Risk and Safety Specialist - Risk Management - FT - Day

The Risk and Safety Specialist at Stormont-Vail HealthCare, Inc. in Topeka, KS, provides technical support for Risk Management and Patient Safety programs. This full-time role requires a Bachelor's degree and 5 years of clinical experience, with preferred qualifications including a Master's degree and regulatory experience. Responsibilities include emergency preparedness training, conducting readiness assessments, and managing risk-related programs. The position is not remote, requiring on-site presence.
Position Status:
Full time

Shift:
First Shift (Days - Less than 12 hours per shift) (United States of America)

Hours per week:
40

Job Information
Exemption Status: Exempt

A Brief Overview
The Risk and Safety Specialist provides specialized technical, informational and process management support to the Risk Management, Patient Safety, Employee Safety and/or Regulatory/Accreditation programs across Stormont Vail Health. The Risk and Safety Specialist exercises independent judgement, critical thinking, quantitative and qualitative analytical and technical skills to support the effective evaluation and communication of organizational risk management and safety information and manages core program elements to support clinical and regulatory requirements. This role assists with enterprise-wide programs and processes to plan for emergency readiness, disaster response, crisis management and business continuity activities including but not limited to providing emergency/disaster preparedness training, conducting readiness assessments and drills.

Education Qualifications
• Bachelor's Degree In Legal, Healthcare, Business, Risk or a related field. Five (5) years' experience in a licensed clinical role providing/coordinating direct patient care can be substituted for education. Required
• Master's Degree Legal studies. Preferred

Experience Qualifications
• 5 years Experience in a licensed clinical role providing/coordinating direct patient care. A bachelor's in Legal, Healthcare, Business, Risk, Emergency Management or a related field can be substituted for this experience. Required
• 2 years Experience in healthcare operators or a related industry field including experience integrating and analyzing large amounts of data /information and presenting that information to various audiences. Required
• Regulatory/accreditation survey experience, experience handling complex investigations or event evaluations. Preferred
• Experience in conducting audits, program evaluations or validation reviews. Preferred

Skills and Abilities
• Clinical, Ancillary or Technical expertise pertinent to evaluating risk and recommending strategies to support improvement. (Preferred proficiency)
• Human factors engineering or Performance Improvement (Lean Six Sigma) or similar background used to analyze/design/redesign workflows or programs. (Preferred proficiency)
• Ability to exercise independent judgment and decision-making to provide appropriate responses to customer requests for information or data or assuring appropriate escalation. (Preferred proficiency)
• Ability to engage customers, service lines, departments and stakeholders to identify data and reporting needs and opportunities on an ongoing basis. (Preferred proficiency)
• Demonstrates adaptability through flexibility, stress management, versatility and prioritization. (Preferred proficiency)

Licenses and Certifications
• Six Sigma Black Belt - ASQ Preferred
• Certification in paralegal, safety or emergency preparedness or risk management is preferred. Preferred

What you will do
• Assist functional departments in conducting drills, exercises and tests of response procedures, response systems and other readiness activities. Participate actively as assigned in design, planning, deployment and assessment of safety drills, mock surveys, event simulations, accreditation site visits .
• Collaborate with department and functional leaders as needed to support organizational environment of care plans and processes. Attends external meetings as assigned including but not limited to committee meetings, depositions and regulatory matters, serving as an effective representative of the organization and assuring appropriate communication of pertinent information to internal/external audiences.
• Drive proactive risk assessment, process integration or process improvement projects to assure that all segments of the SVH enterprise have appropriate readiness and response capabilities in place.
• Regularly advises management on relevant matters and provides specific and highly informed recommendations for improvement or resolution of identified emergency readiness/response issues or concerns.
• Maintain and update all resource, reference and documentation or materials associated with emergency preparedness and response plans.
• Conduct program and process evaluations to assess effectiveness of existing or proposed plans and organizational needs and make changes to support program effectiveness. Collect information, documents, and content to support submission of accurate, timely and current applications for insurance, accreditation, regulatory and claims data submissions.
• Evaluates events and identifies pertinent information sufficient to report claims to insurance carriers, retain records, compile claims data, produce and validate loss runs and required reports.
• Establish new claim or event files and conduct detailed claim investigation and document management processes for potential and actual claims across various lines of coverage including but not limited to Liability, Workers' Compensation, Property and Premises Liability. Complete investigation, retrieval, compilation and verification of documents and materials needed to support claims/litigation, root cause analysis, regulatory/accreditation requests or program documentation while assuring accuracy, completeness and appropriateness of responses.
• Evaluate and provide quantitative and qualitative analysis of risk and safety data from a variety of sources including but not limited to incident reports, claims, risk assessment, case reviews, complaints and regulatory findings to identify patterns, trends and serious safety events to support effective prioritization and management of organizational risk.
• Develops, designs, produces and interprets data reports within assigned scope of responsibility to support Board and leadership reporting, Medical Staff, Operational and other customers. Manage, with input from the Verge IT Administrator, Risk/Safety Coordinator and Risk /Safety department members the departmental SharePoint with particular attention to meeting recurrent data and information needs of customers.
• Serves as the initial screening review to identify events that warrant additional review/evaluation, referral for specialized evaluation or to achieve accurate and complete data capture.
• Prepares, maintains and monitors confidential files, including patient safety event, legal, claims, peer review, regulatory and other Risk/Safety files in accord with Department guidelines and organizational policy. Work under direct or indirect supervision to gather, compile and evaluate information needed for regulatory/accreditation responses, litigation discovery requests, internal process reviews to assure thorough, accurate and appropriate responses.
• Follow up with insurers, legal representatives, internal customers and others to assure timely and appropriate project completion; manage assigned projects to assure completion on time, within assigned scope and achieving project objectives.
• Conduct document, medical record and business records audits/rounding/tracers as assigned to develop case summaries, performance audit data, quantitative and qualitative performance data.
• Assists with processing reimbursement or payment requests related to assigned areas of responsibility, maintains accurate records of activity and expense or program costs sufficient to support financial support and financial analysis of risk and safety programs.
• Facilitates risk and safety activities including but not limited to regulatory/accreditation tracers, patient safety rounds, site visits, regulatory evaluations, root cause analysis or other group activities following defined standard work to achieve key milestones and program outcomes as assigned.

Travel Requirements
• 10% May need to travel to various organizational locations for claims investigations and witness interviews, and may travel to locations of depositions and trials.

Required for All Jobs
• Complies with all policies, standards, mandatory training and requirements of Stormont Vail Health
• Performs other duties as assigned

Patient Facing Options
• Position is Not Patient Facing

Remote Work Guidelines
• Workspace is a quiet and distraction-free allowing the ability to comply with all security and privacy standards.
• Stable access to electricity and a minimum of 25mb upload and internet speed.
• Dedicate full attention to the job duties and communication with others during working hours.
• Adhere to break and attendance schedules agreed upon with supervisor.
• Abide by Stormont Vail's Remote Worker Policy and will review and acknowledge the Remote Work Agreement annually.

Remote Work Capability
• Hybrid

Scope
• No Supervisory Responsibility
• * No Budget Responsibility No Budget Responsibility

Physical Demands
• Carrying: Occasionally 1-3 Hours
• Climbing (Stairs): Occasionally 1-3 Hours
• Driving (Automatic): Occasionally 1-3 Hours
• Feeling: Rarely less than 1 hour
• Grasping (Fine Motor): Rarely less than 1 hour
• Grasping (Gross Hand): Rarely less than 1 hour
• Handling: Rarely less than 1 hour
• Hearing: Frequently 3-5 Hours
• Lifting: Rarely less than 1 hour up to 25 lbs
• Reaching (Forward): Rarely less than 1 hour up to 25 lbs
• Sitting: Continuously greater than 5 hours
• Standing: Rarely less than 1 hour
• Talking: Frequently 3-5 Hours
• Walking: Frequently 3-5 Hours

Physical Demand Comments:
This position is in a large, multi-level healthcare facility. Accordingly, walking, stairs, talking and hearing are functions integral to the position in such a facility.

Working Conditions
• Electrical: Rarely less than 1 hour
• Noise/Sounds: Occasionally 1-3 Hours

Stormont Vail is an equal opportunity employer and adheres to the philosophy and practice of providing equal opportunities for all employees and prospective employees, without regard to the following classifications: race, color, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, religion, national origin, citizenship, age, marital status, uniformed service, disability or genetic information. This applies to all aspects of employment practices including hiring, firing, pay, benefits, promotions, lateral movements, job training, and any other terms or conditions of employment.

Retaliation is prohibited against any person who files a claim of discrimination, participates in a discrimination investigation, or otherwise opposes an unlawful employment act based upon the above classifications.