Physician - Chief Health Informatics Officer

Full Job Description

The Northern Arizona VA Health Care System is recruiting for a Physician - Chief Health Informatics Officer (CHIO).

The incumbent is the expert in health informatics and steward of the intersection between health IT, health informatics, and clinical practice.

Serving as the primary advisor to the executive leadership team, the CHIO is a strong agent for change, understands the needs of their professional counterparts, and the role informatics plays across the organization.

To qualify for this position, you must meet the basic requirements as well as any additional requirements (if applicable) listed in the job announcement.

Applicants pending the completion of training or license requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

Currently employed physician(s) in VA who met the requirements for appointment under the previous qualification standard at the time of their initial appointment are deemed to have met the basic requirements of the occupation.

Basic Requirements: United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.

Degree of doctor of medicine or an equivalent degree resulting from a course of education in medicine or osteopathic medicine.

The degree must have been obtained from one of the schools approved by the Department of Veterans Affairs for the year in which the course of study was completed.

Current, full and unrestricted license to practice medicine or surgery in a State, Territory, or Commonwealth of the United States, or in the District of Columbia.

Residency Training: Physicians must have completed residency training, approved by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in an accredited core specialty training program leading to eligibility for board certification.

(NOTE: VA physicians involved in academic training programs may be required to be board certified for faculty status.) Approved residencies are: (1) Those approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), b) OR (2) Those approved by the American Osteopathic Association (AOA),OR (3) Other residencies (non-US residency training programs followed by a minimum of five years of verified practice in the United States), which the local Medical Staff Executive Committee deems to have provided the applicant with appropriate professional training and believes has exposed the physician to an appropriate range of patient care experiences.

Residents currently enrolled in ACGME/AOA accredited residency training programs and who would otherwise meet the basic requirements for appointment are eligible to be appointed as "Physician Resident Providers" (PRPs).

PRPs must be fully licensed physicians (i.e., not a training license) and may only be appointed on an intermittent or fee-basis.

PRPs are not considered independent practitioners and will not be privileged; rather, they are to have a "scope of practice" that allows them to perform certain restricted duties under supervision.

Additionally, surgery residents in gap years may also be appointed as PRPs. Proficiency in spoken and written English.

Preferred Experience: Advanced clinical background with current or recent direct patient care experience and strong understanding of care delivery in an acute and ambulatory setting.

Prior leadership experience in a complex healthcare system, ideally within VHA or another large integrated delivery network, with familiarity with VA organizational structure and mission.

Demonstrated ability to partner effectively with medical staff, nursing, pharmacy, and ancillary services to improve care delivery and patient outcomes.

Health Informatics and EHR expertise Significant experience leading optimization and configuration of an enterprise EHR (e.g., VA EHR ecosystem/Oracle Cerner), including clinical decision support, order sets, and documentation workflows.

Previous hands-on involvement in clinical workflow analysis, redesign, and process improvement projects that span multiple services or departments.

Experience with application support and implementation of health IT tools, including testing, change control, and post-go-live stabilization.

Proven ability to use data (metrics, dashboards, reports) to drive quality, safety, and access improvements, including visualizing and communicating complex data to clinical and executive audiences.

Experience with population health analytics, clinical quality measures, and/or leveraging data for enterprise or service-line performance improvement.

Familiarity with advanced analytics methods (e.g., statistical techniques, basic machine learning concepts, or AI-enabled decision support) in a clinically meaningful way.

Experience in governance, change management, and education.

Prior leadership of, or active participation in, informatics or EHR governance bodies, including developing policies, standards, and change control processes.

Demonstrated success leading large-scale change management efforts related to clinical systems (e.g., new EHR functionality, major workflow changes, or enterprise rollouts).

Experience designing and delivering provider-facing education and training programs that improve user adoption and satisfaction with clinical systems.

Background in data governance, data integrity, privacy, and security principles, including stewardship of clinical information across multiple systems.

Experience aligning informatics with regulatory/accreditation requirements and institutional policies related to documentation, data use, and patient safety.

Track record of developing and executing a strategic vision for informatics or digital health that aligns with organizational goals.

Strong history of collaboration with IT/OIT, quality/safety, finance, and other administrative leaders to plan and prioritize informatics initiatives and resources.

Demonstrated ability to work in a matrixed environment, influence without direct authority, and build credibility with executive leadership and front-line staff.

Experience leading multi-disciplinary project teams using formal project management methods (e.g., planning, implementation, evaluation of informatics projects).

Prior supervisory experience over professional and/or technical staff, including responsibility for performance management, workforce development, and succession planning.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

Physical Requirements: VA Handbook 5019/1, Part II, Pre-Placement Physical Examination and Evaluation. Major Duties:

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The Northern Arizona VA Healthcare System is one of the leading health care systems serving Veterans in the VA Desert Pacific Network, within the Veterans Integrated Service Network 22.

VA offers a comprehensive total rewards package. VHA Physician Total Rewards. Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): May be available for highly qualified candidates.

Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): May be available for highly qualified candidates.

Pay: Competitive salary, annual performance bonus, regular salary increases Paid Time Off: 50-55 days of paid time off per year (26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year and possible 5 day paid absence for CME) Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement) Licensure: 1 full and unrestricted license from any US State or territory CME: Possible $2,500 per year reimbursement (must be full-time with board certification).

Up to $1,000 without Board Certification.

Malpractice: Free liability protection with tail coverage provided Contract: No Physician Employment Contract and no significant restriction on moonlighting Major duties include, but are not limited to: Evaluates content quality and assures access to knowledge resources, eliminating redundancy in duplicate data sources, and improving information interoperability across the organization.

Plays a pivotal role in leveraging the capabilities of VA clinical information systems to empower practitioners in delivering timely and appropriate care to the appropriate patients.

Enables EHR health care capabilities and the evolution of technology to deliver quality care by developing, implementing, monitoring, maintaining, and optimizing HI solutions and access to them.

Evaluates and identifies necessary changes to optimize clinical workflows and the health IT system, certifying that the VHA EHR operates in a way that improves patient care, ensures patient safety, and meets the needs of providers through continuous evaluation, testing and improvement of the system.

Enables healthcare capabilities and the evolution of technology adjoined to the EHR to deliver quality care by developing, implementing, monitoring, maintaining, and optimizing informatics tools and access to them.

Evaluates, documents, analyzes, prioritizes, and recognizes requirements for the improvement and/or re-engineering of health care processes for the EHR and other systems in collaboration with the end-user.

Contributes to the planning and execution of computer hardware/software development to meet patient care needs and ensure optimal computer use.

Effectively creates, integrates, disseminates, and manages data for enterprise applications, processes and entities requiring timely and accurate data delivery.

Executes the entire standards lifecycle from problem definition to solution development and eventual retirement.

The preponderance of standards management effort in support of Enterprise Data Management is devoted to operational implementation and maintenance of data standards in HIT systems for the collection, analysis, and exchange of data.

Utilizes innovative practice patterns and specializations to continuously develop the informatics role and associated competencies, aligning it with the strategic needs of the organization.

Evaluates, documents, analyzes, prioritizes, and recognizes requirements for the improvement of the EHR and other systems in collaboration with the end-user.

Oversees strategic planning, resource allocation, policy implementation, and decision-making methods within the health informatics service line (e.g., via co-chair role of the HI Integrated Governance Body).

Reports key milestones, metrics, results of VA medical facility informatics related needs assessments and monitoring of fulfillment of informatics-related needs to VISN HI Integrated Governance and VA medical facility HI Integrated Governance as specified by VISN HI Integrated Governance.

Responsible for setting goals and priorities for HI operations that are aligned with the broader objectives of the organization (e.g., via co-chair role of the HI Integrated Governance Body).

Is accountable for delivering organizational benefit to the VA medical facility from HI service operations: HI personnel, methods, and tools.

Acts as liaison for frontline staff for training and implementation initiatives related to EHR. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm