Risk and Patient Safety Specialist

Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital•Grand Rapids, MI

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Risk and Safety Specialist develops and oversees patient safety and risk management programs to ensure high-quality care and minimize errors, accidents, and adverse events. This role ensures compliance with national patient safety goals, regulatory standards, and accreditation requirements. Responsibilities include analyzing data using investigative and statistical methods, benchmarking against best practices, and leading initiatives that enhance patient and family-centered care. The specialist serves as a resource to leadership and staff, driving improvements that positively impact the patient experience. Essential Job Responsibilities General Provides care, treatment, and services within the scope of licensure, certification, or registration as required by law and regulation. Risk Management Assesses potential risks associated with new and existing services. Administers and maintains the occurrence reporting system and related documentation. Monitors and analyzes data to identify trends and variances affecting patient, visitor, and employee safety. Investigates incidents involving patients, employees, visitors, and property; leads root cause analyses and action plan development. Acts as liaison with attorneys, insurance carriers, regulatory agencies, and other stakeholders on risk-related matters. Researches evidence-based practices to support risk reduction strategies. Collaborates with the Director of Quality and Risk to resolve complaints and grievances. Mains records and prepare reports to meet regulatory requirements. Reviews contracts for organizational risk; escalate to leadership or legal counsel as needed. Oversees medical malpractice and liability insurance reviews in partnership with Finance. Develops and delivers risk management and patient safety training for onboarding and annual education. Creates and implements policies and procedures related to risk and safety. Presents risk and safety updates to the Board as requested. Participates in committees and advisory groups to coordinate initiatives. Performs other duties related to quality, risk, and safety as assigned. Patient Safety Leads hospital-wide patient safety initiatives, including data analysis and action planning. Serves as liaison to external benchmarking organizations for data sharing and best practice adoption. Ensures timely and accurate mandatory reporting of safety and quality data. Collaborates with departments to develop training materials and resources. Customer Service Responsibilities Demonstrate excellent customer service and standards of behaviors as well as encourages, coaches, and monitors the same in team members. This individual should consistently promote teamwork and direct communication with co-workers and deal discretely and sensitively with confidential information. Responsibilities in Quality Improvement Contribute by identifying problems and seeking solutions. Promote patient/family satisfaction where possible; participates in departmental efforts to monitor and report customer service.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in a health-related field.
At least two years in the clinical field & in either healthcare risk management, quality management, or clinical documentation.
Additional expertise in occurrence reporting, patient safety initiatives, data analysis and trending, contract review, handling of complaints and grievances, and exercising sound judgment and problem solving desired.
Completion of Risk Management education or related coursework within 2 years of hire.
Ability to communicate through effective verbal and written skills, including proper grammar, presentation, spelling, punctuation, and composition for correspondence and reporting.
Proven experience in dealing discreetly with sensitive, confidential patient, employee, and contractual information.
Outstanding organizational skills and the ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously.
Ability to work independently and with little supervision.
Proficient computer skills, including Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat, Share Point, and familiarity of HTML.

Nice To Haves

RN preferred.
Accreditation readiness preferred.
Working knowledge of RL6 and Learning Management System preferred.

Responsibilities

Develops and oversees patient safety and risk management programs.
Ensures compliance with national patient safety goals, regulatory standards, and accreditation requirements.
Analyzes data using investigative and statistical methods.
Benchmarks against best practices.
Leads initiatives that enhance patient and family-centered care.
Serves as a resource to leadership and staff.
Assesses potential risks associated with new and existing services.
Administers and maintains the occurrence reporting system and related documentation.
Monitors and analyzes data to identify trends and variances affecting patient, visitor, and employee safety.
Investigates incidents involving patients, employees, visitors, and property; leads root cause analyses and action plan development.
Acts as liaison with attorneys, insurance carriers, regulatory agencies, and other stakeholders on risk-related matters.
Researches evidence-based practices to support risk reduction strategies.
Collaborates with the Director of Quality and Risk to resolve complaints and grievances.
Maintains records and prepare reports to meet regulatory requirements.
Reviews contracts for organizational risk; escalate to leadership or legal counsel as needed.
Oversees medical malpractice and liability insurance reviews in partnership with Finance.
Develops and delivers risk management and patient safety training for onboarding and annual education.
Creates and implements policies and procedures related to risk and safety.
Presents risk and safety updates to the Board as requested.
Participates in committees and advisory groups to coordinate initiatives.
Performs other duties related to quality, risk, and safety as assigned.
Leads hospital-wide patient safety initiatives, including data analysis and action planning.
Serves as liaison to external benchmarking organizations for data sharing and best practice adoption.
Ensures timely and accurate mandatory reporting of safety and quality data.
Collaborates with departments to develop training materials and resources.
Demonstrates excellent customer service and standards of behaviors.
Encourages, coaches, and monitors customer service and standards of behaviors in team members.
Promotes teamwork and direct communication with co-workers.
Deals discretely and sensitively with confidential information.
Identifies problems and seeks solutions.
Promotes patient/family satisfaction.
Participates in departmental efforts to monitor and report customer service.