WGS Position Description



Washington General Service (WGS)

Position Description

For assistance completing this form, contact your Human Resource Office or see the WGS Position Description Guide and WGS Sample Position Description.

|Position Information |

|Action: Date: 09/02/220 |HR Approved Class Title: |Effective Date: |

|Proposed Class Title: Epidemiologist 3 NM |      |      |

|Current Class Title: |HR Approved Overtime Eligible: |Seasonal/Cyclic: |

|      |Yes No |Yes No |

|Work Schedule: |Position Number/Object Abbreviation: |Salary Range: |

|Full Time Part Time |      |      |

|Position Included in a Bargaining Unit: Yes No |Assignment Pay: |

|If yes, indicate union:       |Dual Language Other       |

|Incumbent’s Name (If filled position): |Address Where Position Is Located: |

|      |      |

|Agency/Division/Unit: |Supervisor’s Name and Title: |

|DCHS/PHOCIS/Informatics |      |

|Supervisor’s Position Number: |Supervisor’s Phone: |

|      |      |

|Position Objective |

|Briefly explain the purpose of the position and how it supports the organization’s mission (attach an organizational chart). |

|The Department of Health’s mission is to work with others to protect and improve the health of all people in Washington State. The Office of Public Health |

|outbreak Coordination, Informatics, and Surveillance (PHOCIS) is responsible for statewide coordination of outbreak response, including for COVID-19, and |

|including the informatics and surveillance capabilities that support notifiable conditions reporting, case and contact investigation, syndromic surveillance, and |

|electronic laboratory reporting (ELR) and electronic case reporting (eCR) of more than 60 of Washington State's approximately 80 notifiable conditions. These |

|responsibilities align directly to Goal 1 of the Agency Strategic Plan (2016-19 Update) that calls to “Protect everyone in Washington from communicable diseases |

|and other health threats.” More specifically, this goal has two relevant objectives: “Improve statewide disease prevention, surveillance, and response systems” |

|and to “Improve operational readiness of public health response resources with emphasis on attending to vulnerable populations.” |

|This Epidemiologist 3 (Public Health Informatics Specialist) position will support, at the advanced level, development, maintenance, operation, enhancement, and |

|configuration of data systems and informatics capabilities to address the needs of the Department of Health and in service to the 35 Local Health Jurisdictions, |

|29 federally-recognized Tribes, and other public health and healthcare sector partners across Washington State. This position contributes to the COVID-19 response|

|mission by supporting necessary informatics and data system capabilities needed to support case and contact investigation, surveillance and reporting, outbreak |

|detection and investigation, and other critical mission areas. |

| |

|Incumbent serves as a senior or lead public health informatics specialist providing advanced public health informatics leadership including policy analysis and |

|scientific and technical skills in public health informatics. This position performs advanced, highly complex, varied tasks associated with public health |

|informatics responsibilities such as planning, policy development, system analysis, communication, project management, system development, implementation, and |

|evaluation, as well as maintenance, training, and other management functions related to public health informatics within a program, division, and agency. |

| |

|This work supports DOH’s Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) grant with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). |

|Assigned Work Activities (Duties and Tasks) |

|Describe the duties and tasks, and underline the essential functions. Assign a percentage of time to each duty. Task statements should describe the action |

|performed; to whom or what; using what tools, equipment, methods, and/or processes; and the final product or outcome. |

| |

|For more guidance, see the Essential Functions Guide and Examples of Work Statements. |

|% of time |List the assigned work in order of importance, with essential functions underlined. |

|(Must total 100%) | |

|50% |Duty: Leads or participates as an expert in the procurement, design, development, implementation, evaluation, management, and continuous|

| |improvement of public health information systems in partnership with program areas, information technology staff, and technology |

| |vendors. |

| |Tasks include: |

| |Leads or participates as an expert in the design and implementation of public health information systems and programs |

| |Plans and oversees the implementation, development, and maintenance of one or more health information systems |

| |Develops or oversees development of use cases, business process documentation, workflow analyses for information system development, and|

| |manages resources for assigned areas of public health practice |

| |Leads engagement with stakeholders to assess, manage, and communicate changes that are direct and indirect results of public health |

| |informatics activities |

| |Consults as an expert and provides training to public health informatics system users and stakeholders |

| |Evaluates system usage and function, identifies barriers, and independently proposes solutions |

| |Documents work processes, data attributes, and system attributes |

| |Disseminates scientific and public health information through writing, editing, and submitting reports and articles to internal and |

| |scientific publications, and the presentation of seminars, conferences, and lectures, and in a variety of training, educational and |

| |scientific settings including State and national meetings; engages in teaching and training of health professionals; prepares public |

| |health education materials and gives presentations, advice, and information to constituent groups including broadcast and print media, |

| |and the general public;  |

| |Collaborates with a broad spectrum of public health constituents and participants including federal, state, and local public health |

| |officials, as well as government officials, private individuals, and senior researchers in academic settings;    |

| |May, but not necessarily, supervise the work of lower level epidemiologists |

|30% |Duty: Manages and analyzes public health data, including data quality assurance and improvement |

| |Tasks include: |

| |Administers program-specific data set(s) on a day to day basis, including responsibilities related to data quality evaluation and |

| |improvement |

| |Analyzes and interprets data for reports and presentations, and makes recommendations based on analyses |

| |Performs moderately complex statistical analysis including ad-hoc analysis, data mining, extraction and transformation, processing of |

| |complex data sets, and creates analytic datasets |

|10% |Duty: Provides public health informatics knowledge and data set or system specific knowledge to program areas |

| |Tasks include: |

| |Provides public health informatics knowledge related to data management, analysis and reporting, and recommendations related to public |

| |health data |

| |Provides analytic support and public health informatics knowledge to support program teams in the areas of data analysis, protocols, |

| |technical presentation and documentation, and response to informatics inquiries |

|5% |Duty: Conducts public health emergency preparedness ad response epidemiologic and informatics activities |

| |Tasks include: |

| |Participates in communicable disease epidemiology preparedness exercises and training. |

| |Provides surge capacity for offices within the Division of Disease Control and Health Statistics (DCHS) and other DOH divisions and |

| |offices in responding to public health emergencies |

| |Provide on-site or remote coverage capacity for communicable disease epidemiology task force response, including after hours or weekend |

| |response, or in an on-call capacity as required |

| |Collaborates with the Division of Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR) and other DOH programs on planning and response for public |

| |health emergencies |

|5% |Duty: Performs other duties as assigned |

| |Tasks include: |

| |Provides backup and cross-coverage for other areas within the Informatics Section, other PHOCIS office sections, and other communicable |

| |disease epidemiology and emergency response functions as required. |

| |Conducts or supports special projects or research as needed to study or resolve communicable disease epidemiology, data system, and |

| |informatics issues. |

|Lead Work/Supervisory Responsibilities |

|Lead Position: Yes No | Assigns Work Instructs Work Checks Others’ Work Plans work |

|Supervisory Position: Yes No |Evaluates Performance *Takes Corrective Action *Hires *Terminates |

|If yes, list each direct report below. |(*Has the authority to effectively recommend these actions.) |

|Class Title of Direct Report(s) |No. of Positions|Work Schedule |

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|Add information that clarifies this position’s lead or supervisory responsibilities: |

|      |

|Working Relationships |

|Level of Supervision received (check one): For more guidance see: Glossary of Classification Terms. |

| Direct/Close Supervision: Most work is reviewed in progress and upon completion. |

|General Supervision: Completed work is spot checked. |

|General Direction: Completed work is reviewed for effectiveness and expected results. |

|Administrative Direction: Completed work is reviewed for compliance with budget, policies, laws, and program goals. |

|Add information that clarifies this position’s interactions with others to accomplish work: |

| |

|Continuity of Operations Plans (COOP) Designation – For Disaster or Emergency Recovery |

|For more information see: COOP and Critical Positions. |

|Is this position critical based on agency COOP? Yes No |

|If yes, describe how the position supports the agency COOP Critical Functions: |

|      |

|Working Conditions |

|Work Setting, including hazards: |The position is located at the Public Health Laboratories in Shoreline, WA or partially telecommutes from a home |

| |work environment. Work is performed almost exclusively indoors in an office or home environment. Exposure to |

| |hazards is limited to those commonly found in government or home office environments. The work setting may involve|

| |telecommuting from a home or other approved off-site location. |

|Schedule (i.e., hours and days): |Standard business hours are 40 hours/week: Monday – Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., but the incumbent may be |

| |expected to adjust the work schedule to meet business needs. A flexible work schedule will be considered at the |

| |incumbent’s request, subject to supervisory approval. |

|Travel Requirements: |Some travel is required, and is typically local or regional, to meet with clients, conduct business, or attend or |

| |provide training. |

|Tools and Equipment: |Duties require the use of standard office furniture and equipment (e.g., desk, filing cabinet, computer, printer, |

| |telephone, fax machine, copy machine, etc.) |

|Customer Interactions: |Frequent contact (likely daily) with clients, both internal and external to the Department of Health |

|Other: |      |

|Qualifications |

|List the education, experience, licenses, certifications, and competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors). |

|Required Qualifications: |

|Education and/or experience: |

|Bachelor’s degree in Health Informatics, Public Health, Science, Epidemiology, Public Policy or Health Policy, Health Services Research, Health Information |

|Sciences, Computer Science, or closely related field AND six (6) years of professional experience in a healthcare or public health setting with health informatics|

|responsibilities that include conducting and/or supporting informatics projects including scientific investigations information architecture management, and |

|implementing data and information standards; OR, |

|Master’s degree or higher from an accredited graduate school with a focus in public health, public health informatics, health care informatics, information |

|technology, computer science, information science, public policy or health policy, statistics or related field AND four (4) years of professional experience in a |

|healthcare or public health setting with health informatics responsibilities that include conducting and/or supporting informatics projects including scientific |

|investigations, information architecture management, and implementing data and information standards, OR, |

|Doctoral-level degree such as PhD of Informatics, Doctor of Public Health (Dr.PH.), Doctor of Health Science (D.H.Sc.), Ph.D. Management Information Systems and |

|Technology, Ph.D Computer Science or closely related field AND two (2) years of experience doing senior-level public health informatics work; OR, |

|An equivalent combination of education, professional experience, and lived experience |

| |

|AND |

| |

|Familiarity with: |

|Public health, disease surveillance, healthcare informatics/surveillance systems and epidemiologic practices |

|Strategies for achieving effective data acquisition, management, quality, storage, use, and application to address clinical care and population health needs |

|Data communications security and privacy techniques; legal and ethical issues regarding confidentiality and use of individually identifiable public health and |

|medical record data. |

| |

|Skills to: |

|Convey complex information effectively using oral and written communication. |

|Interpret and evaluate information to analyze, summarize, and prepare reports |

|Ability to: |

|Plan, organize, and prioritize projects, time, and workload assignments for a variety of informatics/surveillance projects. |

|Interpret and analyze medical, health and other data obtained from a variety of sources. |

|Manage multiple projects in a fast-paced and high pressure environment. |

|Preferred/Desired Qualifications: |

|Experience: |

|Additional years of professional experience in public health practice or in a healthcare setting, with health informatics or program responsibilities that include|

|conducting and/or supporting informatics projects including scientific investigations, information architecture management, complex data cleaning and analysis |

|projects, and implementing data and information standards |

|Demonstrated experience with: |

|Maintenance and enhancement of the Maven application |

|Working in a hospital, clinic, laboratory or other clinical setting |

|Working with the Rhapsody integration engine |

|Health Level 7 (HL7) standards such as (ELR, v2, eICR, CCD, etc) |

|Relational database management including writing Structured Query Language (SQL) queries |

|Computer programming and statistical analysis languages such as Python, JavaScript, SAS, and R |

| |

|Knowledge of: |

|Public health, disease surveillance, healthcare informatics/surveillance systems and epidemiologic practices |

|Health information vocabularies and data standards (e.g. HL7, ICD, LOINC and SNOMED codes) |

|Data modeling and the design of data systems |

|Information technology project management practices including Agile |

|Business and/or technical requirement documentation for information system development and enhancement |

|Electronic health record (EHR) and/or laboratory information management systems (LIMS) |

| |

|Skills and abilities to: |

|Perform statistical analyses, data cleaning, data wrangling, and similar tasks using R, SAS, or STATA |

|Provide technical assistance to achieve statewide program goals and objectives, health information exchange, data linking and system integration |

|Engage with diverse audiences and multiple stakeholders and assess information needs; and collaborate across agencies and programs to meet shared goals |

|Develop instruments and methodologies for an integrated public health surveillance system such as aberration detection algorithms, data mining programs, and for |

|matching and duplication of individual records when integrating different databases |

|Leverage visualization and BI reporting tools such as Power BI |

|Special Requirements/Conditions of Employment |

|List special requirements or conditions of employment beyond the qualifications above. |

|      |

|In-Training Plan, If Applicable |

|      |

|Acknowledgement of Position Description |

|The signatures below indicate that the job duties as defined above are an accurate reflection of the work performed by this position. |

|Date: |Supervisor’s Signature (required): |

|      |      |

|Date: |Appointing Authority’s Name and Title: |Signature (required): |

|      |      |      |

|As the incumbent in this position, I have received a copy of this position description. |

|Date: |Employee’s Signature: |

|      |      |

Position details and related action have been taken by Human Resources as reflected below.

|For Human Resource/Payroll Office Use Only |

|Approved Class Title: |Class Code: |Salary Range: |Effective Date: |

|      |      |      |      |

|Pay Scale Type: |Job Analysis On File? |Position Type (Employee Group): |EEO Category: |

| |Yes No | | |

|Employee Sub-Group: |Position Retirement Eligible: |Position is: |Workers Comp. Code: |

| |Yes No |Funded Non-Funded | |

|County Code: |Business Area: |Personnel Area (FEIN): |

|      |      |      |

|Position Eligible for Telework |Position Eligible for Flextime |

|Yes No |Yes No |

|Position Eligible for Compressed Workweek |Unique Facility Identifier (UFI) |

|Yes No |For more information see: UFI Search Feature |

| |      |

|Cost Center Codes |

|COST CENTER |PCT. (%) |FUND |FUNCTIONAL AREA |

|Date: |Budget Designee’s Name: |Budget Designee’s Title: |Budget Designee’s Signature: |

|      |      |      |      |

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