Clinical Quality Advisor, NCDR Clinical Support

The NCDR Clinical Support Associate is responsible for providing clinically based education, communication, and support to all NCDR stakeholders ensuring timely responses to all quality improvement, clinical, and scientific inquiries related to the NCDR's registries. The NCDR Clinical Support Associate is actively involved in collaborating on all aspects of product education, development, and maintenance of the ACC's NCDR clinical product line. This includes a wide range of major duties and core responsibilities requiring autonomy.

Responsibilities

The NCDR Clinical Support Associate actively participates in, leads, develops, and maintains a high-level performance responsibility for clinical registry operations to include the following stakeholders:   NCDR external participants, ACC internal stakeholders, cross-team stakeholders, as well as critical quality assurance review and open comment for all NCDR registry products.

Core External Participant Support

Critical thinking, analysis of clinical situations, and the provision of guideline-based directives are essential for the role of the CQA. The role requires daily interactions that demand a high-performance customer service skill set. With an expert-level understanding of NCDR's products and services, this position provides advice to all requests for information from participant clients including:

• Clinical interpretation of core data definitions.
• Technical support for coding and editing specifications.
• Maintenance of expertise in processes such as data submission, quality reporting, and threshold monitoring.
• Compliance with external regulatory requirements.
• Maintenance of expert level skills for Institutional Executive Summary and Metric interpretation.
• Maintenance of expert level skills for Comparative Dynamic Dashboard interpretation.
• Develop and lead bi-monthly registry webinars.
• Develop and maintain bi-monthly educational case scenarios for publications in ACC’s QII Learning Center.
• Manage educational knowledge databases, including new, edited, and retired content, to provide coding directives.

Core Internal Responsibilities

Skillful collaboration and maintenance of cross-team relationships are critical in this role to ensure accurate, consistent, valuable, and enduring product quality and interpretation.

• Develop, maintain, and deliver educational content related to new registries, existing registry version upgrades, and/or new or updated functionalities.
• Continued cross-team training and self-directed learning to resource as an expert for a minimum of two assigned NCDR registries.
• Research, document, review, and report all issues related to registry metrics, AUC, data definitions, or unique clinical scenarios that influence the validity and accuracy of registry data integrity.
• Maintain status reporting of key performance indicators and clearly, routinely communicate to NCDR leadership, team members, ACC staff, or other stakeholders as identified.

Core Cross-Team Responsibilities

The CQA collaborates closely with NCDR Product Managers, Science and Implementation Team members, NCDR audit team members, and ACC IT team members to ensure the successful development, implementation, and updates of all registry products and functionalities.

• Cross-registry reference document review to ensure consistency and accuracy across all registries.
• Participate in Metric algorithm development and troubleshoot algorithms as needed.
• Participate in User Acceptance Testing (UAT) for new registry products including State and Corporate Dashboards.
• User Acceptance Testing (UAT) for all aspects of IT team-generated registry products, functionalities, or metrics targeted to NCDR external end users.
• User Acceptance Testing (UAT) for all aspects of the Science and Implementation team generated registry products, functionalities, or metrics targeted to NCDR external end users.
• Develop and lead Quality Summit faculty presentations as needed.
• Creation and maintenance of content for NCDR’s QII Learning Center.

Core Quality Assurance Responsibilities

The data quality program requires a collaborative effort to ensure accurate and reliable data collection. As part of this effort, the CQA's role is to provide input, consultation, and feedback to the Data Quality Program Manager during the audit variable selection process. Additionally, the CQA prepares training materials and slide decks for auditor training annually, participates in auditor data collection tool review to verify correct logic and functionality, delivers training of selected audit variables to a designated team of auditors, and performs audit adjudication for facilities.

Audit management responsibilities include:

• Provide input, consultation, and feedback to the Data Quality Program Manager during audit variable selection as needed.
• Prepare training materials and slide decks for auditor training annually.
• Participate in auditor data collection tool review and verify correct logic and functionality.
• Deliver training on selected audit variables to a designated team of auditors.
• Respond to auditor requests for clarification of data definitions.
• Participate in Data Quality Program-led sessions to review audit appeals, the number of sites, and access to specific reports.
• Perform audit adjudication of registry variables.
• Maintain expertise and educate NCDR participants to Quality Check processes.
• Maintain expertise and educate NCDR participants to Data Quality Report processes.

Core Requirements

• Maintain proficiency and accuracy in NCDR’s client database, Salesforce.com.  Ensure adherence to all HIPAA requirements and confidentiality requirements in all aspects of this position.
• Participate in internal Clinical Quality Advisor quality monitoring according to established policy to ensure consistency, accuracy, and oversight of registry expert status.
• Staff and support committees as assigned.
• Maintain CQA level registry expertise in a minimum of 2 NCDR registry products.
• Other duties as assigned by the Team Leader, NCDR Clinical Registry Operations.

Qualifications

• Degree and technical expertise in a clinical field such as cardiovascular nursing or cardiovascular technology.
• Experience in the field of data quality and clinical cardiology registry services is preferred. A minimum of 3 years.
• Core understanding of cardiovascular anatomy, physiology, and treatment modalities is preferred.
• Core critical thinking skills such as analysis, interpretation, inference, evaluation, explanation, and self-reflection are required.
• Excellent interpersonal skills as well as verbal and written communication skills are required.
• Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively to produce timely and quality outputs.
• Familiarity and experience with HIPAA-related education and management.
• Demonstrate adaptability and flexibility and the ability to work in a dynamic, team-oriented environment.

Desired:

• Practical experience with knowledge of customer relationship management technologies, specifically, Salesforce.
• Knowledge of process improvement methodologies.
• Demonstrated proficiency with Microsoft office software specifically, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Experience and familiarity with project management processes.
• Experience in education or skills in presenting content through demonstration.

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