The National Rural Health Resource Center (The Center) provides technical assistance, information, tools, and resources for the improvement of rural health. Our work is pivotal to the health of rural Americans and plays a significant role in keeping small rural hospitals open.
At The Center, we are more than just a workplace; we're a hub of innovation and a force of forward-thinkers, we are a mission-driven. We are seeking a Program Specialist to join our team. This full-time, exempt, salaried position is remote, requires frequent travel to rural communities, and includes a comprehensive benefits package. Standard work hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central.
The Program Specialist provides education, information, and technical assistance to strengthen rural health care systems. This role is responsible for planning, implementing, and managing projects within their program area and offers an opportunity to make a meaningful impact on rural health.
Qualified candidates should have at least four years of experience in health care management, public health, business or public administration, research, or a related area. Knowledge of rural health issues, hospital or health system development, and quality improvement is preferred. Candidates must demonstrate strong organizational, communication, presentation, facilitation, relationship-building, and decision-making skills; experience working both collaboratively and independently; and proficiency with remote work technologies, including Microsoft Office, Teams, Zoom, or similar platforms.
Essential Job Functions
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Provide direct assistance to the Program Manager/Director and the team to support day-to-day Center and Program activities.
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Apply project management skills to effectively manage multiple activities simultaneously.
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Serve as point of contact for assigned federal, state and local government and community partners, health care leaders, community champions and/or community partners and rural health organizations and provide excellent customer care services by guiding rural health leaders, community champions, and/or community partners through Program processes and activities to fulfill Program goal areas.
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Work autonomously, and with team and/or consultants, to plan, develop, and deliver virtual and onsite (in-person) services, education, and implementation technical assistance to federal, state and local government and community partners, health care leaders, community champions and/or community partners on topics such as community engagement, community care coordination, telehealth, financial performance, operational efficiency, quality improvement, emergency medical services and other areas impacting health care services such as value based care and population health readiness.
- Develop and facilitate virtual and onsite meetings, community events, consultations, webinars, and/or workshops with federal, state and local government and community partners, health care leaders, community champions and/or community partners to assess needs, report findings, define strategic priorities and develop action plans that support implementation of action plans.
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Coordinate technical assistance services independently, and in collaboration with the team, to ensure a productive, efficient team environment.
- Promote available resources and tools to federal, state and local government and community partners, health care leaders, community champions and/or community partners to build capacity at the local level.
- Build knowledge of rural health topics to gain greater understanding of barriers and innovative models to guide federal, state and local government and community partners, health care leaders, community champions and/or community partners in addressing challenges to successfully develop, implement, and sustain action plans and/or improve rural health care.
- Write various program reports and briefs, proofread, and edit documents for accuracy, complete updates in Salesforce independently and in collaboration with the team.
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Fulfill evaluation requirements such as collecting best practices from federal, state and local government and community partners, health care leaders, community champions and/or community partners; track and document observed trends, outputs, and outcomes impacting of services, perform assessments, and complete reporting requirements.
- Develop presentations, templates, tools, and training resources independently and in collaboration with the team to meet Program needs and support federal, state and local government and community partners, health care leaders, community champions and/or community partners with internal capacity building.
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Conduct regular communications with federal, state and local government and community partners, health care leaders, community champions and/or community partners, and/or consultants using multiple modes of communications including face-to-face meetings, phone conversations, remote presentation technology on a one-to-one basis and through group discussions.
- Participate in Center Teams, Workgroups, and Committees to support Center operations.
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Participate in, and present at, in-person organizational team meetings such as Center’s annual staff meeting, Program workshops, and summits, as well as other in-person state and national rural health conferences, and other virtual meetings as assigned.
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Travel nationally including direct and multi-city flights, with overnight stays, and driving to rural communities up to 50% of work time.
- Identify and participate in performance improvement opportunities within the team and with federal, state and local government and community partners, health care leaders, community champions and/or community partners, grantees and sites.
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Perform other regular and ad hoc duties as assigned to support The Center’s operations and/or the Program’s services.
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Travel up to 50% including direct and multi-city flights, overnight stays, and driving through rural communities.
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Other duties as assigned.
Program/Team Specific Essential Functions
TASC/SHIP
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Serve as point of contact for State Offices of Rural Health, state hospital associations, rural health policy makers, and health care providers and provide excellent customer care services by guiding rural health leaders, community champions, and/or community partners through Program processes and activities to fulfil Program goal areas.
RHPTP
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Provide virtual and onsite technical assistance for small rural hospitals and clinics, to support implementation of financial, operational and quality improvement best practice recommendations and action plans on topics such as patient safety, coordination of care, patient engagement and experience, and embedding quality processes into operations and other areas impacting the hospital services and VBC and population health readiness.
- Review action plans and perform analyses to support decision-making.
- Seek additional TA opportunities for organizations to support successful implementation of their action plans.
DRCHSD residing in the Mississippi Delta Region (Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee)
Community Engagement (CE)
- Provide virtual and onsite technical assistance for small rural hospitals, clinics, and federally qualified health centers (participating healthcare organizations), as well as their community engagement champions, to support implementation of community engagement best practice recommendations, strategies, and action plans aligned with community priorities.
- Assess participating healthcare organizations’ community collaboration and engagement efforts and local healthcare needs to inform the direction and development of technical assistance services.
- Support healthcare organizations in identifying and hiring community engagement champions.
- Build the communication, leadership, facilitation, collaboration, and outreach/marketing skills of community engagement champions to support healthcare organizations in increasing service utilization, grow patient volume, and reduce bypassing of local services to sustain access to care.
- Develop and deliver education through virtual trainings, question-and-answer (Q&A) sessions, and an annual in-person Champion Bootcamp.
- Facilitate recurring calls with community engagement champions to assess performance and identify additional technical assistance needs.
- Facilitate digital presence audits and search engine optimization projects by coordinating multiple stakeholders.
- Support and track implementation of community engagement best practice recommendations and action plans.
Consultation
- Provide virtual and onsite technical assistance for small rural hospitals, clinics, and federally qualified health centers (FQHC) to support implementation of financial, operational and quality improvement best practice recommendations and action plans on topics such as revenue cycle management, financial performance, operational efficiency and/or quality improvement, business office functionality, billing and coding, physician practice management and other areas impacting the hospital services and VBC and population health readiness.
- Manage and deliver multiple different types of virtual and onsite implementation technical assistance to support performance improvement plans and strategic needs of the rural health care organizations.
- Review action plans and perform analyses support decision-making.
- Work collaboratively with consultants, staff, and HCOs to transition seamlessly from TA that initially begins with the Consultations Team but then morphs into work that is shared (yet owned by) the Service Line Project Management Team.
Outreach and Education
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Provide virtual and onsite technical assistance to support leaders with building of knowledge base to support implementation of action plans.
- Develop and deliver education to include planning and development of virtual trainings (webinars) and onsite workshops such as the annual summit.
- Plan, develop, write, and produce community spotlights, videos, promotional material.
- Direct and facilitate outreach efforts to using multiple modes of communications to rural health leaders, community stakeholders, state, and national partners.
Workforce Development
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Provide virtual and onsite technical assistance to support leaders with implementation of services that address workforce needs.
- Assess workforce and leadership development priorities with rural health leaders to develop technical assistance eservices.
- Promote Delta Regional Authority (DRA) Doctors Program and National Rural Recruitment and Retention Network (3RNet) services to build awareness of resources and assist rural health organizations with recruitment.
- Perform employee and physician engagement assessment (EEA) assessments to include presentation of results to leaders with action planning sessions.
Telehealth
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Provide virtual and onsite technical assistance to support telehealth planning and development and advances implementation and expansion of telehealth services.
- Review plans and perform analyses to support decision-making.
- Work with rural health leaders and/or consultations to develop telehealth action plans that fill gaps in local services and promote telehealth services.
Provide virtual and onsite technical assistance to support health care organizations with their technological needs. This includes Electronic Health Records (EHR), wireless infrastructure, hardware, and software across all departments within the organization. Tasks involve evaluating, implementing and optimizing digital solutions to enhance patient care, streamline workflows and ensure seamless communication between clinical systems.
Required Skills/Abilities:
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Excellent project management skills
- Able to organize and prioritize duties to effectively manage activities.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Excellent customer service skills and detail oriented.
- Able to engage leaders and effectively communicate via various modes of communications.
- Able to work with groups including facilitation, training, and presentation Team leader with strong commitment to performance improvement.
- High degree of proficiency in Microsoft Office and SharePoint Products.
- Open to innovative solutions and approaches.
- Experience working remotely and with Microsoft Office Teams, Zoom Meetings or similar platform.
- Experience working in a team environment.
- Capable of independent decision-making to support planning, development, communication, and execution of program activities.
- Knowledge of rural health issues, health disparities and health equity
Education, Experience and Qualifications
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Bachelor’s degree in health care management or administration, business, public health, health science, health education, or closely related field. Master’s degree in related field preferred. Equivalent work experience may be considered.
- At least four years of experience in health care management or administration, business, public health, health science, health education, community planning and development, telehealth or virtual care, or a related area preferred.
- Valid driver’s license required.
Physical Requirements
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Prolonged periods working on a computer.
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Able to lift up to thirty-five pounds at times.
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Ability to travel, sometimes overnight, to various locations throughout the United States
Our more than 50 employees live across 19 states —many in the rural communities we serve. Employees at The Center enjoy a casual, friendly, and supportive work environment focused on important, innovative work.
Submit letters of application, cover letters, and resumes to this post.
Our employees agree: “Thank you for being such a wonderful place to work!” “Overall, The Center is the best work environment I've experienced, and I appreciate the leadership team's commitment to continuous improvement.” “I love The Center, all that they do for moving health care forward in this country and all that they do for their employees."
EEO Statement The National Rural Health Resource Center is an equal opportunity employer.
Reasonable Accommodation The Center complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and any and all other applicable federal, state, or local laws ensuring equal employment opportunities and prohibits discrimination for qualified individuals with a disability. The Center will make reasonable accommodations for the known physical or mental limitations of an otherwise qualified individual with a disability who is an applicant or an employee unless undue hardship would result.
