Systems Improvement Coordinator

DSHS is committed to hiring skilled and dedicated individuals who share a passion for public health to pursue our vision of A Healthy Texas. If you are looking to make an impact and tackle new challenges, we encourage you to consider a career with us.

Employee Benefits:

DSHS offers insurance coverage and other benefits available through the State of Texas Group Benefits Plan administered by the Employee Retirement System of Texas (ERS). To learn more about all the benefits available to you as a DSHS employee and other DSHS opportunities for early career pathways, visit the DSHS Careers Page.

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The Newborn Screening (NBS) Systems Improvement Coordinator performs advanced consultative services and technical assistance work under the supervision of the Special Projects Manager. Will serve as project manager for assigned NBS Unit Clinical Care Coordination (CCC) grant related activities and systems improvement projects. Provides support and oversight for projects and activities related to quality improvement, workforce coordination, and grant oversight and reporting. Activities include plans, develops, and implements grant activity and provides consultative and technical assistance service to the Newborn Screening staff and stakeholders including government agencies, community organizations, and the public. Finds resources and opportunities for coordinated processes for follow-up activities within short and long-term newborn screening programs and family-based support systems. Reviews policy and procedures and recommends updates. Serves as project lead providing direction to others. Develops and keeps positive working relationships. Works under limited supervision, with considerable latitude for the use of initiative and independent judgment. To perform these job duties, this position may require working the extra hours needed to meet defined deadlines and support the agency’s mission critical reporting requirements.

Essential Job Functions:

Attends work on a regular and predictable schedule following agency leave policy and performs other duties as assigned.

EJF1. (35%) Manages and coordinates continuous quality improvement, system upgrades, and other projects for the unit. Serves as a lead worker providing direction to others. Plans, tracks tasks and resources, and organizes communication, ensuring milestones are completed within established time limit, and reports progress to the Special Projects Manager, Unit Director, and as requested to department management and committees. Oversees the effectiveness of programs and projects. Finds, develops, and implements effective techniques to evaluate unit programs and projects allow the highest quality of NBS clinical follow-up activities. Coordinates and conducts surveys, inspections, or reviews to determine compliance with laws, regulations, policies, and procedures. Reports outcome measures of unit programs and projects to the Special Projects Manager, Unit Director, and as requested to department management and committees. Analyzes the application of and variations within programs, finds areas of noncompliance, deficiencies, and quality issues, and develops action plans to improve or start innovative programs.

EJF2. (15%) Participates in unit strategic planning activities to include management and coordination of unit goals, objectives and key performance indicators that support the strategic plan of NBS CCC unit and DSHS. Provide written reports to unit leadership of related activities and follow DSHS record retention rules.

EJF3. (15%) Collects, compiles, and creates written reports of requested information and clinical data. NBS clinical and grant activities to support unit programs and other Community Health Improvement customers. Coordinates with the NBS Informatics Specialist to perform to create dashboards and other tools to allow continuous improvement activities and reporting. Works with NBS informatics to create Tableau dashboards. Decides program statistics, and trends needed to resolve operational problems. Monitors needed performance reports and recommends changes. Completes reports and assignments on time.

EJF4. (15%) Plans, implements, and oversees NBS CCC, DSHS and State NBS Laboratory stakeholder collaborative activities in support of NBS, State Laboratory, and DSHS as required. Consults with public and private agencies involved in NBS programs to resolve problems, identify training needs, and discuss program effectiveness. Responsibilities include attaining DSHS goals and meeting objectives, supporting agency-wide strategic plans, developing, approving, and monitoring schedules, priorities, and standards for achieving DSHS goals. Finds grants for the NBS CCC Unit that can fund new or existing programs and activities. Prepares and organizes submission of grant applications. Develops timelines for deliverables defined in grants, oversees grant deliverable compliance, maintains cost accounting records, prepares, and evaluates NBS budget requests, and reports grant activities.

EJF5. (15%) Assist staff and leadership interpret policies, procedures, rules, regulations, and standards related to the NBS. Serves as subject matter expert and coordinator for NBS policy and procedures. Coordinates and documents process development, implementation, evaluation, and improvement to facilitate efficient workflow and quality outcomes. Reviews legislation related to newborn screening follow-up and provides analysis of how the implementation of the legislation would affect workflow. Works with management and budget staff to figure out funding needed to implement legislation. Leads or takes part in work groups to implement new legislation.

EJF6. (5%) Other duties as assigned include but are not limited to actively participating and/or serving as a Branch contact to meet the agency's obligations for disaster response and/or recovery or continuity of operations (COOP) activation. Such participation may require an alternate shift pattern assignment and/or location. To perform these job duties, this position may require working the extra hours needed to meet defined deadlines and support the agency’s mission critical reporting requirements.

Registrations, licensure, certifications field required: N/A

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

Knowledge of the following:

• Roles of public health.
• Newborn screening.
• Continuing process improvement strategies such as Lean Six Sigma.
• DSHS and HHSC policies and procedures for personnel, budget management and tracking, fiscal accounting, purchasing, and contracting, travel, and grants management.
• Project management concepts.

Skilled in the following:

• Leadership of project teams.
• Analysis of complex information for a variety of purposes.
• Problem solving and conflict resolution.
• Accurate and effective oral and written communication to clinical, leadership, and public audiences.
• Budget management.
• Delegating and coordinating work.
• Prioritizing and goal management for multiple projects.
• Math, spreadsheets, and finance related to project budgets.
• Project management and organization.
• Microsoft Outlook, Word, Project, Excel, Teams, and PowerPoint.

Ability to do the following:

• Prepare concise reports, to develop and evaluate policies and procedures, and to plan for following action needed.
• Use computer programs for trend analysis, creating and use of dashboards, and word processing.
• Gather, assemble, correlate, analyze data, and devise solutions to problems.
• Present complex information to a variety of audiences.
• Develop policies, procedures, and concise reports.
• Organize and manage multiple tasks, prioritize heavy workloads, and meet deadlines.
• Establish goals and objectives.
• Facilitate meetings and projects and collaborate effectively with teams.
• Develop and keep positive working relationships with managers, co-workers, and partners.
• Adapt to a changing work environment.

Initial Criteria:

• A bachelor's degree from an accredited four-year college or university with major coursework in a field relevant to this position. Experience and education may be substituted for one another.
• Experience managing grants or other large projects.
• One year experience in process improvement.

Additional Information:

IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION PRIOR TO SUBMITTING AN APPLICATION FOR THIS POSITION:
 

• Information on the application must clearly state how the applicant meets initial selection criteria in the Summary of Experience section to be interviewed. Resumes will not be accepted in lieu of an application.
• Applicants must provide information relevant to the required experience for this position. Answer all questions and completely summarize your experience including technical and managerial responsibilities and any special training, skills, and qualifications for each position you have held in the employment history section of application.
• All fields on the application must be filled-in completely. This includes, but is not limited to, previous salary, previous supervisor, and reason for leaving previous position.
• Agency salary policy, budget and candidate’s qualifications will dictate final salary offer.
• Applicants selected for an interview will be required to complete a one-hour skills assessment exercise following the interview.
• This position is eligible for hybrid teleworking but must reside in Texas and can to Austin Headquarters as needed.

Active Duty, Military, Reservists, Guardsmen, and Veterans:

Military occupation(s) that relate to the initial selection criteria and registration or licensure requirements for this position may include, but not limited to those listed in this posting. All active-duty military, reservists, guardsmen, and veterans are encouraged to apply if qualified for this position. For more information see the Texas State Auditor’s Military Crosswalk at https://hr.sao.texas.gov/CompensationSystem/JobDescriptions/.

ADA Accommodations:

In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), DSHS will provide reasonable accommodation during the hiring process for individuals with a qualifying disability. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the interview process, please notify the person who contacts you to schedule the interview. If you need assistance completing the on-line application, contact the HHS Employee Service Center at 1-888-894-4747 or via email at HHSServiceCenter.Applications@ngahrhosting.com.

Salary Information, Pre-employment Checks, and Work Eligibility:

• The salary offered will follow DSHS starting salary guidelines. Any employment offer is contingent upon available budgeted funds.
• Depending on the program area and position requirements, applicants selected for hire may be required to pass background and other due diligence checks.
• DSHS uses E-Verify. You must bring your I-9 documentation with you on your first day of work.  Download the I-9 form