Pharmacy Manager

The University of Iowa, Department of Pharmaceutical Care, is seeking a full-time Pharmacy Manager to join our team. The Pharmacy Manager for Offsite Operations will provide leadership and development to pharmacy specialists, clinical pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and support staff located at River Crossing and North Dodge Pharmacies within the Department of Pharmaceutical Care. The manager will also serve as a pharmacy liaison for medication management for UI Community Clinics (UICC) and other offsite clinic areas.

Areas of focus for this position include but are not limited to: pharmacy, clinic, infusion, and procedural area operations, technology and automation, medication safety, compliance, sterile and non-sterile compounding and preparation operations. The manager will support pharmacy practice specialists to ensure all legal and regulatory guidelines are met, work with other pharmacy managers to ensure standardization of workflow processes across all pharmacies, serve as the liaison for offsite clinics and between the offsite leadership, pharmacy practice specialists, and Department of Pharmacy leadership, and participate on department and hospital committees as needed.

This position will collaborate with leadership and staff to promote safe, optimal and cost-effective medication use processes. This position will also work closely with the director of ambulatory pharmacy services and ambulatory care managers to improve patient safety through innovations in technology and/or new program development and implementation.

The scope of this position requires effective communication, organizational skills, strategic planning, personnel supervision, teamwork, data management and reporting, process evaluation and improvement, and staff development/training. A considerable amount of innovation, independence, creativity and flexibility are required in the decision making and problem-solving process. There will be a requirement to travel to the pharmacy and clinic areas that are supported by this position.

Position Responsibilities:

Pharmaceutical Care Operations
•Assists in the delivery and improvement of retail and clinic pharmacy services. Assigns tasks to staff and monitors individual and team progress.
•Coordinates services to identify and evaluate outcomes measures in order to maximize productivity, clinical outcomes and financial impact with the ambulatory care pharmacy leadership team.
•Collaborates with the appropriate ambulatory care pharmacy managers to coordinate ambulatory care clinical pharmacy services with physicians, nursing, laboratory, and other personnel and develop and assist in the implementation of clinical pathways and therapeutic guidelines.
•Works with the ambulatory care pharmacy leadership team and pharmacy specialists in the development and implementation of staff competencies and credentialing within ambulatory care pharmacy services.
•Ensures compliance with regulations related to the provision of pharmacy services, including sterile and non-sterile compounding practices.
•Fosters an environment that encourages high performance and teamwork.
•Encourages inter-departmental collaboration to implement processes for safe, timely and effective patient care services.
•Works within a matrixed reporting relationship that includes a solid line to Department of Pharmaceutical Care administration and a dotted line to IRL and UICC administration.

Education
•Educates clinic providers, staff and external parties regarding services provided by ambulatory care pharmacy staff.
•Participates on a multidisciplinary team and provides education as needed related to other services provided within the clinics.
•Serves as a preceptor for pharmacy students and residents.
•Provides didactic education at College of Pharmacy as needed and appropriate.
•Creates synergy between practice initiatives and PharmD student and resident rotations.
•Communicates new services or procedures to pharmacy staff and others who may be affected.

Health Care System Improvement
•Evaluates problems/concerns identified by staff in collaboration with leadership team to create a safe and effective solution to meet the clinical service goals of the Department and UI Health Care.
•Participates in developing, monitoring, and reporting pharmacy practice standards for the department of pharmacy.
•Provides guidance regarding appropriate expenditure of time and resources for ambulatory care pharmacy services.
•Collaborates with departmental leaders and clinical area leaders to identify high priority outcomes that are actionable by pharmacists.
•Participates in the department's strategic planning and implementation of new programs and services.
•Evaluates and analyzes projects, develops project specifications, and creates and implements project plans to successfully meet goals and objectives.
•Plans, implements, and evaluates new clinical and technical processes including multi-disciplinary groups for program/service.

Compliance and Regulatory Management
•Ensures compliance with regulatory standards in pharmacy and clinic areas.
•Assists in evaluation of new medication therapies.
•Involves staff in department quality improvement initiatives.
•Serves as consultant on medication safety and serves on standing committees as needed.
•Provides consultation on department medication safety initiatives and works with team to implement hospital-wide safety initiatives.
•Helps to ensure compliance with accreditation standards and with federal, state, and local regulations related to medication safety.

Human Resource Management
•Hires, develops, and manages the performance of staff.
•Coordinates and leads team and staff meetings for assigned areas of responsibility.
•Assures staff are compliant with UI policies and procedures, laws and regulations.
•Conducts evaluations on personal performance at the workplace and recommends improvement plans.
•Works with staff on an ongoing basis to improve performance, guides and coaches staff in solving problems which arise in a day-to-day routine.
•Collaborates with the appropriate ambulatory care pharmacy managers to coordinate scheduling and coverage of ambulatory care pharmacy services.
•Monitors the progress of assignments and performance of daily responsibilities for all assigned personnel, coaches and disciplines staff as necessary.
•Measures employee satisfaction and implementation of improvement initiatives.

Financial Management
•Understands billing processes for take-home prescriptions and medications dispensed and administered in the clinics.
•Assists with development of mechanisms to monitor revenue integrity in the clinics.
•Assists with gathering of information on supporting charges or drug utilization.
•Assists with standardized process for medication assistance programs for clinic-administered medications.

Technical Competencies
Accountability
•Creates a team environment of accountability and commitment for reaching project goals.
•Responsiveness to concerns identified by department leadership.
•Reinforces positive contributions and recommends adjustments for improving outcomes.
•Documents knowledge that can be transferred to others.
•Helps others identify and work around problems that could impede progress.

Decision Making and Critical Thinking
•Assists in assessing risks, benefits and consideration of alternatives.
•Recognizes, clarifies, and prioritizes concerns.
•Identifies, obtains, and organizes relevant data and ideas.

Drug Utilization and Review (DUR) / Business Intelligence
•Assists in DUR planning.
•Participates in collecting and evaluating data to identify drug use problems.
•Keeps current with outpatient reimbursement guidelines and trends, and recommends changes as needed.

Effective Communications
•Communicates well downward, upward, and outward.
•Adapts documents and presentations for intended audience.
•Maintains focus on the topic at hand.

Education Requirements:

•Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy or Doctor of Pharmacy degree.
•Current license or eligibility to be licensed as Pharmacist by Iowa Board of Pharmacy.

Experience Requirements:

•Completion of an ASHP-accredited PGY1/PGY2 Health-System Administration Residency or minimum of five (5) years of experience working in a complex clinical pharmacy environment.
•Excellent interpersonal, written and verbal communication skills.
•Strong interest in ambulatory care operational leadership.
•Ability and willingness to act as preceptor.
•Job-related experience with and/or commitment to service excellence is required.
•Professional experience working effectively with individuals from a variety of backgrounds and perspectives.

Desired Qualifications:

•Job-related experience in ambulatory care pharmacy.
•A Master of Science in Pharmacy or healthcare/management related advanced degree such as an MHA, MPH or MBA is desirable.
•Experience with automation/technology, human resources management, project management and Epic electronic health record is highly desirable

Position and Application details:
In order to be considered for an interview, applicants must upload the following documents and mark them as a "Relevant File" to the submission:
•Resume
•Cover Letter

Job openings are posted for a minimum of 14 calendar days and may be removed from posting and filled any time after the original posting period has ended.
Successful candidates will be required to self-disclose any conviction history and will be subject to a criminal background check and credential/education verification. Up to 5 professional references will be requested at a later step in the recruitment process.
For additional questions, please contact Penni Berger at penni-berger@uiowa.edu