Manager, Laboratory Quality Assurance & Point of Care

Trinity Health•Maywood, IL

About The Position

Loyola Medicine is seeking a Manager of Laboratory Quality Assurance & Point of Care for a regional position covering quality and point-of-care operations across LUMC, MNH, GMH, Cancer Centers, and ambulatory site labs. The role plans, leads, and implements practices, technologies, statistics, and medical testing considerations to establish, assess, improve, and maintain laboratory quality assurance, safety, licensure, accreditation, and regulatory compliance in collaboration with regional laboratory leadership. The manager directs performance improvement (PI) and total quality management (TQM) initiatives and integrates clinical laboratory quality, safety, and compliance efforts with broader organizational improvement activities. The manager directs regional Point-of-Care Testing (POCT), providing clinical expertise and guidance and ensuring quality results from qualified laboratory and non-laboratory staff while maintaining regulatory and accreditation compliance. The role also supports standardized quality systems, inspection readiness, corrective actions, staff education, process improvement, and analysis of laboratory data and operational information. Loyola Medicine describes its Regional Clinical Laboratory as a state-of-the-art facility with an open-space concept intended to improve efficiency, turnaround times, and readiness for emerging technologies and advanced testing methodologies.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Medical Technology or another laboratory science.
6–10 years of previous job-related experience.
Previous clinical laboratory experience in progressively responsible roles.
Certification as a Medical Technologist, Medical Laboratory Scientist, laboratory-discipline-specific professional, or specialty certificate through ASCP or AMT.
Must be able to oversee laboratory quality, safety, accreditation, regulatory compliance, and regional point-of-care testing operations.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in Business or Healthcare Administration.
Experience in laboratory regulatory compliance and accreditation.
Management experience.
Six Sigma Green Belt certification.

Responsibilities

Oversee the region’s total quality management and performance improvement systems and manage projects involving quality activities, performance, and metrics improvement.
Work with laboratory medical directors and leadership to identify and implement quality improvement, Lean, Six Sigma, or equivalent processes to improve laboratory efficiencies and methodologies.
Lead education and development of a quality culture through quality management teams, using quality management, process development and control, patient safety, and improvement practices.
Supervise laboratory staff completing quality improvement projects and initiatives.
Develop and implement a regional quality management program for regional, rapid-response, satellite, and point-of-care testing services in alignment with organizational strategy and regulatory and accreditation standards.
Collaborate with other Loyola Medicine departments on organizational quality and process improvement; facilitate standardized quality management systems across the region.
Assess and ensure regional laboratory readiness for licensing and accreditation inspections; direct accreditation and interim reviews, including applications, fees, inspections, conferences, and deficiency responses.
Consult with laboratories after inspections to correct deficiencies and maintain inspection activity records.
Establish, implement, maintain, and monitor laboratory quality assurance, performance standards, and compliance; participate in inter-laboratory surveys, peer reviews, and other quality initiatives.
Represent laboratories on assigned Loyola Medicine committees and participate in operational excellence and performance improvement events.
Communicate quality-management information, performance improvement activities, and corrective actions to laboratory leadership and relevant Loyola Medicine departments; facilitate regional laboratory quality council meetings.
Provide regional technical and administrative oversight of point-of-care testing and standardize its processes, documentation, accreditation, compliance, education, and competency practices.
Work with nursing and physician leadership to maintain, recommend, assess, and implement POCT instrumentation-based patient-care, operational, and financial data practices; supervise regional POC coordinators.
Ensure POCT produces accurate results, document competency of non-laboratory staff appropriately, and maintain testing compliance and laboratory safety standards.
Receive and investigate VOICE reports and coordinate resolution with involved areas; provide feedback to care providers regarding performance issues and adverse events.
Facilitate use of tracer methodology for regulatory preparedness and document that corrective actions are identified, implemented, and assessed.
Evaluate laboratory data and other information to assess methodologies, logistics, and strategies that optimize service and utilization and address recurring problems.
Use Epic, Sunquest, CoPath, Histotrac, and other information systems to respond to surveys, troubleshoot reports or patient events, support improvement initiatives, and perform statistical analysis.