Principal Technology Consultant

Support the Health IT Strategy and Policy team in creating, maintaining, and communicating Kaiser Permanente’s health IT related public policy, and be actively engaged and influence national and international health IT standards and policy developments.

The Principal Consultant will work under the direction of an Executive Director and collaboratively with other team members of the Health IT Strategy and Policy Department, as well as Government Relations, Legal, Compliance, and other policy and operational teams to achieve consensus across all Kaiser Permanente regions, markets, functions, programs, and entities to lead the development of Kaiser Permanente’s health IT-related policies in specified domains.

This position is responsible for managing and coordinating the development of Kaiser Permanente’s public policy positions and leading public-private collaborative efforts in health IT on behalf of Kaiser Permanente including state, national and international policy input. This includes providing input and influencing government and industry positions on health IT-related domains including security and identity policies and technologies, privacy, and a broad range of health IT technical standards.

Within KP, the Principal Consultant - Health IT Policy is responsible for initiating and managing strategic initiatives which may involve all Kaiser Permanente regions, functions, and entities to facilitate the adoption and implementation of health IT-related policies, and delivering policy artifacts including white papers, journal articles, public policy positions and strategic policy roadmaps. 

This position collaborates with regional and national leaders from health plan, hospital, medical group, clinical, business, research, legal, compliance, risk management, and IT to help ensure KP health IT policies are adopted and used across the enterprise.

This position will also be responsible for supporting the activities of the KP Health IT Policy Council, a subgroup of the KPPG Health Policy Committee, in formulating, recommending, and communicating KP public policy principles and positions related to health IT.

The scope of these activities includes all areas of health IT, spanning the spectrum from standards and policies for care delivery and devices, to administrative simplification, to information privacy and security, to IT infrastructure, but with particular focus on multiple of the following areas:

•             Standards and policies for health information security, cybersecurity, identity, and privacy

•             Health IT standards relevant to health plan and care delivery operations

•             Standards and policies for interoperability of administrative and financial information for treatment, payment, and health care operations

•             Standards and policies for administrative and clinical data interactions between KP HealthConnect, health plan IT systems including claims, revenue cycle, and  personal health record systems

•             Standards and policies related to health information protections, including those defined by HIPAA, HITECH, Affordable Care Act, and others

•             Health IT standards interaction between clinical, administrative, financial, research and other domains

•             Standards and policies related to national, state, and regional health information exchange

•             Health IT policies related to the collection and use of health information (e.g., All-Payer Claim Databases, registries, health equity programs, population health, public health, or surveillance systems)

•             Health IT compliance requirements and compliance-related risk assessments

•             State, US and international coordination of health IT standards and policies that affect KP systems or operations

Principal Responsibilities:

•             Coordinate and direct the activities of multiple internal (KP program-wide) and external (non-KP) stakeholders in health IT policy development and recommendations.

•             Identify, develop, and recommend KP strategic policy positions on health IT issues and advise senior executives across all KP regions, functions, programs and entities on the adoption and implementation of policy positions related to health IT standards, architecture, clinical models, information privacy and information exchanges

•             Create, manage, and coordinate connections and communications between KP’s national and regional health IT policy and policy-related technical requirements efforts, KP’s involvement in health IT standards, trade groups, and industry forums relevant to health IT

•             Analyze highly complex proposed health IT-related national and state legislation, laws and regulation related to health IT, and develop KP responses in collaboration with leaders across KP regions, markets, functions, and entities

•             Consult with internal stakeholders regarding the potential impact or interpretation of proposed or existing health IT policies

•             Represent KP in public policy forums related to health IT, including preparing and/or delivering testimony, presentations, participation in committees, as well as standards development organizations and other collaborative efforts

•             Review and assess new health IT standards and technologies, and new applications of technology in health care for possible use, development and/or influence by KP

•             Coordinate within KPIT across leadership, IT portfolios, and functions to communicate strategic direction and identify IT impact of strategies and policies.

Basic Qualifications:

•             Bachelor’s degree in a related field and/or 4 years of equivalent experience.

•             A minimum of 15 years of experience in technology consulting including research, synthesis, development, monitoring of technologies and consulting with management regarding recommended technology directions, maintenance, and dissemination of standards.

Preferred Qualifications:

•             Master's or doctoral graduate degree either in information systems, bioinformatics, or a related field such as nursing, genetics or public health, or the equivalent experience including a record of over 12 years of relevant IT consulting experience.

•             5 years relevant experience related to health IT standards, architecture, health information modeling, information privacy, or health information exchanges

•             10 years of progressive, applicable policy analysis experience which may include postgraduate studies or other academic work, and authorship of relevant published materials

•             Previous experience in similar policy analyst positions at health care provider or payer organizations covering areas such as regulatory rulemaking or health care standards regulations, or government policy staff working experience.

•             Must have demonstrated ability to effectively communicate and facilitate projects with diverse stakeholders across multiple geographic jurisdictions, different business models and industry sectors.

•             Demonstrated accomplishments to achieve recognition as a known figure in one or more health IT domains.

•             Demonstrated subject matter knowledge and understanding in a wide range of current health information technologies.

•             The ability to manage multiple competing priorities simultaneously, with conflicting short deadlines and while remaining highly visible in an open public setting, is expected.

•             Demonstrated skills and ability to manage complex, multidisciplinary, collaborative working groups in both policy and technical matters related to health IT.  Desirable negotiation skills may include but are not limited to large scale licensing or other complex contracts, accredited standards development, regulatory and/or compliance experience

•             Demonstrated experience independently managing organizational finances and human resource processes.