Medical Legal Risk Management Nurse Coordinator

Veterans Health Administration • Albuquerque, NM

13h • Onsite

About The Position

The New Mexico VA Health Care System is hiring a Quality Management Consultant Registered Nurse to serve as the Medical Legal Risk Management Nurse Coordinator in its Quality and Patient Safety Service. The role provides advanced clinical leadership, expert judgment, and independent practice, coordinating, implementing, and evaluating complex medical-legal risk management programs at facility, VISN, and national levels in support of VHA’s mission and strategic priorities.

The coordinator oversees program areas including Peer Review, Medical Advisory Opinions, tort claims processing, adverse disclosure events, and National Practitioner Data Bank reporting. The role integrates risk management with organizational functions and stakeholders, leads clinical audits and comprehensive case reviews, develops and implements policies and improvement strategies, represents the program in high-level forums, and measures outcomes to identify trends and opportunities for system-wide improvement. The coordinator also communicates findings, recommendations, and action plans across the organization to support safe, veteran-centered care.

This is a non-virtual, non-telework position. The stated schedule is 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Physical requirements include heavy lifting and carrying of 45 pounds or more, pushing and pulling, reaching above the shoulder, finger use, use of both hands, walking and standing up to eight hours, repeated bending, and rapid mental and muscular coordination simultaneously. A hearing aid is permitted.

Requirements

• Proficiency in basic written and spoken English.
• Graduation from an appropriately accredited school of professional nursing, or qualifying equivalent education as described in the posting.
• Current, full, active, and unrestricted registered professional nurse licensure in a U.S. state, territory, commonwealth, or the District of Columbia; the posting describes a Graduate Nurse Technician temporary-appointment exception for qualifying candidates pursuing licensure.
• Meet the applicable Nurse grade and level education, specialized nursing experience, and dimension criteria; requirements vary by grade and level.
• U.S. citizenship, except that non-citizens may be appointed when qualified citizens cannot be recruited under VA policy.
• Pass required pre-employment drug screening, background/security investigation, and physical evaluation; participation in seasonal influenza vaccination is required.
• Complete required onboarding and application requirements; Selective Service registration is required for males born after December 31, 1959.
• Physical ability to meet the listed job demands, including heavy lifting and carrying of 45 pounds or more, walking and standing up to eight hours, and other stated physical activities.

Responsibilities

• Provide independent expert oversight of Peer Review, Medical Advisory Opinions, tort claims processing, adverse disclosure events, and National Practitioner Data Bank reporting.
• Serve as an authority, consultant, and mentor on clinical, legal, administrative, patient-care, risk-management, and quality-improvement matters.
• Develop, implement, and evaluate evidence-based strategies for risk mitigation, quality assurance, and continuous process improvement.
• Integrate medical-legal risk management with executive leadership, the Office of General Counsel, Quality Management/Performance Improvement, Patient Safety, and other VA and external stakeholders.
• Direct clinical audits, quality-assurance assessments, and reviews of peer review cases, facility-requested reviews, contract reviews, Medical Advisory Opinions, and tort claims.
• Synthesize national, VISN, and facility data to inform executive decision-making.
• Develop, revise, and implement policies, protocols, and strategic initiatives supporting patient safety, high reliability, and VHA quality management objectives.
• Foster a culture of integrity, accountability, psychological safety, and continuous learning.
• Represent Medical Legal Risk Management in high-level forums, councils, and specialty workgroups.
• Manage and evaluate outcomes for clinical risk-management activities; identify system-wide trends, root causes, and opportunities for improvement.
• Organize, delegate, and prioritize work to complete complex projects and deliverables within program scopes and organizational timelines.
• Ensure timely, accurate, and effective communication of review findings, recommendations, and action plans throughout the organization.

Benefits

• Competitive salary, regular salary increases, and potential performance awards.
• 50 days of paid time off per year, including 26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, and 11 paid federal holidays.
• Traditional federal pension with five-year vesting and federal 401(k) with up to 5% in VA contributions.
• Federal health, vision, dental, term life, and long-term care insurance; many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Associate degree