policies to increase standardization, decrease duplication, and improve efficiency and productivity.
Serve as the Epic lead in operational meetings and system initiatives.
Create or collaborates to create current workflow maps to ensure through understanding of processes and gaps.
Support and participate in post implementation change evaluation and supports users in maintaining a changed work flow and technological processes.
Proactively analyze data and workflows to identify system, application or process issues.
Frequently engage with stakeholders, both in person and remotely, to validate understanding of issues.
Assume a leadership role when appropriate, assuming ownership of the issue until resolution.
Use knowledge of clinical/operation processes and available technologies, make recommendations for and participate in implementation of solutions.
Represent and support three(3) or more Epic applications crossing clinical care areas.