Applications Specialist-(3281182) - Partners Healthcare System

As a not-for-profit organization, Mass General Brigham is committed to supporting patient care, research, teaching, and service to the community by leading innovation across our system. Founded by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, Mass General Brigham supports a complete continuum of care including community and specialty hospitals, a managed care organization, a physician network, community health centers, home care, and other health-related entities. Several of our hospitals are teaching affiliates of Harvard Medical School, and our system is a national leader in biomedical research.

We’re focused on a people-first culture for our system’s patients and our professional family. That’s why we provide our employees with more ways to achieve their potential. Mass General Brigham is committed to aligning our employees’ personal aspirations with projects that match their capabilities and creating a culture that empowers our managers to become trusted mentors. We support each member of our team to own their personal development—and we recognize success at every step.

Our employees use the Mass General Brigham values to govern decisions, actions, and behaviors. These values guide how we get our work done: Patients, Affordability, Accountability & Service Commitment, Decisiveness, Innovation & Thoughtful Risk; and how we treat each other: Diversity & Inclusion, Integrity & Respect, Learning, Continuous Improvement & Personal Growth, Teamwork & Collaboration.

General Summary:

At Mass General Brigham Digital, we pride ourselves on our ability to create maximum strategic, clinical, and operational value from established and emergent technologies for our patients, care teams, researchers, and employees. Digital health will not only enhance the equity and efficiency of healthcare delivery, but it will also help make medicine more personalized and precise.
We recognize that increasing value and continually improving quality while maintaining an inclusive focus are essential to organizational excellence, and we invite you to join us on this journey. The work we do in Digital is a strategic imperative, and there is a strong and growing understanding of how together we will transform Mass General Brigham in innovative and impactful ways.
The Applications Specialist plays a significant role in the design, development, testing, implementation, and ongoing maintenance of new and existing software applications. Responsible managing several concurrent projects or initiatives related to the application and its end users.

Principal Responsibilities:

• Leads the discussion of business requirements and coordinates the translation of those business requirements into functional specifications for the software application. Offers recommendations for improvements in data collection, workflow, or other processes when possible.
• Works closely with the application’s vendor or developer to communicate the functional specifications, providing details to improve understanding.
• Develops test plans and performs related software quality assurance tasks.
• Designs the training curriculum for the software’s user community. Leads the development of end user documentation.
• Provides ongoing support of the software applications by identifying and resolving issues, often as the point of escalation for more complex issues.
• Provides high quality, customer-focused services.
• Participates in regular team meetings to discuss team activities, issues, and updates.
• Uses the Mass General Brigham values to govern decisions, actions, and behaviors. These values guide how we get our work done: Patients, Affordability, Accountability & Service Commitment, Decisiveness, Innovation & Thoughtful Risk; and how we treat each other: Diversity & Inclusion, Integrity & Respect, Learning, Continuous Improvement & Personal Growth, Teamwork & Collaboration

Position Summary:

The Application Specialist will be a member of the team supporting a portfolio of vendor and in-house developed applications utilized at Massachusetts General Hospital and other hospital members of Mass General Brigham. The roles primary responsibilities will be working on projects and support activities for the Biscom electronic faxing and secure file transfer applications. Additional applications may include Patient Infotainment, environmental monitoring, Patient Tracking, Peer Review, PRISM/Mosaic (Periop), Service Recovery and other applications as needs evolve.

The role will define, lead, and manage complex projects ensuring adherence to strong project and software development life cycle standards. Other responsibilities include working with Mass General Brigham Digital resources to monitor and maintain reliable system functionality, ensure maximum system availability and minimize interruptions of service. This individual must proactively address end user support issues, exemplify excellent customer service skills, and demonstrate the ability to effectively troubleshoot and problem solve technical software issues. Providing quality and timely customer service will be critical.

·Act as Subject Matter Expert (SME) for Biscom and other applications providing applicationsupport to our customers and tier 2 level support for MGB site team member, demonstrating proficiency and advanced knowledge of applications, user workflows and infrastructure

·Serve as primary liaison with vendor and Mass General Brigham technical teams for the deployment of software upgrades, system enhancements and new hardware deployment.

·Use expert-level knowledge of applications to assess business needs and identify solutions, troubleshoot and resolve complex support issues, and ensure timely resolution.

·Maintain Biscom (and other application) production, test/development, and disaster recovery environment infrastructures (servers, web client, telecom components, etc.) in conjunction with MGB technical teams.

·Utilize system monitoring and alerting to ensure optimum system sizing, optimal performance and timely attention to system issues

·Use expert-level knowledge of applications to assess business needs, identify solutions, and troubleshoot complex software issues

·Lead implementation of new software releases and infrastructure upgrades, including assessment of software changes, identification of impacts, testing, communication, and installation.

·Provide direction and oversight to project/project team resources/vendor to ensure work is delivered accurately and according to defined schedules and requirements

·Conduct detailed and thorough system testing of all software, interfaces, servers, peripherals and all system changes and changes by dependent applications, operating systems and hardware

·Provide advanced application support and troubleshooting

·Conduct end-user training on supported applications

·Assist leadership in resource planning efforts for both project/program and support activities.

·Ability to multi-task and prioritize responsibilities, managing time independently, in order to successfully maintain workload and complete tasks in a timely and effective manner.

·Develop and maintain detailed project plans and support documentation, on a timely basis, as part of routine responsibilities and projects initiatives.

Working Conditions:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.
• This position requires occasional local travel to MGB sites, vendors, and/or conferences
• Hospital work environment working conditions include possible exposure to diseases or infections and may require safety gear (PPE) such as gloves and mask.
• Normal office working conditions. The noise level in the work environment is quiet to moderate.
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to sit; talk; or hear; use hands to finger; handle; or feel; reach with hands and arms. The employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; and stoop; kneel; or crouch. The employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 5 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 20 pounds.
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision and depth perception.
• On-call coverage expected as business needs dictate.

• Bachelor’s Degree required
• 5+ years of healthcare information technology experience
• A combination of education and experience may be substituted for requirements

Skills/ Abilities and Competencies:

• Experience with the development, support, or operation of software applications in a healthcare setting
• Knowledge of the workflows and operations supported by the software application(s).
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Demonstrated analytic and problem-solving skills
• Strong interpersonal skills to effectively communicate with both technical and non-technical staff
• Ability to learn quickly
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office 365 and other popular office productivity solutions

Mass General Brigham is an Equal Opportunity Employer. By embracing diverse skills, perspectives, and ideas, we choose to lead. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religious creed, national origin, sex, age, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation, military service, genetic information, and/or other status protected under the law. We will ensure that all individuals with a disability are provided a reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, perform essential job functions, and receive other benefits and privileges of employment.