Quality improvement specialist (salaried, full time)

Job Details:

Job Location: Washington Regional Med. Ctr. - Fayetteville, AR

Position Type: Full Time

Education Level: Licensed in related field

Salary Range: Undisclosed

Job Shift: Days

Job Category: Quality

Organization Overview

Mission, Vision, and Values

Our mission is to improve the health of people in the communities we serve through compassionate, high-quality care, prevention, and wellness education. Washington Regional Medical System is a community-owned, locally governed, non-profit health care system located in Northwest Arkansas in the heart of Fayetteville, which is consistently ranked among the Best Places to live in the country. Our 425-bed medical center has been named the #1 hospital in Arkansas for six consecutive years by U.S. News & World Report. We employ 3,200+ team members and serve the region with over 40 clinic locations, the region’s only Level II trauma center, and five Centers of Excellence - the Washington Regional J.B. Hunt Transport Services Neuroscience Institute; Washington Regional Walker Heart Institute; Washington Regional Women and Infants Center; Washington Regional Total Joint Center; and Washington Regional Pat Walker Center for Seniors.

Position Summary

The Quality Improvement Specialist reports to the Director, Quality & Research and supports system-wide initiatives designed to improve quality, clinical performance, and healthcare outcomes. This position uses quality data, clinical databases, evidence-based practices, and performance improvement methods to identify opportunities, develop and implement improvement strategies, and evaluate results. The Specialist partners with providers, leaders, and interdisciplinary teams to translate findings into sustainable improvements that directly support patient care.

Essential Position Responsibilities

• Identify, develop, and implement evidence-based strategies to enhance clinical quality, healthcare outcomes, patient experience, and care delivery across the health system.
• Collaborate with physicians, advanced practice providers, nursing leaders, and interdisciplinary teams to evaluate performance and improve outcomes across the full scope of organizational quality priorities.
• Leverage clinical, operational, regulatory, and benchmarking databases to identify trends, variation, risk, and opportunities that can directly improve patient care.
• Translate complex data into meaningful findings, dashboards, scorecards, and actionable recommendations for providers, departments, quality committees, and organizational leadership.
• Partner with appropriate clinical services and support departments to design, implement, monitor, and sustain quality improvement initiatives.
• Facilitate structured improvement efforts using established methodologies, including problem definition, baseline assessment, root cause identification, intervention planning, measurement, and evaluation.
• Monitor outcome, process, and balancing measures to assess effectiveness, identify barriers, and recommend adjustments that improve performance and sustainability.
• Support the development of standardized workflows, clinical practices, education, and tools that reduce variation and promote reliable, high-quality care.
• Provide consultation, data support, and improvement expertise to quality committees, service lines, departments, and project teams.
• Maintain current knowledge of quality improvement science, evidence-based practices, healthcare quality measures, and applicable regulatory and accreditation expectations.

Qualifications

Education: Must be a graduate of an accredited nursing program

Licensure and Certifications: RN license, required. CPHQ and/or CPPS, preferred.

Experience: Minimum of 2 years’ of clinical experience, required. Minimum 2 years’ experience in Quality Assurance, Risk, Infection Control, Clinical Audit, or Utilization will be considered in lieu of clinical experience.

Work Environment: This position will spend 80% of time sitting while performing work in a standard office environment. This position will spend 20% of time standing and/or walking while pushing, pulling, lifting, and/or carrying up to 50 lbs.

Notice: This job description is designed to provide an overview of the essential and principal duties and responsibilities of the position. The job description is not designed or intended to cover or set forth a comprehensive listing of all activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Washington Regional reserves the right in its absolute discretion to change duties, responsibilities or activities or assign new duties, responsibilities, or activities at any time with or without notice. Employees may be directed to perform job-related tasks other than those specifically presented in this description.