Southlake is building healthy communities through outstanding care, innovative partnerships, and amazing people. We deliver a wide range of healthcare services to the communities of northern York Region and southern Simcoe County. Our advanced regional programs include Cancer Care and Cardiac Care and serve a broader population across the northern GTA and into Simcoe-Muskoka.
Our team of nearly 6,000 staff, physicians, volunteers, students and Patient and Family Advisors are committed to creating an environment where the best experiences happen. As a recognition of our commitment to quality and patient safety, we have received the highest distinction of Exemplary Standing from Accreditation Canada.
Job Summary
Reporting to the Executive Vice President, Quality, Patient Experience, Professional Practice & Chief Nursing Executive, this exciting opportunity is for a person whose values align with Southlake’s strategic vision and directions. Your goal in this position is to execute a quality structure and methodologies that will advance our new strategic plan for 2025-2035, and position Southlake as a leader in quality and patient experience.
As the Director of Quality, Enterprise Risk Management, Patient-Centered Care and Chief Privacy Officer you will have the opportunity to transform and lead a team of high performing professionals.
You will work with all levels across the organization including the Leadership Team, staff, physicians and Patient & Family Advisors (PFAs) to provide leadership and transform the experience of patients, utilizing evidence informed best practices, performance improvement strategies and tactics, as well as patient and employee engagement strategies to improve quality and safety.
This role will provide strategic leadership and expertise of consultative, educational and direct support to the team in the areas of quality improvement, patient experience, performance and change management, enterprise risk management, privacy legislation and Accreditation preparedness. It will require
This role will support the hospital’s growing academic mission by advancing care through teaching and learning and/or transforming care through research and innovation.
Primary Responsibilities
Quality
- Oversees staff education and training in quality, risk and patient safety
- Ensures evidence informed best practice guides quality improvement initiatives
- Stays abreast of current issues and practices in quality, risk and patient safety
- Oversees, manages and develops the role of the Quality Improvement Specialists, Patient Safety and Risk Specialists.
- Serves as an expert resource within the organization regarding patient safety and risk management approaches and best practices
- Facilitates the management of the hospital quality score cards
- Develops and oversees innovative quality and patient safety initiatives that meet and exceed national best practices, drives down variation, decreases costs and creates efficiencies, and resource management programs. Supports the spread of these initiatives/models to drive change that will have positive impact patient care.
- Leads hospital Accreditation
Risk
- Lead the corporate Integrated Risk Management (IRM) program and activities;
- Identify potential risk/opportunity areas and make recommendations on risk tolerance; and mechanisms to manage risk/opportunity;
- Advise on the impact of decisions and the best methods of handling high-risk contentious and legal issues;
- Responds to more sensitive or controversial queries that potentially impact Hospital operations;
- Gather and analyze data/trend information, identifying possible improvement/study areas and the impacts of their implementation.
- Oversee hospital-wide risk assessments
- Collect medical legal claims data and will communicate the results of your analysis to the Executive Vice President for dissemination to the Senior Leadership Team and Quality Committee of the Board
- Develop risk reduction and mitigation strategies based on results of incident reports
Privacy
- Build a strategic and comprehensive privacy program that defines, develops, and maintains policies and procedures that enable consistent and effective privacy practices;
- Provide general privacy/risk management advice to senior leadership, including advice on information disclosure, data or security breaches, whistleblower allegations, and internal investigations;
- Ensure regular privacy audits are competed and appropriately investigated;
- Oversee the Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and ensure all requests are aligned with legislative requirements;
- Overseer’s and performs privacy impact assessment (PIA) as needed;
- Oversee and maintain the ongoing privacy training;
- Maintain current knowledge of applicable privacy laws, including, but not limited to, the Public Hospitals Act, Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA), Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA), Health Care Consent Act, Substitute Decision Maker Act, and Mental Health Act.
Qualifications
- Master’s Degree in Health Administration, Business Administration, Engineering or a Health-related discipline required.
- 10 years of progressive and cumulative leadership experience required
- Excellent understanding of operational excellence, quality improvement, change management, and service innovation with expertise in utilizing tools that include lean methodologies, Six Sigma and design thinking
- 5 years of experience in an acute care setting
- Demonstrated excellence and capabilities in interpersonal, communication, customer service, an analytical approach, teamwork, and leadership skills with ability to build meaningful connections and effective relationships, internally and externally
- Agent of change with ability to envision new, innovative models of care, concepts, plan, energize, coach, encourage and support
- Is collaborative, open and transparent with an ability to work with all health disciplines to achieve high quality and safe patient care
- Has a passion for Healthcare and the difference it makes in the lives of people every day
- Expertise in the areas of Health, Privacy, and Risk Management as it pertains to hospital insurance policies
- Excellent problem-solving, sound judgment, critical thinking, and decision-making skills;
- Strong time management, planning, and organizational skills;
- Excellent communication, report-writing, and presentation skills; and
- Superior professional judgment, diplomacy, and relationship-building skills.
At Southlake, we are committed to fostering an inclusive and accessible environment. We are dedicated to building a workforce that reflects the diversity of the community in which we live and serve, including those with disabilities. Southlake is committed to providing accommodations in all parts of the hiring process. If you require an accommodation, we will work with you to meet your needs.
It is the responsibility of all Southlake employees to work in a safe manner and promote health and safety in the workplace.