Clinical Director of Informatics

Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center · Hillsboro · $150,257–$187,821 (stated in the posting)

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At Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center, we honor all members of our community and acknowledge the dignity of each person we serve. Our purpose is to provide high quality, comprehensive primary health care to the communities of Washington and Yamhill counties with a special emphasis on migrant and seasonal farm workers and a view to removing barriers to health care. We strive to provide an environment that welcomes and values the people we employ and serve.

If you are unsure whether you meet all the required qualifications for this role but are interested and passionate about this potential position, we encourage you to apply.

Job Summary: The Clinical Director of Informatics (CDI) is responsible for maintaining up to date and detailed knowledge of VG’s Epic EHR system, and more general knowledge of health information technology, including clinical decision support systems and use of emerging AI-based tools, telemedicine, and use of medical databases and health information exchange systems. The CDI will ensure that VG utilizes the EHR effectively and efficiently across all domains, from scheduling and patient messaging to clinical care, documentation and billing.

The CDI has extensive knowledge and understanding of the OCHIN Epic EHR and is therefore able to recommend or create changes to the EHR that will improve efficiency and effectiveness of VG staff. The CDI is a member of the Senior Leadership Council and works with other Leadership Council members to help them reach agency goals where use of and knowledge of Epic and other Health Information Technology is necessary. The CDI supervises the EHR support team and provides direction to the EHR training team.

The CDI provides direct patient care a minimum of 4-8 hours per week, in accordance with their level and scope of training, experience and licensure. The CDI will function as an informational resource to patients, colleagues, other staff, learners, and the community.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:    
Leadership

• Work with the VG Executive and Senior Leadership Councils to develop and implement the strategic direction of clinical informatics and EHR use at VG and maintain an effective EHR Governance structure.
• Lead the prioritization, development and implementation of clinical informatics and EHR related strategic initiatives, in partnership with the Directors of IT, Quality, Data and Primary Care/Dental Operations, and the EHR Support Team.
• Serve as VG’s representative to OCHIN in all matters related to clinical informatics; attend relevant OCHIN sponsored meetings.
• Ensure bidirectional communication of relevant informatics initiatives between OCHIN and VG stakeholders. 
• Act as a bridge between Providers, EHR and IT teams to resolve issues and support efficient use of the EHR and other informatics technology, including AI, at VG.
• Communicate effectively with all stakeholders and partners at VG.
• Facilitate communication between Data, Clinical and EHR teams to ensure relevance of data and data points and trouble-shoot as necessary.

Supervision and team support

• Provide clinical informatics and decision support and expertise to the VG EHR Support Team.
• Supervise the EHR Support Team and provide direct supervision of the ESA Supervisor.
• Attend weekly EHR support team meetings (EROC) and provide relevant clinical and administrative input and support.
• Work with the ESA Manager to continually prioritize improvement and support requests (Samanage tickets) and participate in work needed to resolve tickets as necessary.
• Coordinate with the ESA Supervisor to ensure the EHR support team is appropriately staffed and able to meet ongoing and future support needs; collaborate with the EHR team to assess support needs at least annually.
• Build out an effective and appropriately staffed Provider/Clinical Builder program for VG, in consultation with relevant Clinical Directors (Medical, Dental, Pharmacy, Behavioral).
• Be responsible for the strategy and oversight of Provider and Clinical Informaticists (Builders) across Primary Care, Dental, Behavioral and Pharmacy teams at VG to provide improved provider efficiency, training, and workflows in the clinical environment.
• Perform other supervisory duties as assigned by the CMO and/or Dental Director.

EHR knowledge and responsibilities

• Maintain up to date Provider Builder status---reserve at least 0.2 – 0.4 FTE to work on Epic builds, Epic support and training related tasks.
• Work to improve Epic efficiency across all VG Epic users/job roles—Providers, RNs, MAs, DAs, PCCs, TAs, others as applicable; try to look at EHR from systematic point of view, from patient check-in to processing of billing, and help understand how a change in one module will impact other modules, and help to track the impact of any changes.
• Maintain up to date knowledge of general HIT and EHR technology advances, including AI, and facilitate ability of VG to employ and take advantage as appropriate.
• Stay abreast of Epic updates and upgrades; ensure that VG is able to effectively implement and take advantage of new and improved Epic tools, workflows and technology add-ons.
• Be aware of and understand Epic Security profiles for most/all user types, and coordinate with ESA manager to ensure appropriate and necessary job-related access given to all users.
• Work with ESA and Builder staff to plan, build, set standards for and maintain VG specific Epic tools at system level, including but not limited to:

o    VG diagnosis preference list
o    VG orders preference lists
o    Smartsets
o    Ordersets and Order Panels
o    Smartphrases
o    Smartlists and Smarttext
o    Letters
o    Notewriter macros
o    Note templates and speedbuttons
o    Flowsheets and questionnaires
o    Quickactions

Training and efficiency

• Use Epic dashboards, Signal and Reporting Work Bench reports to track overall clinic, team and staff efficiency, develop improvement plans where needed, and track their effectiveness.
• Work in conjunction with Epic training team and ESA team to keep all Epic related training tools updated, and provide trainings when appropriate and feasible.
• Work with Epic training team to coordinate regular Provider education and trainings, 1:1 or group sessions, to improve Provider efficiency within the system and identify problem areas for targeted improvement.
• Review, update and standardize new hire Epic training; participate in new hire training where needed/relevant.
• Work with training team manager to ensure Epic training team is appropriately staffed and able to meet ongoing and future training needs.  Ensure type of training provided is up to date and effective.
• Maintain frequent discussion with individual Epic users to think about and identify improvements to optimize use; work with the EHR Support and Epic Builder Teams to make this happen.

Clinical
•    This position may, as determined in consultation with the CMO or Dental Director, provide up to 8 hours/week of direct outpatient primary or dental care, in accordance with training, experience and licensure. The CDI will be expected to:
o    Provide continuous comprehensive and culturally competent health or dental care of the highest quality.
o    Meet patient care productivity standards to assure adequate access to clinical services.
o    Provide all necessary documentation in the medical record of care provided to patient, including education, medications, referrals, diagnostic testing and follow-up.

• Perform other duties as assigned.
• Current and valid Basic Life Support Certification required. Must maintain current certification with a recognized provider. (Pharmacy)
• Handle protected health information (PHI) in a manner consistent with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).

HIPAA Requirements: 
The Clinical Director of Informatics will have access to PHI in the course of carrying out their duties.  The CDI uses PHI for treatment purposes, quality assurance and performance improvement, including troubleshooting and improvement of EHR workflows. Applying the minimum necessary standard of HIPAA, the designated record sets to which this employee will have access include the billing, demographic, and scheduling information in the practice management system, and the full medical record, inclusive of substance use disorder treatment documentation.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities required:  

• Detail oriented.
• Detailed knowledge of the Epic electronic health record system, and health care related information technology in general.
• Knowledgeable, or willing to learn, about continuous quality improvement, effective team-building and supervisory methods, group dynamics and meeting strategies.
• Strong commitment to working with patients and staff from a wide range of ethnic, economic, cultural and social backgrounds. 
• Ability to be physically present at any of VGMHCs clinical or administrative sites.
• Ability to work effectively in a collaborative, team-based work environment.
• Cultural diversity awareness, sensitivity, and competency, including ability to work with individuals from diverse cultures and backgrounds.
• Ability to make independent decisions based on VGMHC policies and protocols.
• High degree of confidentiality, integrity, and professionalism when interacting with colleagues and patients where applicable.
• Able to use the phone and other forms of communication.
• Commitment and alignment to Virginia Garcia’s mission, vision, and values.

Education and Experience Required:

• Current active medical or dental license (MD, DO, DD, PA or NP) to practice medicine or dentistry in Oregon and DEA registration.
• At least 5 years prior clinical experience.
• At minimum 1-2 years of job-related experience in informatics is preferred but not required.
• A completed Informatics Fellowship is highly desirable. 
• Epic Provider Builder Certification is required, but can be obtained once hired, at the discretion of the CMO and as specified during the hiring process.

Physical Requirements:
Percentage of time spent 

• Standing: 10%
• Walking: 10%
• Sitting: up to 80%
• Reaching/stooping/bending: Occasional
• Must be able to lift/carry up to 20 lbs.
• Computer usage: 90%
• Travel: up to 5%

Working Environment/Physical Hazards

• Work in well-lighted and ventilated environments, usual office environment
• Travel is limited but may be required, occasional evenings or weekends.
• Good driving record with insurance or ability to provide alternative transportation necessary. 
• Outdoors (10%).  Requires travel to various locations and working flexible hours.
• Indoors (90%). Visiting various sites is required to provide in-clinic support.

Working Environment/Physical Hazards:

• Work in a well-lighted, ventilated environment
• Occasional possible exposure to blood borne pathogens and potentially hazardous chemicals.

Equipment Used:
Equipment used
•    Office equipment
o    Computer: Data entry and word processing
o    Telephone, fax, copier, scanner, printer
•    Medical and/or dental equipment
o    Stethoscope, ophthalmoscope, otoscope, doppler
o    Dental equipment
o    Surgical/Procedural instruments
o    Routing medical equipment
o    Fetal monitor
o    EKG
o    Pulse oximeter
o    Nebulizer
o    02 tank
o    LEEP equipment
o    Colposcope

Immunization:
Staff members must meet immunization requirements as stated in VGMHC’s immunization policy and state and federal guidelines.

Job descriptions represent a general outline of the essential and major job duties, functions and qualifications required. They cannot be all-inclusive and comprehensive due to the dynamic nature of work performed to accomplish VGMHC’s Mission.

VGMHC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. No person is unlawfully excluded from consideration for employment because of race, color, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, age, veteran status, marital status, or physical challenges. The policy applies not only to recruitment and hiring practices, but also includes fairness in placement, promotion, transfer, rate of pay, and termination.
 

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