Quality Improvement Specialist

Primary City/State: Mesa, Arizona

About the Role

This position supports high reliability in clinical performance through ongoing assessment of performance, prioritizes clinical improvement activities, facilitates performance improvement, and promotes successful implementation to achieve entity/system targets. This role requires strong communication, collaboration, teamwork, and change management skills in order to achieve desired results across the continuum of care. This role serves as a quality subject matter expert (SME) to leaders throughout the facility.

Responsibilities

• Quality Leadership and Integration – Facilitates the integration of quality into the fabric of the organization to achieve objectives, such as Annual Initiatives, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and The Joint Commission (TJC) standards of care. Supports the quality infrastructure, protects the use of privileged or confidential information, facilitates processes for engagement and interprofessional teamwork, identifies and promotes continuous learning opportunities, and communicates effectively.
• Performance and Process Improvement – Serves as a subject matter expert in performance and process improvement, project management, and change management methods to support operational and clinical quality initiatives. Facilitates activities related to patient safety, harm reduction, clinical performance, peer review, and compliance with regulatory and accrediting agencies using performance and process improvement tools, project management methods, and change management principles.
• Population Health and Care Transitions – Evaluates and improves healthcare processes and care transitions to advance efficient, effective, and safe care of defined populations. Fosters an integrated team-based clinical delivery model for population-based care, facilitates the implementation of standardized, evidence-based processes, and monitors facility clinical practice performance.
• Health Data Analytics – Supports the organization’s analytic environment to guide data-driven decision-making. Facilitates meetings with departments and teams to guide quality improvement initiatives, ensures data confidentiality and integrity, designs and monitors data collection plans for Key Performance Indicators, collaborates with process owners, and uses statistical and visualization methods to analyze data for administrative and clinical decision-making.
• Patient Safety – Participates in and contributes to a safe healthcare environment by promoting safe practices, nurturing a just culture, and improving processes that detect, mitigate, or prevent harm. Advocates for patient safety culture, applies safety science principles/methods, identifies and reports patient safety risks/events, and collaborates to analyze and improve safety-related processes.
• Regulatory and Accreditation – Supports evaluating, monitoring, and improving compliance with internal and external requirements. Participates in processes to prepare for, engage in, and follow up on regulatory agency surveys and certifications, supports compliance with performance improvement standards, and contributes to continuous survey readiness.
• Quality Review and Accountability – Facilitates and supports compliance with voluntary, mandatory, and contractual reporting requirements for data acquisition, analysis, reporting, and process improvement. May support practitioner and nursing performance review activities as directed.
• Professional Engagement – Engages in the healthcare quality profession with a commitment to ethical practice, competency enhancement, and advancement of the field. Integrates ethical standards, engages in lifelong learning, and participates in professional organizations or certification activities.

Requirements

• Requires a Bachelor’s degree.
• Requires a proficiency level typically attained with five years of clinical experience or quality improvement experience.
• Requires Certified Professional Healthcare Quality (CPHQ) or Certified Professional Patient Safety (CPPS) certification within 3 years of being in the job and obtaining quality work experience. For individuals in this role prior to June 1, 2025, CPHQ or CPPS must be obtained within 3 years.
• If in a profession that requires licensure, current licensure/certification/registration is required for the state worked.

Qualifications

• Registered Nurse (RN) license preferred.
• Master’s Degree is preferred.
• Experience with process improvement, regulatory/accreditation programs, data management, and analysis (including graphic development and presentations) is highly desirable.

Schedule

Monday - Friday, 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM