Epidemiologist III, Texas HHS

Job Description

The Informatics data exchange epidemiologist provides informatics expertise to the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS) efforts, including electronic lab reporting (ELR), electronic case reporting (eCR), and integration efforts with local health departments not fully utilizing NEDSS. The informatics epi analyzes public health programmatic needs for electronic data exchange with NEDSS and identifies and implements appropriate technical solutions. Using (1) strong analysis and communication skills, (2) a comprehensive understanding of electronic disease surveillance systems, and (3) experience with Health Level 7 (HL7), Orion Health Rhapsody Integration Engine, secure transmission protocols (e.g. Secure File Transfer (SFT) and Secure Object Access Protocol (SOAP), this position will have primary responsibility to identify and resolve exceptions with electronic data exchange between NEDSS, data submitters, and data recipients. Additional responsibilities inclue updating the public health reportable condition mapping tables for the NEDSS, and evaluating and ensuring compliance with the local, state, and federal public health legal and regulatory environment.

Essential Job Functions

• (40%) Work with local health department (LHD) program staff, private and public laboratories, healthcare providers, EHR system vendors, and submitter systems, to inform, educate and ensure that there is a thorough understanding of the business processes and informatics needs. Contribute informatics expertise to systems software configuration and modifications.
• (25%) Investigate and resolve exceptions in the receipt, processing, or transmission of data of public health significance between NEDSS and its partners. Identify enhancements and improvements in the electronic data exchange pathways to assure secure, sustainable, and complete data exchange; and develop and execute plans to implement these modifications.
• (20%) Work in an application support role to include: system modification and upgrade planning, data extractions, and tasks that successfully implement, document and validate modifications and upgrades. Collaborate with the NEDSS technical team and the Information technology team, as needed, to maintain HIPAA-compliant secure transport, and Orion Health Rhapsody Integration Engine. Evaluate and ensure compliance with the local, state, and federal public health legal and regulatory environment. Participate in the analysis and development of a product roadmap of ELR/eCR/NEDSS, including the collection of user requirements, documentation, review, and validation of functional specification documents.
• (10%) Participate in quarterly meetings with the CDC EDX Program team, providing expert evaluation and analysis, present written and verbal reports and analysis of complex technology issues. Attend professional conferences and training classes, as appropriate, to maintain and enhance the current level of service to NEDSS stakeholders.
• (5%) Other duties as assigned include but are not limited to actively participating and/or serving in a supporting role to meet the agency’s obligation for disaster response and/or recovery of Continuity of Operations (COOP) activation. Such participation may require an alternative shift pattern assignment and/or location.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

Knowledge

• Knowledge of the principles and methods of informatics, epidemiology, and related biostatistics; of infectious diseases, and of how causes of disease affect epidemiologic practices.
• Knowledge of LOINC, SNOMED, ICD and other control vocabularies
  Knowledge of software tools that support public health informatics, public health data acquisition, entry, abstraction, management, analysis, and reporting
• Knowledge of medical terminology

Skills 

• Skill in HL7 development and analysis such as using 7-edits, HL7 soup
• Skill in ensuring the utilization of interoperable data standards for storage and transmission
• Skill in HL7 analysis for ELR, entry, abstraction, management, analysis, and reporting.
• Skill in informatics planning and records management of complex data/databases, analyzing and solving problems
• Skill in organizing resources and establishing priorities

Abilities 

• Ability to create informatics processes to maintain electronic documents, including documented versions, dissemination methods, and relevant
• Ability to use informatics knowledge management tools to organize, manipulate, and maintain complex data files
• Ability to create, maintain, and manipulate large, complex relational databases
• Ability to use HL7 and Orion Rhapsody for the exchange, integration, sharing, and retrieval of electronic health information
• Ability to work effectively with regional and local health department personnel, private physicians, hospital staff and laboratory staff to facilitate disease surveillance
• Ability to train external and internal partners
• Ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing
• Ability to design and implement systems necessary to collect, maintain, and analyze data
• Ability to apply technical means (security) to ensure the integrity and protection of confidential information in electronic files and computer systems
• Ability to conduct short-range and long-range project planning studies

How to Apply 

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