RN - Quality Improvement Specialist

Mission Statement: Michigan Medicine improves the health of patients, populations and communities through excellence in education, patient care, community service, research and technology development, and through leadership activities in Michigan, nationally and internationally. Our mission is guided by our Strategic Principles and has three critical components: patient care, education and research that together enhance our contribution to society.

About MPOG

The Multicenter Perioperative Outcomes Group (MPOG) is a consortium of more than 140 hospitals participating from across the United States, Canada and abroad. Our mission is to promote safe and evidence-based perioperative care for all patients through collaboration, research, education, and quality improvement. MPOG's registry aggregates electronic health record (EHR) data to investigate variations in care and develop strategies to improve care delivery. Since its inception in 2008, the consortium has developed policies, procedures, and the technical infrastructure required to conduct multicenter research projects, lead quality improvement initiatives, educate caregivers, and guide healthcare administration. MPOG is run by faculty and staff at the University of Michigan Department of Anesthesiology and is part of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan's Collaborative Quality Initiatives (CQI) program. Our team includes clinicians, quality improvement experts, software developers, statisticians, and administrators.

For more information, please visit https://mpog.org/about/.

About the role

The Quality Improvement (QI) Specialist will leverage one of the world's largest perioperative data sets to advance safer and more consistent anesthesia care across a network of over 140 hospitals. Blending clinical insight with analytic rigor, the QI specialist will design and refine anesthesia performance measures, translate raw registry data into intuitive dashboards and evidence-based toolkits, and manage QI subcommittees that convert findings into action. Partnering with quality improvement experts from around the state (ACQRs), physician quality champions, the QI Specialist will guide measure reviews, prioritize high-impact initiatives, and coach sites in the effective use of MPOG's QI applications. With a commitment to data integrity—writing precise measure specifications and identifying data anomalies—the QI Specialist will ensure every decision is grounded in sound evidence, while their collaboration on research will help shape national best practices. The result: closed performance gaps, demonstrably better patient outcomes, and tangible progress toward MPOG's mission of data-driven perioperative excellence.

Responsibilities

• Quality Improvement Program Support
  • Design, validate, and iterate on anesthesia quality measures that track perioperative performance across MPOG sites, ensuring relevance and impact on patient outcomes.
  • Engage in cross-functional team collaboration with programmers, project managers, and clinicians to design and implement dashboards that clearly convey measure performance to anesthesia providers.
  • Leverage published literature and MPOG data to develop QI Toolkits to serve as evidence-based guides to drive improvements in patient care.
  • Serve as the primary QI liaison between site nurse Anesthesia Clinical Quality Reviewers (ACQRs), physician Quality Champions, and the MPOG Coordinating Center to interpret QI measure reports, prioritize initiatives, and share best practices.
  • Empower sites by providing exceptional support, seamless onboarding, and expert guidance on using MPOG's QI platform.
  • Collaborate with Michigan Medicine's Anesthesia QI team and other internal collaborators to launch local and multi-site improvement projects.
  • Lead multidisciplinary subcommittee(s) dedicated to targeted anesthesia QI domains (e.g., obstetrics, cardiac, pediatrics) guiding clinicians through timely measure reviews and coordinating meaningful improvement initiatives and data-review sessions.
• Collaboration & Site Engagement
  • Serve as the primary QI liaison between site nurse Anesthesia Clinical Quality Reviewers (ACQRs), physician Quality Champions, and the MPOG Coordinating Center to interpret QI measure reports, prioritize initiatives, and share best practices.
  • Empower sites by providing exceptional support, seamless onboarding, and expert guidance on using MPOG's QI platform.
  • Collaborate with Michigan Medicine's Anesthesia QI team and other internal collaborators to launch local and multi-site improvement projects.
  • Lead multidisciplinary subcommittee(s) dedicated to targeted anesthesia QI domains (e.g., obstetrics, cardiac, pediatrics) guiding clinicians through timely measure reviews and coordinating meaningful improvement initiatives and data-review sessions.
• Application Support & Education
  • Provide end-user support and training for MPOG applications (QI Reporting Tool, MPOG Application Suite, and DataDirect) to drive the adoption and effective use of tools that measure clinical quality and outcomes.
  • Design and implement educational materials that enhance clinicians' and administrators' understanding of MPOG tools, supporting data-driven improvement in patient care.
  • Collaborate with anesthesiologists, CRNAs, and other healthcare professionals to ensure applications are leveraged to inform and improve clinical practice and decision-making.
• Data Management & Analysis
  • Analyze, interpret, and validate complex clinical data extracted from electronic health records to support quality improvement and cost-reduction initiatives.
  • Actively participate in efforts to enhance data quality. Identify and address unexpected data issues to ensure the accuracy of analytics, so that business decisions are made from accurate findings.
  • Develop clear query specifications (Microsoft Excel, DataDirect, or equivalent) for programmers and verify that extracted datasets answer the clinical question.

Requirements

• Clinical degree and experience required (e.g., RN, CRNA, MD, PA, or equivalent). Must have worked in a perioperative or acute care clinical setting.
• A Master's degree in Nursing, Health Informatics, Public Health or related field.
• Five or more years of hands-on experience analyzing clinical or registry data.
• Proficient in data analysis tools (Microsoft Excel, Tableau, Power BI, or another interactive data visualization platform).
• Proven ability to translate clinical data into clear, actionable insights for audiences ranging from frontline staff to senior leadership.
• Demonstrated customer focus with the knowledge and skill to identify, meet, and evaluate customer expectations.
• Ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment while owning multiple deliverables and consistently completing projects on or ahead of schedule with minimal managerial guidance.
• High level of integrity as demonstrated by:
  • Ability to maintain confidentiality as appropriate.
  • Adherence to policies, procedures, rules, and regulations.
  • Professional behavior in workplace interactions/relationships.
  • Strong work ethic and pursuit of excellence in all assignments completed.

Qualifications

• Advanced Microsoft 365 skills including Teams, Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
• Exceptional written and verbal communicator who uses diverse tools to distill complex analytic findings into clear reports and presentations for staff and leadership.
• General understanding of ICD-10 and CPT code set.
• Demonstrated knowledge of and ability to apply established quality-improvement frameworks (e.g., PDSA cycle, Lean, Six Sigma) to drive measurable improvements in patient outcomes.
• Detail-oriented with passion to understand data to ensure accuracy.
• Logical, analytical, and organized with the ability to direct and reprioritize work quickly and efficiently.
• Exceptional analytical ability to translate external site or registry requests into clear query specifications for programmers, continually validating that the criteria will achieve the intended outcomes and generate data-driven recommendations.

Benefits

• Excellent medical, dental, and vision coverage effective on your first day.
• 2:1 Match on Retirement Savings after 1 year of employment.
• Hybrid work environment (on-site 1-2 days/week + remote work).

Schedule

Partially remote, coming into the office 1-2 days/week at North Campus Research Center.