Clinical Nutrition Educator

Inland Empire Health Plan

3d•Remote

About The Position

Under the direction of the Clinical Health Education Manager, the Clinical Nutrition Educator is part of the overall population health strategy, to address Members’ holistic health education needs with chronic conditions and expertise as it relates to the assessment of Member's health and wellness needs, the development of personalized wellness plans, medical nutrition therapy such as the identification of nutritional needs, culturally tailored food preferences or restrictions, the customization of eating plans to support wellness goals, the education related, but not limited to dietary guidelines, portion control, macronutrients, and lifestyle changes. The Clinical Nutrition Educator will exist within an infrastructure of a care coordination model, to assist in engaging Members into the right level of care and will be collaborating with others in the health education, promotion & prevention team (as well as other internal IEHP teams) to facilitate regional strategy and community partnerships to drive collective impact. The Clinical Nutrition Educator will work with the underserved and vulnerable population to provide health education in a culturally tailored way that engages Members to increase their readiness for behavior change and will serve to support a strategic multi-disciplinary team to drive improvement in regulatory HEDIS/MCAS performance care gaps. Commitment to Quality: The IEHP Team is committed to incorporate IEHP’s Quality Program goals including, but not limited to, HEDIS, CAHPS, and NCQA Accreditation.

Requirements

At minimum of seven (7) or more years of rounded experience in clinical healthcare space, education, program planning, and evaluation
Must have experience delivering clinical health education in managed care, outpatient or community setting and demonstrated experience in care coordination in a clinical multi-disciplinary model
Must have experience in electronic medical record documentation and be able to navigate/escalate care when clinical risk is identified
Has knowledge or experience with underserved communities and understands health literacy, social determinants of health, and cultural barriers
Master’s degree in any Science or Health Related field from an accredited institution required
Possession of an active, unrestricted, and unencumbered Licensure for Registered Dietitian Nutritionists with California Dietetic Association required
Must have a valid California Driver's License
Possess subject matter expertise around the following areas including but not limited to:
Nutrition, biochemistry, physiology, life cycle nutrition, and food composition
Nutrition-related conditions and diseases, symptoms, lab values and appropriate medical nutrition therapy
The American Dietetic Association’s evidenced-based standards of practice and codes of ethics
Discipline of health education such as chronic condition prevention, nutrition, behavioral health, and knowledge working across the lifecycle (including the perinatal journey)
Understand cultural linguistic barriers to serving disparate populations such as for birth equity, justice involve
Navigating across multi-disciplinary care teams
Electronic medical documentation in Member Care Plan
Adult learning theories, systems theory, empowerment and attachment theories
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
Strong organizational skills
Strong discernment skills in challenging situations.
Proven ability to:
Work independently and collaboratively
Deliver education in a culturally sensitive manner, build trust and strong rapport with Member
Work effectively in cross-functional team

Nice To Haves

Managed care and regulatory/accreditation experience is a plus
Health Coaching certificate from a nationally recognized certificate program is preferred.
Professional certification(s) highly preferred
Specialized certification is highly preferred, to address special populations with chronic conditions (diabetes, asthma, depression, cardiovascular disease) such as Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE), Certified Asthma Educator (ACE) or Certified Childbirth Educator (ICCE)
Bilingual (English/Spanish) preferred

Responsibilities

In partnership with other care management team(s) such as Enhanced Care Management, Complex Care Management, Transitions of Care, and/or Pharmacy Team, participate in the warm hand-off for the Member’s Care Plan to support success in chronic condition self-management to include support medical nutrition therapy, in concert with chronic condition education and goal setting.
Responsible in reviewing chart notes, electronic medical records, and/or relevant clinical information focused on but not limited to nutrition and dietary needs within compliance turnaround times and quality standards meeting regulatory requirements as defined by Department of Health Care Services, Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services, California Department of Managed Health Care, and National Committee for Quality Assurance.
Performs clinical review of Member’s medical/clinical history and provides education, training, and advocacy around holistic health, and lifestyle change for activities/interventions focused on clinical/chronic conditions driven to improve outcomes in Member HEDIS/MCAS care gaps.
Reviews and responds to interdepartmental tasks sent via MHK, Meditrac, Care Director, or any other systems required to coordinate the care of the Member as necessary with other departments such as Pharmacy, Member Services, Care Management/Behavioral Health, Compliance, etc. Collaborate with other internal departments and teams (i.e., Pharmacy, Care Management) to coordinate chronic condition care, and close the referral loop with Member’s Provider and demonstrate effective documentation in the Member Care Plan, and appropriate clinical care escalation when risk is identified.
Participate in case review conference with interdisciplinary teams, as needed to discuss ongoing needs of Members, which include, but not limited to nutritional/dietary regimen review and consultations and attend case management discussions and/or rounds to review and provide input.
Maintain timely and current clinical knowledge around best practices for chronic condition management and attend seminars and trainings to learn about different disease states and respective medical nutrition therapy and condition management.
Communicate and collaborate with Providers and Members to provide information and assistance as appropriate and facilitate and coordinate follow-up with Provider, as necessary to support coordination of care.
Effectively utilize Member engagement tools and styles to motivate, inspire, and shift Members to higher readiness toward healthier eating habits.
Partner with the Quality Teams to understand tiered risk populations and select opportunities for greatest impact.
Support overall IEHP and Departmental-level Strategic Goals and support regional strategies/priorities and collaborate with organizational priorities driven to address health disparities and inequities.
Foster and maintain strategic partnerships to further the work in population health, nutritional and dietary support that align with IEHP organizational strategies (as well as regulatory and accreditation requirements from DHCS, NCQA, DMHC, and Covered CA) and drives health promotion, prevention and education.
Serve as a resource to other Team Members, to inform tactics to further outreach and recruitment of Members across all populations to engage in decisions that support dietary and nutritional health.
Collect Member level data (i.e., class participation, focus group, survey) with accuracy and collaborates with internal teams to support overall evaluation of program efficacy, or for continuous improvement.
Demonstrates the ability to grow and maintain caseload of Members to support Population Health Management (PHM) nutritional health, KPI and goals.
Partner with other IEHP field teams, to provide seamless care coordination and resource navigation to support the Member’s Plan of Care.
Perform other duties as assigned, within the scope of clinical health education to support IEHP strategic initiatives.