Informatician I/Informatics Epidemiologist I (Job Id 20835)
Job ID: 20835
Agency: Department of Health - Division of Epidemiology
Location: Pierre. The location of the position is negotiable.
Salary: $61,857.82 - $65,496.51 annually, depending on experience
Pay Grade: GK
Closing Date: 11/22/2022
The South Dakota Department of Health’s programs and services help prevent illness and injury; promote healthy places to live, work, and play; provide education to help people make good health decisions; prepare for, respond to, and prevent public health threats; and support efforts to enhance quality and accessibility of healthcare. Our services touch the lives of every person in the state of South Dakota.
We recognize that employees are our most valuable resource and we are committed to promoting a culture of excellence in DOH. We trust our employees to be innovative, challenge existing processes, and make the best decisions. We are interested in employing a diverse and skilled workforce that exhibits the values of leadership, accountability, communication, integrity, and teamwork. Public health is a diverse and growing field that offers many career options for people from a variety of educational backgrounds. Imagine yourself as part of a winning team that is making the lives of South Dakotans healthier and safer.
Please visit our website at http://doh.sd.gov/ for further information about the Department of Health.
The Public Health Informatician is responsible for maintaining and enhancing the electronic disease surveillance system and providing support to identify, implement, and maintain software solutions for programs. The position is situated in the DOH Epidemiology, Surveillance, and Informatics Center (ESIC). The mission of ESIC is to improve the health and well-being of South Dakotans by monitoring disease, creating awareness with data, and collaborating with health partners.
Primary duties of the Informatics Epidemiologist I include, but are not limited to:
- managing the electronic disease surveillance system by identifying and implementing changes to system models and surveys; monitoring daily processes to support disease surveillance tools and systems; and understanding user needs by modeling the information flow, access, and retention needs of programs;
- leading public health informatics planning for projects by working with program staff to design information systems to meet user needs, applying informatics principles and strategic thinking to the design and maintenance of new and existing systems, anticipating the impact that new or modified software will have on existing standards and systems, workforce, and public health programs and make recommendations for solutions; applying the software development life cycle framework when planning or executing projects and evaluate effectiveness after implementing a project; and using informatics standards in all projects and systems where relevant standards exist;
- creating support materials and documentation for each project to enable user access by developing and implementing test plans for each project based on requirements;
- assisting in identifying solutions for information access (e.g., identify, maintain, and develop data repositories, support visual display of information, track system changes over time, and identify legal/confidentiality/security concerns that affect information collection, storage, and access);
- implementing interoperability activities and projects by collaborating with key stakeholders (program, IT, and informatics staff) and systems (e.g., lab system, immunization system, vital records system, and health information exchange);
- providing technical support and troubleshoots problems reported by users of the electronic disease surveillance system;
- monitoring quality and integrity of data received, stored, or transmitted in the electronic disease surveillance system (e.g., monitor incoming HL7 messages for electronic laboratory reporting, electronic case reporting, and syndromic surveillance);
- participating in weekly informatics staff meetings and other meetings with program staff to review system or project activities;
- participating in meetings and work groups, such as the CDC Health Information System calls and CSTE Electronic Laboratory and Disease Reporting subcommittee;
- attending and/or presenting at state or national meetings and conferences;
- performing other work as assigned.
The Ideal Candidate Will Have:
Minimum qualifications of a successful applicant are:
Mandatory:
- bachelor’s degree in information systems, computer science, or a related field or Master’s degree in Public Health;
- intermediate knowledge of Microsoft Office tools – Outlook, Excel, Word, Visio, SharePoint;
- intermediate knowledge of SQL, Python, or other coding languages; and
- position not eligible for remote work outside South Dakota.
Optional/Preferred:
- Master’s degree in Public Health Informatics;
- prior work experience in a public health setting; and
- knowledge of coding standards – HL7, LOINC, SNOMED, ICD-10, CPT, and other clinical or message coding.