Program Leadership and Multidisciplinary Coordination
- Assist the Director with leadership, strategic planning, and coordination of program activities across surgeons, dietitians, patient services associates, clinical reviewers/data abstractors, ambulatory and inpatient teams, and other non-physician team members.
- Serve as liaison among Michigan Medicine, MBSAQIP, MBSC, the Surgery Director, ACU administrators, nurse managers, clinic managers, surgeons, neuropsychology, preoperative clinic, MiChart/Cornerstone contacts, and other operational partners.
- Participate in recruiting, onboarding, training, and evaluating non-physician personnel; support reliable day-to-day team functioning.
- Coordinate leadership, complex case, OR scheduler, MBSAQIP, SAR/adverse-event, MBSC, and other program meetings.
- Maintain bariatric surgeon call coverage documentation and coordinate coverage-related communication when required.
Accreditation, Compliance, and Site Visit Readiness
- Manage accreditation workflows and continuous compliance with MBSAQIP requirements, including policies, procedures, standards, and required program documentation.
- Contact MBSAQIP within 30 days for inquiries and for any requirement that is out of compliance or could affect accreditation.
- Review policies and procedures at least annually, coordinate revisions, and route new or updated materials through the MBS Committee approval process.
- Complete or coordinate Annual Compliance Reports and the triennial MBSAQIP Pre-Review Questionnaire, including collection and submission of supporting documentation.
- Facilitate annual comprehensive MBSAQIP meetings, including invitees, materials, presentations, minutes, and official documentation.
- Lead annual site-visit readiness, including standards verification, documentation assembly, QI summaries, prep meetings, and surveyor communication.
Patient Pathway, Multidisciplinary Review, and Complex Case Coordination
- Coordinate multidisciplinary patient review, including readiness and referral review support, insurance and requirement clarification, complex case identification, and escalation to appropriate clinical or operational team members.
- Coordinate complex case review logistics, including shared documentation, meeting notes, official records, and care team communication.
- Support standardized perioperative care pathways and patient education on indications, procedure options, outcomes, risks, benefits, alternatives, diet, exercise, supplementation, lifestyle changes, discharge expectations, follow-up, medications, and warning signs of complications.
- Review and update patient education documents, discharge education, website content, informational meeting materials, and MiChart templates; obtain MBS Committee review at least annually.
- Coordinate payer, insurance, access, and pathway issues with surgeons, clinical team members, patient services associates, and other stakeholders.
Protocols, Education, and Staff Training
- Develop, document, implement, and revise program protocols; communicate changes to the bariatric team and affected stakeholders and reassess implementation after approximately three months.
- Support protocols and education that help teams recognize bariatric complications, respond to critical findings, and minimize delays in diagnosis and treatment of serious adverse events.
- Ensure completion and documentation of initial and annual training for staff interacting with metabolic and bariatric surgery patients.
- Create and maintain learning-platform materials; provide in-person education when requested or indicated.
- Support onboarding and education for Weight Navigation Program providers, obesity medicine physicians, medical student rotations, MEND fellows, shadowing learners, and related trainees.
- Serve as main program contact for neuropsychology coordination, including regular touchpoints and protocol review or revision.
Quality Improvement, Outcomes, and Data Management
- Ensure outcomes data collection compliance and support QI efforts for all metabolic and bariatric surgery performed at Michigan Medicine.
- With the MBS Director, MBS Committee, and physician team, champion at least one annual QI project using reliable data collection and evaluation methods.
- Define the annual QI focus, review baseline data, perform root cause analysis, identify stakeholders, implement PDCA cycles, reassess performance, and implement countermeasures.
- Review MBSAQIP risk-adjusted and non-risk-adjusted outcomes, MBSC outcomes and scorecards, coordinator feedback, and BCBS-related submissions to identify priorities and implement recommendations.
- Communicate regularly with the clinical reviewer/data abstractor to discuss findings, assure timely data submission, and escalate needed protocol or pathway changes.
- Compile documentation showing how the facility measured, evaluated, and improved performance.
Operational Communication, Access, and Outreach
- Coordinate communication among inpatient and outpatient stakeholders, including APPs when applicable, dietitians, residents, PSAs, physicians, preoperative clinic, neuropsychology, MEND, inpatient units, endoscopy/MPU, ICUs, emergency departments, MiChart, Cornerstone, and related teams.
- Support call center and front desk workflows by answering program questions, assisting with referral review, and communicating insurance or template updates.
- Serve as primary program contact for Patient Relations and Risk Management concerns and coordinate appropriate team and patient communication.
- Participate in GEMBA walks, schedule walks as needed, follow up on outstanding issues, and communicate updates to stakeholders.
- Assist with institution-wide communication of bariatric policies, safe adoption of emerging technologies and procedures, outcomes reporting, marketing, outreach, and program events.