Program Analyst (Informatics)

Veterans Health Administration•Fargo, ND

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Program Analyst (Health Informatics) serves at Veterans Health Administration medical centers within the Department of Veterans Affairs. The position improves the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of healthcare by integrating clinical and information processes to support successful adoption and application of new technologies throughout VHA. The role supports the VA Midwest Health Care Network’s Whole Health approach, which empowers Veterans to take charge of their health and well-being through personalized health plans, healing relationships and environments, and connections to their communities. The analyst works across clinical teams, Health Informatics, and the Office of Information and Technology (OIT) to maintain and optimize health IT solutions and workflows. The position develops, implements, monitors, maintains, and optimizes informatics tools and access to them, including technology associated with the electronic health record. Work also includes data analysis and reporting, decision-support methods, process improvement, software evolution, and educational support for healthcare users. The work is usually sedentary, with periods of walking, standing, bending, or climbing and occasional carrying of light items such as books, instruments, or laptops. Work takes place in offices, conference rooms, and clinical or hospital patient-care settings and is typically hazard-free. The employee may be on call as needed and work flexible hours to meet facility end-user needs. The stated schedule is Monday through Friday, with one of three listed schedules: 7:00 a.m.–3:30 p.m., 7:30 a.m.–4:00 p.m., or 8:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Situational telework may be available at supervisory discretion; the position is not virtual.

Requirements

U.S. citizenship, subject to the stated exception for non-citizen appointments when qualified citizens cannot be recruited under VA policy.
Proficiency in written and spoken English.
For GS-12 qualification, at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least GS-11 in the Federal Service, directly related to the position.
Specialized experience includes independently collecting, evaluating, and synthesizing data as part of a full range of data analysis.
Specialized experience includes evaluating workflows end to end, identifying issues, and developing solutions based on best-practice guidelines.
Specialized experience includes knowledge and use of national database architecture and file structure, analytical techniques, and clinical applications development techniques.
Specialized experience includes familiarity with technologies likely to benefit healthcare delivery, troubleshooting functionality issues, and developing solutions.
Specialized experience includes ensuring the success of multidisciplinary teams and leading and managing informatics-related projects.
Must meet applicable background/security investigation requirements and complete online onboarding and application requirements.
Must participate in the seasonal influenza vaccination program as a VA Health Care Personnel employee.
Must serve a one- or two-year trial period, subject to written certification for continued employment upon completion.
Work may require periods of walking, standing, bending, or climbing and carrying light items; the employee may be on call as needed and work flexible hours to meet facility end-user needs.

Responsibilities

Use communication, education, and leadership to support understanding of and adaptation to organizational updates.
Guide the evolution of clinical software and processes by ensuring software is available to staff and providing training on it.
Contribute to software enhancements and process-improvement activities, partnering with IT colleagues to support patient care by clinical and business staff.
Maintain a productive working relationship between OIT and Health Informatics through routine dialogue to sustain and optimize health IT solutions and workflows.
Evaluate content quality, ensure access to knowledge resources, eliminate redundant data sources, and improve information interoperability.
Apply statistical, machine-learning, visualization, inferencing, and other techniques to enable decision support.
Develop or use reports and information tools using methods and tools such as SQL and SSRS, drawing on VISN and VA Corporate Data Warehouse resources.
Develop, implement, monitor, maintain, and optimize informatics tools and access to them, including technologies associated with the EHR.
Serve as a subject matter expert in visual depictions of process-flow diagrams and help end users correctly interpret symbols and diagrams representing their work activities.
Ensure clinical input in the development and management of VHA business architecture.
Evaluate and test systems and applications and report errors found.
Evaluate workflows end to end, identify issues, develop solutions based on best-practice guidelines, and resolve and communicate changes to maintain and optimize processes delivering HIT solutions.
Support the management and delivery of educational experiences using information solutions and technology across healthcare areas.
Perform other duties as assigned.