Quality Crisis Specialist (Project/Program Manager Iii)

Summary

King County's Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) provides equitable opportunities for people to be healthy, happy, and connected to community. We believe in working as one team that solves problems-striving to be customer-focused and drive for the best results. We envision a welcoming community that is racially just. We believe the field of human services exists to undo and mitigate unfair structures. We seek to lead the way by working as respectful and responsible stewards for our community.

The Behavioral Health and Recovery Division (BHRD) of DCHS is looking for a Crisis Specialist, Project/Program Manager III within the Quality team to help in monitoring and evaluating a countywide crisis continuum including a network of five crisis care centers. This position will hold direct responsibility for managing quality activities focused on the crisis system within the Behavioral Health and Recovery Division (BHRD). This may include working with internal and external partners to develop frameworks and strategies, monitor trends and evaluate for quality improvement across the crisis continuum of services, including but not limited to, provider and network performance, integration of system partners within the crisis system, as well as the expansion into Crisis Care Centers.

King County voters approved a nine-year property tax Crisis Care Centers Levy in April 2023 to fund the Crisis Care Centers Initiative from 2024 to 2032. The Initiative will create a countywide network of five Crisis Care Centers, restore, and expand mental health residential treatment beds in the region, and invest in the recruitment and retention of the community behavioral health workforce. Crisis Care Centers are a type of behavioral health facility that will have three core components: a 24/7 Behavioral Health Urgent Care Clinic, a 23-hour Crisis Observation Unit, and a Crisis Stabilization Unit. Crisis Care Centers will use a "no-wrong door approach" and will endeavor to accept, at least for initial screening and triage, any person who seeks behavioral health crisis care. Crisis Care Centers will also be expected to provide a Post-Crisis Follow-Up Program to promote post-crisis stabilization for people who receive services at Crisis Care Centers.

The incumbent in this position will align all work with the mission of the Department's Equity and Social Justice strategic plan (i.e., to reinforce and embed equity and social justice principles into policies, practices, attitudes and actions that produce equitable access, opportunities, treatment, impacts and outcomes for all.

Job Duties

To be considered minimally qualified, applicants must demonstrate a background that provides the knowledge, skill and ability to:

• Supports and coordinates quality activities including reviewing and analyzing the crisis system and structuring effective and manageable quality and performance frameworks.

• Serves as a quality liaison within the crisis system to develop crisis system monitoring processes and associated performance expectations around crisis coordination with internal and external partners.

• Participates in meetings with internal and external stakeholders, including contracted and non-contracted crisis stakeholders to review input and outputs related to performance benchmarks and quality standards.

• Evaluate the crisis continuum and design reasonable interventions that are undertaken to address barriers identified through process analysis, quality improvement initiatives, and methodologies for sustained improvement through repeated measurements over comparable time periods.

• In partnership with internal leadership, staff from crisis agencies, and/or external stakeholders, oversee the maintenance of crisis performance indicator reports, root cause analysis projects, and quality monitoring to engage crisis providers in data-informed continuous quality improvement efforts.

• Present and lead discussions on relevant data, dashboards, and evaluation findings to committees that include representatives from division staff, crisis agencies, and stakeholders.

• Work in collaboration with the Quality Manager and Quality Team to identify quality initiatives focused on the crisis system and monitor performance related to clinical and non-clinical outcomes.

• Develop strategies, survey procedures, and sampling methods to maximize participation, effectiveness, and buy-in of stakeholders.

• Create reports on findings for submission to relevant committees as part of an overall strategy to include feedback from stakeholders and partners on ongoing quality improvements for the crisis continuum.

• Coordinate with the Behavioral Health Recovery Specialist on identifying and including cultural, linguistic and recovery-oriented processes.

• Coordinates with the Contracts section, Crisis Care Teams and Performance, Measurement and Evaluation (PME) to strategize on quality focused activities across the crisis continuum.

• Support the Quality Improvement Committee (QIC), the Quality Committee (QC), the Performance workgroup, as well as other quality department efforts.

• Perform other related duties as assigned.

Experience, Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills

• At least 5 years of professional experience in public sector behavioral health or crisis services, and education primarily in quality improvement, performance measurement, evaluation, or research related fields.

• Experience working in crisis care coordination in the health or behavioral health sector.

• Demonstrated ability to develop, review, monitor and audit quality and performance plans in a behavioral health or health care setting.

• Experience in research concepts, survey design and sampling methods.

• Experience working with affiliated service systems at the local, regional, and state levels.

• Knowledge of and experience with federal, state, and regional rules, regulations, and contract requirements pertaining to behavioral health managed care (e.g., CFR, RCW, WAC).

• Demonstrated experience producing reports for professional and community audiences.

• Knowledge of and experience working within the substance use disorder and mental health services in a clinical or administrative role in King County and/or Washington State, or equivalent experience in another state.

• Proven ability to work effectively with individuals who may have markedly different perspectives.

• Knowledge of and experience with the special needs of culturally diverse populations.

• Knowledge of behavioral health recovery principles and practices.

• Ability to use innovative thinking and identify best practices to approach problems, resolve conflicts, and inform program implementation.

• Demonstrated experience working with a diverse range of partners, community, health or human services organizations in designing and implementing real world performance measurement plans and evaluations.

• Experience building programs' capacity to use data for decision making and continuous quality improvement.

• Strong oral and written communication skills, including the ability to present findings clearly to a variety of non-technical audiences.

• Strong problem solving and interpersonal skills, including the ability to work independently and maintain collaborative relationships as part of a team.

• Experience successfully managing complex projects, anticipating stakeholder needs, synthesizing information, making decisions, and meeting deadlines.

• Ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines simultaneously.

Desired Experience, Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills:

The most competitive candidates will also have the following:

• Knowledge of behavioral health service delivery systems highly desirable, specifically crisis services. This may include experience working withing the behavioral health delivery system as a provider, lived experience with behavioral health system services, and/or experience working directly with large networks with internal and external partners, especially those containing crisis systems of focus.

• Experience developing, reviewing, auditing to, and monitoring quality and performance frameworks in a managed care and/or provider network setting.

• Experience working with King County or other contracted behavioral health providers and external network partners.

• Experience working with populations that have co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorders.

• Familiarity with Results Based Accountability (RBA) frameworks and quality improvement methodologies.

ADDITIONAL POSITION INFORMATION:

• This position has been designated Non-Mission Critical. Unless otherwise directed by the County Executive, department director or agency head, all employees, regardless of designation, are expected to report to work or request leave during an emergency or inclement weather. For more detailed information, please visit HR Policy County Operations During Emergency Situations and the King County Guidelines for Workforce Management in an Emergency.

• This position is exempt from the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act and is not eligible for overtime. Typical hours are Monday

• Friday, 8am

• 5pm.

• This position is not represented by a union.

• The work associated with this position will be performed or conducted through a combination of teleworking and onsite work and meetings. Employees will have access to shared workspaces at various King County facilities. Employees must reside in Washington state and within a reasonable distance to their King County worksite to respond to workplace reporting requirements.

WHO MAY APPLY:

This position is open to all qualified candidates that meet the minimum qualifications. Interviews for this selection process will take place on or around August 5 or August 12, 2024. Candidates who wish to be considered for this position must submit an online King County application and respond to the supplemental questions. Your application may be rejected as incomplete if you do not include the requested and relevant information in the online application and supplemental questionnaire. Applications and/or supplemental questionnaires that state, "see my resume" are considered incomplete and will not be considered to be competitive. If you have any questions, please contact Kjerstin Richards, krichards@kingcounty.gov.

Supplemental Information

Forbes named King County as one of Washington State's best employers.

Together, with leadership and our employees, we're changing the way government delivers service and winning national recognition as a model of excellence. Are you ready to make a difference? Come join the team dedicated to serving one of the nation's best places to live, work and play.

Guided by our "True North", we are making King County a welcoming community where every person can thrive. We value diversity, inclusion and belonging in our workplace and workforce. To reach this goal we are committed to workforce equity. Equitable recruiting, support, and retention is how we will obtain the highest quality workforce in our region; a workforce that shares and will help advance our guiding principles - we are one team; we solve problems; we focus on the customer; we drive for results; we are racially just; we respect all people; we lead the way; and we are responsible stewards. We encourage people of all backgrounds and identities to apply, including Native American and people of color, immigrants, refugees, women, LGBTQ+, people living with disabilities, and veterans.

King County is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Employer

No person is unlawfully excluded from employment opportunities based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation and pregnancy), age, genetic information, disability, veteran status, or other protected class. Our EEO policy applies to all employment actions, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, selection for training, promotion, transfer, demotion, layoff, termination, rates of pay or other forms of compensation.

To Apply

If you are interested in pursuing this position, please follow the application instructions carefully. If you need this announcement in an alternate language or format, would like to request accommodation or assistance in the application or assessment process or if you have questions please contact the recruiter listed on this job announcement.