Associate Professor, Academic Clinician, Associate Chief Health Informatics Officer (ACHIO) - University of Pennsylvania

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Department of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania seek candidates for an Associate Professor position in the non-tenure academic clinician track. Expertise is required in the specific area of clinical informatics, with special weight given to applicants with advanced training (e.g. fellowship, master’s degree, PhD, or other advanced certification) in this field. Consideration will also be given to applicants with advanced training in any related disciplines, such as human computer interaction, computer science, implementation science, user-centered design, biostatistics and epidemiology, or population health. Applicants must have an M.D. or equivalent degree. Board certification or eligibility in Clinical Informatics (ABPM) or an equivalent certification of competency in the field (AMIA AHIC certification) is required. Applicants with exceptional qualifications but who are not eligible for the ABPM board certification or AHIC will be considered. Certifications in relevant EHR technologies are strongly preferred, with preference given to applicants with active and relevant certifications in the Epic EHR.



Teaching responsibilities may include the teaching of medical students, residents, and fellows, as well as formal lecture opportunities on the topic of clinical informatics and related topics.



Clinical responsibilities may include outpatient clinical practice in a pediatric setting, preferably in a pediatric subspecialty.



Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) seeks applicants for the role of a senior physician informatics leader to oversee the ambulatory EHR as Associate Chief Health Informatics Officer (ACHIO). The ACHIO for Ambulatory EHR will have 60-70% protected time for clinical informatics activities and 30-40% time for direct clinical care. The applicant must possess or be eligible to apply for an unrestricted medical license in the state of Pennsylvania and/or New Jersey, depending on site of practice.



The ACHIO for Ambulatory EHR is a key leader on the Health Informatics team (comprising Clinical Informatics and Digital Health) and reports to the Chief Health Informatics Officer, and a peer leader alongside the ACHIO for Inpatient EHR and the ACHIO for Perioperative/Lab/Surgery/Anesthesia/Radiology. The ACHIO oversees the ambulatory EHR champions in both primary care and specialty care, including a Clinical Director of EHR Platform and Medical Director of Primary Care EHR. Additionally, the ACHIO is the accountable leader overseeing the EHR SuperUser, Clinical Builders, and EHR Optimization programs. The ACHIO is a visible and influential leader who will collaborate with leaders across the health system, including ambulatory practice, patient experience, provider wellbeing, digital and technology services, EHR analysts and trainers, practice finance, and more. The ACHIO is a trusted collaborator and partner to our clinical and technology stakeholders, always honoring the CHOP “ICARE” values of Integrity, Compassion, Accountability, Respect, and Excellence. The ACHIO is responsible to align the structure, design, and strategy for the ambulatory EHR with the enterprise goals of Efficient and Effective Care, Growth, Experience, Financial Stewardship, and Research & Innovation. The ACHIO is also a key leader for the DTS and Informatics governance structures and is a voting member of the Clinical Technology Project Subcommittee, which evaluates, sequences, prioritizes, and recommends information technology projects on behalf of the enterprise.



About Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia



Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) is a globally recognized leader in pediatric healthcare, known for its outstanding clinical services, breakthrough research and training programs, and commitment to the comprehensive care of children. CHOP is consistently recognized as one of the top-ranked institutions in the country, and the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked as the No. 1 department of pediatrics in the country by U.S. News for 10 consecutive years. CHOP has been ranked as the top ranked employer on the Forbes 2022 list of “America’s Best Large Employers” as well as one of the top ranked employers on the Forbes 2022 list of “American’s Best Employers for Diversity” and Modern Healthcare’s 2023 Top Diversity Leaders. CHOP is an NCQA-accredited Accountable Care Organization.



The CHOP Network comprises two hospitals (Philadelphia Campus with 546 beds, and King of Prussia with 98 beds) as well as a soon-to-open inpatient pediatric mental health facility (Cedar Avenue Campus). The CHOP Care Network spans 30 primary care locations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and 15 Specialty Care and Ambulatory Surgery Centers that collectively see over 1.3 million ambulatory and day surgery visits per year.



About Digital and Technology Services and Clinical Informatics at CHOP



CHOP has a 40-year track record of using health information technology to support clinical practice, quality improvement, and research, starting with the adoption of an electronic laboratory information system (LIS) in 1983, adoption of Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE) in the 1990s, and implementation of our current EHR platform (Epic Systems, Verona WI) in 2000. Today, the Epic longitudinal electronic health record at CHOP contains 23 years of primary care data, 16 years of ambulatory specialty care data, and 12 years of inpatient data. Across the CHOP network, the EHR sees 8K concurrent users per day with 99.999% continuous availability. The MyCHOP patient portal has over 590K active accounts with nearly 80% of CHOP patients enrolled. CHOP Digital and Technology Services (DTS) comprises over 700 employees, who support hundreds of clinical applications, biomedical devices, communications devices, and medical interfaces.



CHOP has received numerous accolades for its use of healthcare technology, including:



· CHIME Healthcare’s Most Wired awardee – 2015-2023



· CIO 100: Recognizing IT Innovation & Business Value - 2019



· Computerworld 100 Best Places to Work in IT – 2013-2021



· Recognized by Epic as a top performer for use of MyChart for patient engagement – 2019



· Parents Magazine top 15 Children’s Hospital for Innovation & Technology – 2018



· Hospital Association of Pennsylvania



· HIMSS Stage 7 Ambulatory EHR Adoption (highest tier of recognition)



CHOP has made significant investments in Clinical Informatics across both operational and research domains. The program supports over 40 physicians (11 FTE equivalent), advanced practice providers, and nurses in a variety of clinical areas spanning inpatient, ambulatory, emergency, surgical, anesthesia, critical care, lab medicine, anatomic pathology, and radiology. CHOP has one of the nation’s first ACGME-accredited fellowship programs with over 30 board-certified clinical informaticists serving as faculty. These clinicians are engaged in a wide variety of quality improvement projects to improve healthcare value and clinician satisfaction. CHOP informaticists conduct groundbreaking research, lead our EHR program governance, and participate in projects to improve pediatric health, including innovative work to support pediatric immunizations, developmental screening, and behavioral health care.



Current high priority initiatives for CHOP DTS include:



1) Digital Transformation – the systematic redesign of clinical, operational, and patient experience initiatives through the thoughtful application of technology



2) Brilliant at the Basics – an intensely customer-centric effort to reduce technology friction and burden by improving end-user devices, platforms, features, and support systems.



3) Epic Refuel – as an early adopter of the Epic EHR, we now seek to modernize our EHR build, remaining current with Epic’s current recommendations and features by prioritizing “systemness” in the design of our platform and embracing Epic Stars and Honor Roll opportunities.



4) Platform Plays – to drive efficiency, application rationalization, and financial stewardship, we believe that focusing on our core platforms, including the Epic EHR, is a stronger long-term strategy than supporting many disparate niche systems.



5) Intelligent Automation – we seek to advance clinical care, operations, and experience through advanced AI, including generative AI and ML solutions.



6) Financial Stewardship – across the clinical and operational domains, there are opportunities to reduce waste in time, motion, and expense through thoughtful design and implantation of streamlined, optimized workflows.







In addition to those listed above, current high priority initiatives for the Health Informatics team include:



1) Informatics Governance – to develop and formalize a consolidated, enterprise-wide informatics structure that aligns nursing, clinical care services, and provider informatics.



2) Remote Patient Management – to implement a robust RPM program to improve patient outcomes, capacity management, and clinical efficiency.



3) Care Model Innovation – to identify and implement innovative, effective, and sustainable care models in pediatrics to support our patient care and enterprise goals, with some examples including eConsults, eVisits, and EHR platform innovation.



4) Digital Health Equity – to design technology solutions that are inclusive and representative of the needs of all our patients.



5) Provider Wellbeing and Reduction of Burdensome Work in the EHR – to systematically evaluate and improve EHR work, be it through EHR optimization, at-the-elbow coaching, or other strategies.



The ACHIO for ambulatory EHR will be expected to incorporate these priorities and reflect them in the ambulatory EHR program strategy, helping to align clinical and operational stakeholders around this vision as well as driving change across the enterprise. The ACHIO must have experience conceiving and leading enterprise-wide technology-related change initiatives from their inception, to development and execution of a change management and implementation strategy, to evaluation and communication of outcomes. The ACHIO must have outstanding critical thinking, data-driven decision-making, and communication skills. The ACHIO must be able to fluently traverse and balance both the needs of clinical care and the needs of the health system overall, with a mind for process improvement, standardization, workflow optimization and human-centered design.



The ACHIO will have the opportunity to disseminate and present/publish the outcomes of this work (health IT implementation, quality improvement projects, and collaboration with clinical & translational researchers), to be a nationally visible and respected contributor in the field of clinical informatics, in forums such as professional societies (AMIA, AAP), relevant industry and trade organizations (HIMSS, KLAS ARCH), and EHR-centric communities (Epic UGM/XGM).



We seek candidates who embrace and reflect diversity in the broadest sense. The University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia are EOEs. Minorities/women/individuals with disabilities/protected veterans are encouraged to apply.






The University of Pennsylvania values diversity and seeks talented students, faculty and staff with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. The University of Pennsylvania is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. Candidates are considered for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin, citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status or any other legally protected class. Questions or concerns about this should be directed to the Executive Director of the Office of Affirmative Action (http://www.upenn.edu/affirm-action/) and Equal Opportunity Programs, University of Pennsylvania, 421 Franklin Building, 3451 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6205; or (215) 898-6993 (Voice) or (215) 898-7803 (TDD).