Director-IS Clinical Services

IT Services

Full Time

Day Shift

8 am to 5 pm

Lexington Health is a comprehensive network of care that includes six community medical and urgent care centers, nearly 80 physician practices, more than 9,000 health care professionals and Lexington Medical Center, a 607-bed teaching hospital in West Columbia, South Carolina. It was selected by Modern Healthcare as one of the Best Places to Work in Healthcare and was first in the state to achieve Magnet with Distinction status for excellence in nursing care. Consistently ranked as best in the Columbia Metro area by U.S. News & World Report, Lexington Health delivers more than 4,000 babies each year, performs more than 34,000 surgeries annually and is the regions third largest employer.

Lexington Health also includes an accredited Cancer Center of Excellence, the state's first HeartCARE Center, the largest skilled nursing facility in the Carolinas, and an Alzheimer's care center. Its postgraduate medical education programs include family medicine and transitional year residencies, as well as an informatics fellowship.

Job Summary

Under the general direction of the Chief Information Officer (CIO), the IS Clinical Applications Director establishes, plans, and administers the overall policies and goals of the Information Services organization for clinical applications; assesses the current information systems environment and technology and works collaboratively with executive leadership to ensure an organizational structure, systems infrastructure, governance, and business direction that guide future information technology investments; maximizes the effectiveness of installed systems; and fosters an environment of continual process improvement. Exercises agility to react quickly to changes in external regulations and advances in technology. Manages all aspects of clinical application systems across the care continuum, including acute, ambulatory, and post-acute / long-term care settings. Serves as a functional liaison for issues and requests related to the clinical needs of the organization and works closely with the Medical Director of Epic and the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO). Directs and participates in project management, system analysis, planning and design, product evaluation, implementation, support, and system management for clinical applications, including the responsible adoption of emerging and AI-enabled clinical technologies.

Minimum Qualifications

Minimum Education: Bachelors Degree in Nursing, Health/Medical Informatics, Health Administration, Information Systems, or a closely related field.

Minimum Years of Experience: 5 Years of direct experience in IT management in a medium to large healthcare organization

Substitutable Education & Experience: None.

Required Certifications/Licensure: Must be willing to obtain Epic certification and a recognized healthcare informatics certification (e.g., CPHIMS or CAHIMS) if needed.

Required Training: Knowledge of clinical EHR systems, in particular Epic. Thorough knowledge of accreditation and regulatory standards, including DNV, quality and Core Measures reporting, and interoperability requirements (e.g., CMS Promoting Interoperability). Working familiarity with health data privacy and security requirements (HIPAA / PHI) and with emerging expectations for the governance of AI-enabled clinical tools.

Essential Functions

• Partners with the CIO and IS leadership to develop work plans that define scope, tasks, target dates, level of effort, and resource and skill requirements for clinical application initiatives, and to establish related performance expectations and measurements.
• Actively participates in IS leadership decision-making to establish or modify policies, systems, standards, and resource allocations that remove barriers and meet customer needs.
• Manages and leads multiple interrelated projects concurrently while overseeing daily operations, support, and maintenance of clinical applications; may serve as project manager for high-profile implementations, upgrades, and enhancements.
• Directs the support, implementation, optimization, and enhancement of Epic and other clinical applications across the care continuum, including acute, ambulatory, and post-acute / long-term care settings.
• Maintains a high level of awareness and recognition of potential risk issues and works diligently to mitigate or eliminate risk whenever possible.
• Tracks, reviews, and communicates project status, progress, issues, and results timely and accurately to the CIO, IS leadership, customers, and stakeholders, and manages the expectations of impacted personnel.
• Involves appropriate individuals, end users, and impacted department and unit leaders in planning and implementing IT-related projects and process changes.
• Evaluates and directs the responsible adoption of emerging clinical technologies-including ambient documentation, clinical decision support, and other AI-enabled tools-in alignment with the organizations AI governance, patient safety, and data-protection standards.
• Partners with the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and data governance leaders to ensure clinical applications meet security, privacy, and PHI-protection requirements.
• Supports patient engagement, patient portal, multichannel patient communication, referral, and care coordination workflows, and advances interoperability across the care continuum.
• Assists the CIO in evaluating, selecting, acquiring, and implementing new clinical applications and technologies, and ensures compliance with corporate standards and IT methodology for selection, implementation, upgrades, support, and maintenance.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Stays current on healthcare information technology trends and developments to inform recommendations to the CIO and IS leadership.
• Coordinates and leads interviews for open positions and participates in interviewing candidates for other IS positions; consistently monitors performance, assesses competency, and defines the skills needed for team members.
• Partners with IS leadership to develop an offering of reward and recognition options (tangible, intangible, monetary, and non-monetary) for retaining top performers.
• Encourages team members to learn and experiment with new tools and techniques and oversees the education program for all major clinical applications and new technology.
• Maintains a library of clinical documentation, including project plans, manuals, workflow diagrams, and process flow charts, according to departmental standards, and evaluates clinical software and hardware products for possible inclusion in standards.
• Establishes mechanisms to survey and evaluate customer satisfaction (encouraging both positive and negative feedback) and to assess customer needs versus services offered.
• Represents IS in clinical operational meetings, including nursing council and clinical process improvement teams.
• Supports accreditation (DNV), quality and Core Measures reporting, and CMS Promoting Interoperability requirements.
• Develops and manages the operating and capital budgets for the clinical applications area, forecasting resource needs, monitoring expenditures against plan, and identifying opportunities for cost savings and value optimization.
• Manages vendor relationships and oversees contracts, software licenses, and service agreements within the clinical applications area, partnering with supply chain, legal, and information security on sourcing, negotiation, renewals, and third-party risk management, and cultivating vendor relationships that add value to Lexington Health stakeholders.
• Performs all other duties as assigned.

We are committed to offering quality, cost-effective benefits choices for our benefit eligible employees and their families:

• Day ONE medical, dental and life insurance benefits
• Health care and dependent care flexible spending accounts (FSAs)
• Employees are eligible for enrollment into the 403(b) match plan day one. LHI matches dollar for dollar up to 6%.
• Employer paid life insurance - equal to 1x salary
• Employee may elect supplemental life insurance with low cost premiums up to 3x salary
• Adoption assistance
• LHI provides its full-time employees employer paid short-term disability and long-term disability coverage after 90 days of eligible employment
• Tuition reimbursement
• Student loan forgiveness

Equal Opportunity Employer

It is the policy of Lexington Health to provide equal opportunity of employment for all individuals, and to remain compliant with applicable state and federal laws and regulations. Lexington Health strives to provide a discrimination-free environment, and to recruit, select, on-board, and employ all employees without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, national origin, veteran status, or pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, including but not limited to, lactation. Lexington Health endeavors to upgrade and promote employees from within the hospital where possible and consistent with the employee's desires and abilities and the hospital's needs.