Senior Surgical Clinical Reviewer

Be a part of a world-class academic healthcare system at UChicago Medicine as a Senior Surgical Clinical Reviewer for the Office of External Assessments. This position will be primarily a remote work from home opportunity.

The Senior Surgical Clinical Reviewer’s chief responsibility is to ensure reliable data is collected and submitted to the American College of Surgeons (ACS) National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP). This is accomplished through high-quality data compilation, documentation and entry into the ACS NSQIP database of all eligible surgeries for the hospital.  They oversee the activities of the Adult and Pediatric NSQIP programs. The individual works closely with the surgeon champions and members of the Department of Surgery to identify opportunities for clinical quality improvement, facilitating reviews/studies, data aggregation, analysis and reporting using accepted methodologies, including identification, measurement, analysis, and reporting of projects, indicators, and outcomes.  Additional responsibilities include auditing of surgery cases for quality improvement purposes, working with clinical departments to correct errors and omissions 

Essential Job Functions

• Maintains the Adult NSQIP and Pediatric NSQIP programs.
• Provides leadership and project coordination support for the Programs. 
• Facilitates individual and/or group meetings to ensure Program requirements are met
• Identifies surgical patients for inclusion in the Program through the application of Program inclusion/exclusion criteria and protocols.
• Oversees collection of preoperative, operative, and postoperative data components for the Program through the effective utilization of the hospital medical record systems.
• Demonstrates appropriate utilization of resources necessary to obtain valid, reliable data for entry into the Program. 
• Identifies streamlining and process improvement opportunities in the data collection process.
• Demonstrates applicability of the methodology and the reliability of definitions utilized by reviewers within the program through Inter-Rater Reliability (IRR) testing.
• Utilizes software applications for data collection and analysis.
• Responsible for the accurate and timely entry of data into the program’s database and meets the caseload accrual requirement protocol.
• Facilitate the evaluation of any proposed state, region, or national collaboratives, quality improvement projects, participation in pilot programs to include feasibility, clinical importance, needed resources, ability to act upon data, and return on investment.
• Fulfill NSQIP data requests from approved UChicago Medicine staff for internal and external reporting, and work collaboratively with the Center for Research Informatics (CRI) as needed to fulfill Institutional Review Board requests and have external reports deidentified and confidentially delivered.
• Ensures patients and/or families are contacted via phone and/or written communication postoperatively.
• Ensures report-out of NSQIP data, as appropriate for Perioperative Quality Committee and the Comer Safety and Quality Committee.
• Identifies opportunities for clinical quality improvement.
• Prepares and communicates clinical quality reports with relevant groups or meetings (e.g., M&M, infection control, quality management, administration).
• Participates in process improvement initiatives related to clinical quality.
• Oversees auditing of surgery cases for quality improvement purposes, working with clinical departments and HIM to correct errors and omissions.
• Serves as an educational resource on the ACS NSQIP for internal and external audiences by developing educational material and delivering presentations.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required 
• Minimum three years’ experience as a Surgical Clinical Reviewer required
• Take and pass the annual ACS NSQIP Adult and Pediatric SCR Certification Exams
• Completion of NSQIP training modules and certification examination required within three months
• Knowledge and application of the principles of quality improvement/patient safety including methodologies, data collection and analysis, and reporting 
• Ability to work in a time-oriented environment
• Ability to build relationships and gain alignment for clinical support and be able to articulate questions to receive an appropriate level of support from superiors and peers
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including presentation, written, and verbal
• Ability to interact with all members of the surgical team and administrative staff in a professional and courteous manner
• Computer and Internet experience required - familiarity and comfort with MS Office products is essential for success in this position
• Database data entry and/or management experience preferred
• Strong analytical skills and basic statistical knowledge

Preferred Qualifications

•  RHIA, RHIT, RN, or BSN preferred

• Database data entry and/or management experience preferred

Position Details

• Job Type/FTE: Full-Time  
• Shift: Days
• Job Location: Remote 
• Unit/Department: Office of External Assessments
• CBA Code: Non-Union