At Northwestern Medicine, every patient interaction makes a difference in cultivating a positive workplace. This patient-first approach is what sets us apart as a leader in the healthcare industry. As an integral part of our team, you'll have the opportunity to join our quest for better health care, no matter where you work within the Northwestern Medicine system. We pride ourselves on providing competitive benefits: from tuition reimbursement and loan forgiveness to 401(k) matching and lifecycle benefits, our goal is to take care of our employees. Ready to join our quest for better?

**This is a full-time salaried position at 40 hours per week support Catherin Gratz Griffin Lake Forest Hospital expanding open heart surgery program. This role is a Monday to Friday schedule, work from home 4 days and in office one day per week. **

The Quality Measures Specialist reflects the mission, vision, and values of NM, adheres to the organization’s Code of Ethics and Corporate Compliance Program, and complies with all relevant policies, procedures, guidelines and all other regulatory and accreditation standards.

The Quality Measures Specialist’s responsibility is to collect selected data elements for quality monitoring and improvement efforts and then work with improvement teams to improve patient care and quality outcomes as measured within the NMH quality program. This is accomplished through clinical screening, data compilation, documentation and entry into applicable computer applications. It also entails interacting and proactively raising quality of care and quality of documentation issues to the appropriate committees, nurse and physician managers to facility the necessary change.

Responsibilities

• Facilitates communication of information to appropriate leadership and staff to improve the management of patient care and services.
• Works collaboratively with Clinical Quality Leaders (CQLs) to determine physician and nurse educational/training needs to improve quality metrics.
• Works closely with clinicians and Clinical Documentation to facilitate efficient and accurate documentation and associated process improvements for nursing and physician workflow to reduce the burden of data recording in electronic medical record to improve compliance with publicly reported measures.
• Develops strong working relationships with quality committees and teams.
• Proactively identifies patterns or trends in patient care and documentation and outlier analysis, then following through with CQLs and clinical/operational leaders to develop solutions.
• Responsible for the accuracy and timeliness of quality data submissions.
• Identifies patients for inclusion in quality improvement measurements.
• Collects data through the effective utilization of the hospital medical record system.
• Performs accurate and timely entry of data into applicable computer applications.
• Consistently meets targets timelines on projects and achieves measurable results for committees, scorecards and projects.
• Provides feedback and performance reports to CQLs, process owners and other clinical leadership.
• Remains knowledgeable of specifications and modifications to measurements by external organizations and works with management to apply the modifications appropriately.
• Attends quality management or process improvement meetings as indicated.
• Knowledgeable in quality and patient safety, quality measures and measurement, relevant statistical tools, and associated methodologies (e.g., RCA, FMEA, DMAIC, and NM Toolkit).  Familiarity with major sources of measures, literature, and quality- and patient-safety-related federal and state policy.
• Works with members of quality teams to facilitate improvements.
• Demonstrates exceptional customer service and interpersonal engagement with all levels of medical and hospital staff, as well as patients/families/visitors as relevant.
• Other responsibilities as designated in support of organizational priorities.

Required:

• Associate's degree in Health Information, Medical Coding or Health Related Field or Associate's degree with 2 yrs. of relevant experience
• Data abstracting or medical record review experience.
• Computer and Internet skills and experience with MS Office products.
• Ability to review data/documents for accuracy and consistency.
• Accept and learn from constructive criticism, make decisions with limited information, stay abreast of changes made by regulatory organizations to maintain compliance.
• Strong personal computer skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Excellent verbal, written communication and interpersonal skills.
• Demonstrates positive attitude in all workforce interactions,
• Ability to troubleshoot software and system issues.
• Demonstrated problem solving skills.
• Able to work independently and with a team

Preferred:

• Quality improvement or patient safety knowledge and experience.
• Intermediate Microsoft Excel skills.
• Experience with EPIC

Northwestern Medicine is an equal opportunity employer (disability, VETS) and does not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of age, sex, race, color, religion, national origin, gender identity, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation or any other protected status.

Background Check

Northwestern Medicine conducts a background check that includes criminal history on newly hired team members and, at times, internal transfers. If you are offered a position with us, you will be required to complete an authorization and disclosure form that gives Northwestern Medicine permission to run the background check.  Results are evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and we follow all local, state, and federal laws, including the Illinois Health Care Worker Background Check Act.

Artificial Intelligence Disclosure

Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools may be used in some portions of the candidate review process for this position, however, all employment decisions will be made by a person. 

Benefits

We offer a wide range of benefits that provide employees with tools and resources to improve their physical, emotional, and financial well-being while providing protection for unexpected life events. Please visit our Benefits section to learn more.

Sign-on Bonus Eligibility (if sign-on bonus offered for position): Internal employees and rehires who left Northwestern Medicine within 1 year are not eligible for the sign on bonus. Exception: New graduate internal employees seeking their first licensed clinical position at NM may be eligible depending upon the job family.