Director, Information Systems Architecture

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences•Little Rock, AR

About The Position

The Director of Data Systems is a leadership role at the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement (ACHI) that provides strategic, technical, and administrative oversight of data collection and management of healthcare data assets for analysis, research, and policy development in furtherance of ACHI's mission. The Director oversees the planning, development, evaluation, and coordination of ACHI's information, data, and technology systems. These include the Arkansas Health Data Initiative (HDI) analytic data warehouse solutions that support health policy analytics and research, and the Arkansas Healthcare Transparency Initiative (HTI), which includes the operational integrity and facilitations of access to the Arkansas All Payer Claims Database (APCD). This position provides the technology vision and leadership and oversees the healthcare data management process on behalf of ACHI.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in computer science, data management, business administration, or related field or equivalent + 10 years' management and support of information systems, information technologies and analytic database development, integration solutions experience.
OR Master's degree in computer science, data management, public health, business administration or related field + 8 years' management and support of information systems, information technologies and analytic database development, integration solutions experience.
Comprehensive knowledge of: data integration solutions, specifically in technology and information systems. identity resolution. data in public policy development and evaluation.

Nice To Haves

Experience in public health policy
Practice management
Financial management information systems
Experience working within a State or Federal regulatory agency
Deep technical literacy and understanding of health insurance claims data and provider data. This person will be able to handle a variety of constituencies, manage multiple tasks simultaneously, and thrive in a complex, fast-paced environment with multiple priorities.
Business principles and techniques of administration, organization, and management, to include an in-depth understanding of the key issues that exist in healthcare information analytics. These include, but are not limited to, knowledge of strategic and operational planning, population health reporting, federal, state, and local laws, marketing, financial and cost analysis, and health care industry trends.
Familiarity with local and wide area network design, implementation, and operation.
Familiarity with operating systems and statistical applications such as Windows, Unix, Stata, R, SAS, and Linux.
Ability to analyze and resolve complex issues, both logical and interpersonal. This individual will have strong written and verbal communication skills. S/he will be a persuasive, credible, and polished communicator with excellent interpersonal and multidisciplinary project skills.
Ability to negotiate and defuse conflict.
Self-motivator, independent, cooperative, flexible, creative.
Proven skills in management, leadership, communication, and negotiation.
Team player who motivates and educates other team members.
Familiarity with the NAHDO (National Association of Health Data Organizations) standards.

Responsibilities

DATA ARCHITECTURE AND SYSTEMS OVERSIGHT: • Directs and manages resources and activities that directly support the mission and vision of ACHI through the development and execution of operational data solutions designed to address policy, analytic, and research questions. • Oversees planning, development, evaluation, coordination, and management of the information and technology systems for the organization (including ACHI computer operations, such as local area networks and wide-area networks, data intake, database builds, and related data asset projects) • Manages the integration and transformation of raw data from disparate sources into usable formats. • Provides contextual data and solution knowledge to support extract, transform, and load processes needed to produce clean data for analytics and external data use. Ensures data integrity, quality, mapping, and automates workflows to support business intelligence and reporting initiatives.
STRATEGIC PLANNING AND STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT: • Provide strategy-oriented intellectual capital for ACHI by understanding and interpreting data resources for the development and implementation of health policy. • Responsible for the technology vision and planning process that will regularly evaluate existing technology, information systems, and staffing, research new solutions and technologies to improve efficiencies, and recommend changes. • Develops and enforces policy and procedures to ensure the protection of the organization’s IT assets and the integrity, security, and privacy of information entrusted to or maintained by the organization. • Promotes and oversees relationships between the organization’s IT resources and external entities, frequently in collaboration with executive leadership. • Develop and manage data team budget, ensuring fiscal responsibility and transparent reporting. • Identify problems, needs, or gaps in data to support health policy and develop working plans with long-range goals to address those issues.
MANAGE COMPLIANCE, SECURITY & REPORTING: • Gather and analyze changing requirements of data and system users and develop effective and feasible ways to satisfy user requirements. • Oversees the linkage between external technology systems and the organization’s IT resources, including systems for electronic data exchange. • Coordinates and manages reporting needs and data analysis for the organization. Ensures that the gathering, processing, distribution, and use of pertinent information required by management to make decisions occur in a timely, accurate, and cost-effective manner. • Ensures that all data systems are capable of providing all healthcare data and statistics as required by Federal, state, and local agencies. Develops and maintains the systems architecture, defining standards and protocols for data collection, exchange, software, and interconnection of the organization's information systems. Coordinates and manages the organization's reporting needs. • Serves as the primary point of contact for system failures or errors and facilitates the correction of any failures or errors. • Develops and enforces policy and procedures to ensure the protection of the organization's IT assets and the integrity, security, and privacy of information entrusted to or maintained by the organization.
DATA TEAM OVERSIGHT AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT: • Provide leadership and direction to assigned staff on all aspects of deliverables, including data preparation, analyses, management of project budgets, and resource allocation. • Develop, implement, and maintain comprehensive user training programs. (Both for new, existing, and advanced data users.) • Supervises the development and maintenance of user documentation, including complete user manuals, FAQs, and help files. • Select, train, supervise, and evaluate technical and administrative staff for all information systems and data warehouse solutions. • Facilitates communication between staff, management, vendors, and other technology resources within the organization. • Oversees and evaluates system security and backup procedures. Supervises the Network Administrator.
OTHER DUTIES AS ASSIGNED.