Senior Researcher, Quality Measures

Join AIR as a Senior Researcher, Quality Measures with our Health team. AIR's Health Division specializes in research, evaluation, and technical assistance, with a strong focus on quality measurement to ensure patients receive safe, equitable care. The position is located within our Learning, Translation, and Quality Measurement Program, where we develop, test, and maintain quality measures used in federal programs and clinical care settings. We also translate research evidence to promote understanding and adoption of best practices by patients, families, caregivers, physicians, nurses, insurers, health systems leaders, and policymakers. Our expertise includes promoting evidence-based care for a range of clinical conditions; improving patient safety; and engaging patients and family members in the delivery of care. The selected candidate may also work across other areas of the health program leading projects or tasks that implement and/or evaluate alternative payment models. The candidate should have knowledge and experience with federal agencies, including but not limited to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Come join us in our work to advance equitable, high-quality, affordable, patient-centered care through rigorous research, evaluation, and technical assistance that focuses on what matters most to patients, families, clinicians, and the broader healthcare community.

Candidates hired for the position may work remotely within the United States (U.S.) or from one of our U.S. office locations. This does not include U.S. territories.

About AIR:

Established in 1946, with headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, AIR is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit institution that conducts behavioral and social science research and delivers technical assistance to solve some of the most urgent challenges in the U.S. and around the world. We advance evidence in the areas of education, health, the workforce, human services, and international development to create a better, more equitable world.

AIR's commitment to diversity goes beyond legal compliance to its full integration in our strategy, operations, and work environment. At AIR, we define diversity broadly, considering everyone's unique life and community experiences. We believe that embracing diverse perspectives, abilities/disabilities, racial/ethnic and cultural backgrounds, styles, ages, genders, gender identities and expressions, education backgrounds, and life stories drives innovation and employee engagement. Learn more about AIR's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategy and hear from our staff by clicking here.

The responsibilities for the position include:

Provide thought leadership to advance one or more areas of AIR's measure development work (e.g., electronic clinical quality measurement [eCQMs], patient reported outcome measures [PROMs], surveys, claims-based measures) and drive forward ideas into actionable solutions
• Provide technical leadership for projects that develop, adapt, maintain, and implement quality measures for Federal programs
• Position AIR's measure development area(s) through innovation, working with clients, and business development.
• Work collaboratively with technical experts within and across project teams to ensure high quality, best-practice execution of core tasks on time and within budget such as: measure ideation, development of measure specifications, measure testing and validation, measure updates and maintenance, designing methodologies and scoring of alternative payment model participants, establishing benchmarks, and generating performance reports of participating entities (e.g., individual clinicians/providers, practices/healthcare delivery organizations, health systems, health plans).
• Lead or support measure endorsement and maintenance of endorsement through adherence to processes established by the CMS Consensus Based Entity (CBE)
• Contribute to strategic project planning; assist in identifying risk and developing risk mitigation plans.
• Effectively coach and manage others to promote their development; set developmental goals and measurements for staff
• Foster an environment that embraces diverse perspectives, abilities, racial/ethnic and cultural backgrounds, ages, gender identities and expressions, educational experiences, and life stories

Education, Knowledge, and Experience:

• Ph.D. in public health, psychology, health policy, measure development, or related field, with a minimum of 3 years of relevant experience, or M.A., M.S., M.P.H., or equivalent degree in the mentioned areas with a minimum of 7 years of relevant experience.
• Experience with measure development.
• Expertise in one or more measure areas such as PROMs, PRO-based performance measures (PRO-PMs), Surveys, eCQMs and digital quality measures (dQMs), administrative data and claims-based measures.
• Experience writing proposals for Federal agencies.
• Experience developing, testing, maintaining, adapting, and implementing quality measures for Federal agencies.
• Experience in eCQMs/dQMs, Clinical Quality Language (CQL), and familiarity with Fast Healthcare Interoperabilty Resources (FHIR) preferred but not required.
• Experience in risk adjustment methodologies (including for survey-based measures) preferred but not required..
• Past successful project execution and business development efforts related to quality measurement for CMS programs, the CMS Innovation Center (CMMI), and CMS procurement vehicles (e.g., Measure and Instrument Development Support [MIDS] and Research, Measurement, Assessment, Design and Analysis [RMADA]) preferred but not required.
• Track record of contributing to successful proposal and business development efforts is preferred but not required.
• Direct experience with CMMI alternative payment models a plus but not required.

Skills:

• Must possess strong leadership, organizational, interpersonal skills, and emotional intelligence.
• Success in writing, conceptualizing, analyzing, and consulting.
• Attention to detail and commitment to accuracy when writing.
• Ability to learn quickly, take direction, and work independently.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to communicate clearly and effectively with clients, remote and site-based staff, and others (e.g., partners, community members, healthcare professionals, health system leaders, health agency liaisons) to represent AIR in a professional manner.

Disclosures:

Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the U.S. on a full-time basis. Employment-based visa sponsorship (including H-1B sponsorship) is not available for this position. Depending on project work, qualified candidates may need to meet certain residency requirements.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination on the basis of age, race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation, national origin, protected veteran status, or disability.

AIR adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo reference and background checks.

AIR's Total Rewards Program, is designed to reward our staff competitively and motivate them to achieve our critical mission. This position offers an anticipated annual salary of $115,000 - $145,000. Salary offers are made based on internal equity within the institution and external equity with competitive markets. Please note this is the annual salary range for candidates that are based in the United States.

AIR maintains a drug-free work environment.

Fraudulent Job Scams Warning & Disclaimer:

AIR is aware of individuals falsely presenting themselves as AIR representatives. Fraudulent job scams seek to extract sensitive information or money from victims. To protect yourself, please be aware that AIR recruitment will only email you from an "@air.org" domain. Please take extra caution while examining the email address, for example jdoe@air.org is correct and jdoe@aircareers.org is not a legitimate AIR email address. If you are unsure of the legitimacy of a communication you have received, please reach out to recruitment@air.org.

If you see a job scam, or lose money to one, report it to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. You can also report it to your state attorney general. Find out more about how to avoid scams at ftc.gov/scams.

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