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Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) offers countless ways to change lives. Our diverse community of more than 20,000 Breakthrough Makers will inspire you to pursue passions, develop expertise, and drive innovation.

At CHOP, your experience is valued; your voice is heard; and your contributions make a difference for patients and families. Join us as we build on our promise to advance pediatric care-and your career.

CHOP's Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

CHOP is committed to building an inclusive culture where employees feel a sense of belonging, connection, and community within their workplace. We are a team dedicated to fostering an environment that allows for all to be their authentic selves. We are focused on attracting, cultivating, and retaining diverse talent who can help us deliver on our mission to be a world leader in the advancement of healthcare for children.

We strongly encourage all candidates of diverse backgrounds and lived experiences to apply.


A Brief Overview
The Decedent Affairs Program Manager is responsible for planning, coordinating, and executing programs and services that will ensure excellence in all enterprise technical and business-related aspects of end-of-life (EOL) care at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

This responsibility includes (but is not limited to):
* act as the primary liaison and partner for enterprise EOL care and workflows
* ensuring enterprise accountability with legal and regulatory EOL requirements
* data and analytics systems including developing/maintaining performance reports, dashboards, and metrics as well as accuracy of information in the Electronic Death Registration System
* developing and maintaining enterprise EOL policy, procedure, and workflows
* ensuring appropriate training, education, and resourcing for staff and faculty regarding EOL policy, procedure and workflows
* developing and maintaining education and resource information for families and caregivers
* coordination of services with related agencies for autopsy, tissue/organ donation and/or funeral home

This position provides cohesive oversight to enterprise EOL care, continuously improves processes, and ultimately ensures that every family receives equitable and comprehensive care and communication in a most challenging time.

What you will do

• The Decedent Affairs Program Manager is accountable for all administrative actions necessary to managing the care of deceased patients from the time of death until the time of release from the hospital and, if applicable, until the time the autopsy report is finalized, including any subsequent related communications, support, or follow-up.
  This individual will work directly with Physician leadership and Nursing leadership, as well as leadership in Palliative Care, Patient Family Services, Social Work, Bereavement, Spiritual Care Services, education groups, Data & Technology Services, and other key participants in end-of-life care across the institution.
  Responsibilities may include activities for individual patients in addition to the programmatic oversight for the processes, policies, and quality of enterprise EOL care.
• Maintains transparent and comprehensive list of patients who pass away while receiving care at CHOP and/or while otherwise considered an "active CHOP patient." Also tracks external patients who are referred to CHOP for autopsy, with limited scope of accountability compared to CHOP patients (ex. excludes Bereavement)
• For each patient, ensures and documents adequate and timely completion of regulatory requirements and consistent adherence to standard of excellent care (confirms that required consents are obtained, clinical documentation is complete, appropriate services are offered to families)
• For pending, incomplete, or inaccurately addressed requirements, collaborates with appropriate parties (Physicians, Nursing, Bereavement, Spiritual Care Services, etc) to facilitate progress. This may include "just in time" education, facilitating conversations, or personally taking action to ensure missing requirements are completed.
• Collaborates on the development of education and identifies learning opportunities for responsible parties in process of decedent affairs (for example ensuring each party knows the scope of their role, handoff procedures, how to perform steps for which they are responsible); coordinates with appropriate education groups to design and implement training
• Serves as the primary point of contact for family / caregiver / related parties. Documents goals for disposition, plans for services, and other relevant details; serves as point of contact for funeral home release.
• Serves as subject matter expert and primary point of contact for Information Services/ Data & Technology Services team regarding EHR enhancements and/or third-party software related to deceased patient management
• Consults with Risk Management and/or Legal regarding sensitive issues
• Coordinates and directs viewing of body for purposes of bereavement and/or making legal identification of body with police authorities and families
• Serves as point of contact for caregivers/family/proxy regarding organ/ tissue donation of deceased patients
• Monitors compliance with all regulations related to decedent care
• Independently initiates and implements problem solving in emergent situations
• Convenes regular meetings with representatives and stakeholders of enterprise end-of-life care and continues improvement efforts
• Manages decedent affairs storage, contracts, and reporting

Education Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree Required
• Bachelor's Degree Healthcare, Human Services, Psychology or similar field of study. Preferred

Experience Qualifications

• At least three (3) years In a healthcare or bereavement setting Required
• At least two (2) years Program or project leadership with demonstrated record of accomplishment Required
• At least five (5) years In a healthcare or bereavement setting Preferred
• Previous experience with process reengineering/Quality improvement Preferred

Skills and Abilities

• Strong organizational, project management, and time management skills (Required proficiency)
• Strong oral and written communication skills (Required proficiency)
• Strong attention to detail (Required proficiency)
• Ability to work independently and with a broad range of people to support programs and projects (Required proficiency)
• Experience managing cross-functional project and/or operational teams (Required proficiency)
• Ability to present self with professional approach and appearance with high level of emotional maturity. (Required proficiency)
• Ability to develop trusting relationships with patients, families and staff. (Required proficiency)
• Ability to work with sensitivity to cultural diversity and assists staff in understanding this diversity. (Required proficiency)
• Understand and comply with all enterprise information security policies, procedures and standards. (Required proficiency)
• Support the integration of information security in the development, design, and implementation of Hospital Technology Resources that process, transmit, or store CHOP information. (Preferred proficiency)

To carry out its mission, CHOP is committed to supporting the health of our patients, families, workforce, and global community. As a condition of employment, CHOP employees who work in patient care buildings or who have patient facing responsibilities must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and receive an annual influenza vaccine. Learn more.

Employees may request exemptions for valid religious and medical reasons. Start dates may be delayed until candidates are immunized or exemption requests are reviewed.

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