The bereavement clinical consultant is a hospice-trained interdisciplinary group (IDG) member responsible for leading the planning, development, integration, and oversight of bereavement programs across a defined service area. This role provides coordinated bereavement support to patients, families, caregivers, and partner facilities affiliated with the hospice program, ensuring services are compassionate, culturally responsive, and in compliance with federal, state, local, and The Joint Commission (TJC) regulations.

This role will oversee hospice bereavement services in the Valleys and LA Metro services areas, and oversee/lead designated regional projects, providing leadership to interdisciplinary facilitators across spiritual care, social work, volunteer services, and clerical staff. The role ensures services align with individualized plans of care, include pre-bereavement support when indicated, and provide follow-up for at least one year after a patient-s death. The consultant will collaborate with regional peers to standardize and expand bereavement practices, including outreach (mailings, home visits, phone calls), support groups, memorial programs, and culturally responsive services. Responsibilities include developing new programs; educating and orienting staff, contractors, and volunteers; ensuring effective assessment, documentation, assignment, and care coordination; and identifying individuals at elevated bereavement risk. Additional duties include maintaining accurate clinical documentation, extending bereavement services to skilled nursing and residential care settings, and participating in regional quality improvement, CAHPS, patient satisfaction, and strategic initiatives.

Serves as consultant to ensure the alignment, buy-in, and coordination of diverse stakeholders to drive successful initiatives and projects within clinical settings across one or more technical areas or workstreams. Provides insight and supports the development and implementation of clinical initiatives, systems, and/or processes to a desired future state. Contributes to clinical or care delivery strategy and supports organizational alignment and prioritization of clinical initiatives with management team sponsors; defining, developing, and evaluating performance metrics. Manages complex projects or project components, participates in and may lead change management activities, and performs data analyses in support of care delivery or clinical initiatives. Supports vendor management as required. Monitors compliance of work activities by ensuring project plans and team members adhere to relevant policies and procedures.

• Promotes learning in others by proactively providing and/or developing information, resources, advice, and expertise with coworkers and members; builds relationships with cross-functional/external stakeholders and customers. Listens to, seeks, and addresses performance feedback; proactively provides actionable feedback to others and to managers. Pursues self-development; creates and executes plans to capitalize on strengths and develop weaknesses; leads by influencing others through technical explanations and examples and provides options and recommendations. Adopts new responsibilities; adapts to and learns from change, challenges, and feedback; demonstrates flexibility in approaches to work; champions change and helps others adapt to new tasks and processes. Facilitates team collaboration to support a business outcome.
• Completes work assignments autonomously and supports business-specific projects by applying expertise in subject area and business knowledge to generate creative solutions; encourages team members to adapt to and follow all procedures and policies. Collaborates cross-functionally and/or externally to achieve effective business decisions; provides recommendations and solves complex problems; escalates high-priority issues or risks, as appropriate; monitors progress and results. Supports the development of work plans to meet business priorities and deadlines; identifies resources to accomplish priorities and deadlines. Identifies, speaks up, and capitalizes on improvement opportunities across teams; uses influence to guide others and engages stakeholders to achieve appropriate solutions.
• Serves as a consultant to ensure the alignment, buy-in, and coordination of diverse stakeholders to drive successful initiatives and projects within care delivery or clinical settings across one or more technical areas or workstreams by making significant contributions and/or providing leadership to high visibility projects to identify and resolve issues of strategic importance to the organization; identifying and ensuring representation and inclusion of appropriate stakeholders and team members; building rapport and partnerships with stakeholder teams, third party vendors, and senior management to produce results that are outcome driven; working with stakeholders to develop goals and set the prioritization of deliverables; discussing involvement of key processes (e.g. quality management, project change management, communication) and facilitating decisions necessary for the delivery of initiatives; communicating tough issues to stakeholders while maintaining an independent perspective; developing written materials for senior management, executives and other key clients; and making formal presentations and providing reports to various senior level audiences.
• Develops requirements for complex clinical, process, or system solutions within assigned technical area(s) by interfacing stakeholders and cross-functional teams as appropriate; leveraging multiple requirements gathering methodologies to identify clinical, functional, and non-functional requirements; developing and documenting comprehensive case studies to assess the costs, benefits, and ROI of proposed solutions; collaborating in the development of results-driven action plans; and leading team members in the development process as appropriate.
• Provides insight and supports the development and implementation of clinical initiatives, systems, and/or processes to a desired future state by maintaining a comprehensive understanding of how current processes impact clinical operations across one or more technical areas; mapping current state against future state processes; identifying the operational impact of requirements on upstream and downstream solution components; providing options and recommendations to management and clinical stakeholders on how to integrate solutions and deliverables with current systems and processes across regions or technical areas; and identifying and validating value gaps and opportunities for process enhancements or efficiencies.
• Contributes to clinical or care delivery strategy and supports organizational alignment and prioritization of clinical initiatives by developing and determining goals and priorities with management team sponsors; defining, developing, and evaluating performance metrics, standards, and methods to establish success; collaborating with multiple stakeholders, often with competing/conflicting objectives, to ensure cohesive and reachable metrics; refining strategic plans and performance metrics as appropriate; and/or managing assigned initiatives or portfolio to ensure delivery of measurable results and alignment with strategic objectives.
• Serves as an advocate of continuous learning and professional development by keeping abreast of industry practices, standards, and benchmarks; attending and participating in roadshows, conferences, and speaking events; contributing to the ongoing enhancement and innovation of clinical consulting practices, standards, and methods across KP; serving as an advocate to ensure continuous learning and improvement is championed as a people strategy; providing training and guidance to stakeholders as appropriate; and providing ongoing coaching to build a continuous improvement mindset and build capabilities that drive results.
• Manages complex projects or project components by coordinating stakeholder contacts; recommending or assigning team resources based on project needs and team member strengths; consulting in the development, analysis, and management of project plans, including proposed project structure, approach and work plan; negotiating time commitments and resources; coordinating project schedules and resource forecasts; proactively monitoring and identifying project or clinical initiative risks, issues, and trigger events; developing mitigation plans and strategies; resolving or escalating risks or issues as appropriate; and providing leadership to project teams, as well as managing the work of outside consultants when needed.
• Participates in and may lead change management activities associated with care delivery or clinical initiatives by engaging stakeholders to obtain support and buy in for changes; partnering with management, project champions, and clinical owners to communicate and align improvement initiatives with strategic objectives; identifying appropriate change management method and approach; and ensuring stakeholders embrace a change management mindset, understand intent and purpose, and foster a culture of change.
• Performs data analyses to support care delivery or clinical initiatives by identifying appropriate data analysis tools and approach to assess performance; designing analytic plans and determining suitable data gathering and analysis methods (e.g., process observation, hard data, etc.); defining data requirements and obtaining customer agreements, including customer requirements as appropriate; conducting analyses and performing experimental tests to evaluate the effectiveness of clinical solutions; identifying and alleviating risks through data-driven analysis; and preparing and sharing data/analysis summaries and incorporating into action plans as appropriate.
• Supports vendor management as required by assisting with reviews of vendor performance levels; ensuring service level agreements are met; managing vendor invoices; and partnering with Procurement and/or Legal to develop service level and/or scope of work agreements as appropriate.
• Monitors compliance of work activities by ensuring project plans and team members adhere to KP, departmental, and/or clinical policies and procedures.