Manager-Clinical Documentation

Company Description

At Northwestern Medicine, every patient interaction makes a difference in cultivating a positive workplace. This patient-first approach is what sets us apart as a leader in the healthcare industry. As an integral part of our team, you'll have the opportunity to join our quest for better health care, no matter where you work within the Northwestern Medicine system. We pride ourselves on providing competitive benefits: from tuition reimbursement and loan forgiveness to 401(k) matching and lifecycle benefits, our goal is to take care of our employees. Ready to join our quest for better?

Job Description

The Manager of Clinical Documentation reflects the mission, vision, and values of Northwestern Medicine (NM), adheres to the organization’s Code of Ethics and Corporate Compliance Program, and complies with all relevant policies, procedures, guidelines and all other regulatory and accreditation standards.

Responsible for leading clinical documentation integrity efforts in support of NM and business unit strategic goals. Responsible for managing relationships with key stakeholders at multiple business units to advance financial and quality outcomes for NM and each business unit. Functional areas of responsibility include clinical documentation at more than one business unit to assure effective workflow process design for clinical documentation interventions that promote accurate and timely documentation.  Key to this role is the ability to compel changes in documentation to facilitate accurate representations of patient characteristics within the medical record so that process and outcome measures based on documentation reflect performance accurately.  Requires frequent travel to support the business needs of Northwestern Medicine.    

Reports to Director, Clinical Documentation.

Responsible, in collaboration with the Director of Clinical Documentation and other leadership, to develop, implement, monitor and achieve the annual business unit and system level Clinical Documentation Plans.

Responsibilities:

• Lead, plan, and coordinate the Clinical Documentation Integrity programs at the business unit and system level, in collaboration with the Director of Clinical Documentation and the Medical Director(s) of Clinical Documentation at each business unit.
  • Key Stakeholders include Business Unit and System Directors, Chief Financial Officers, Chief Nurse Executives, Regional and System Vice Presidents, and Chief Medical Officers.
  • Scope includes all functions which support documentation within the patient’s medical record. 
  • Scope includes all practitioners, clinicians and others participating in delivering or supporting patient care, including those privileged through the medical staff, trainees, students, employees, volunteers.
• Manage staff at multiple hospital locations and maintain high levels of staff engagement and performance to meet department objectives.
• Design and lead integrated relationships with business unit and system physician and administrative leaders to advance quality metrics through front-line documentation efforts; pairing clinical documentation team members with physician and advanced practice providers through rounding initiatives and/or an in-person cadence.
• Partner with Key Stakeholders (as above), Clinical Quality, Coding, Corporate Integrity and Compliance, Value Based Care, Health Information Management (HIM), and other leaders to understand the national quality agenda, the annual system and regional key initiatives, the Inpatient Quality Composite goals, annual employee goals, and other business unit and system improvement initiatives to incorporate such goals and monitoring plans into the annual Clinical Documentation Quality Improvement plan as appropriate. 
• Understand clinical documentation through the lens of local and national quality and ranking methodologies, including but not limited to, U.S News and World Report, Vizient, Leapfrog, the CMS Star Rating, and payer contracts and implement key strategies to teach and deploy the team in the manner necessary to effect change. 
• Implement initiatives to support advancing the work of NM business units and system function goals, as outlined above. 
  • As assigned, assume leadership in advancing these programs and projects at the business unit or system level
• Advance the standard of quality across NM through innovation, learning and shared deployment of best practices.
• Facilitate resolution of issues among key partners and lead complex conversations, as needed, between clinical documentation, coding, care coordination, physicians and/or other leaders to bring closure to issue at hand.
• Design, lead and adhere to the annual Clinical Documentation Plan.
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