Massachusetts Veterans Jobs

The Cell Therapy Coordination job family provides specialized adult and pediatric patient and resource scheduling for high complexity, high risk clinical services supporting hematopoietic stem cell transplant patients and donors, and immune effector cell therapies including CAR-T. Following exceptionally tightly defined procedures as a member of a highly orchestrated interdisciplinary team, Cell Therapy Coordinators perform complex and time sensitive case management and scheduling processes across multiple clinical platforms using diverse computer systems following proscribed documentation and checklists. Requiring an ability to learn and work within multiple sets of regulatory compliance requirements, and performing complex decision tree procedures in more advanced levels of the job family, Cell Therapy Coordinators provide vital technical support infrastructure to a dynamic clinical environment of care.

Cell Therapy Coordinators work closely with and schedule patients and donors, or may perform donor search and clearance procedures, supporting clinical providers, nursing staff, apheresis and other tissue collection staff, cell processing staff, NMDP network centers, donor registries, social work, care coordination resource specialists, clinic testing and exam staff, procedures facilities, off-site medical facilities, oral medicine and other consulting specialist offices, hospital admitting, and a host of other resources involved in the preparation for and ongoing care of patients undergoing cellular therapies. Ensures that required documents are available at appointments and testing is performed within standards as established by FACT, the FDA, NMDP and JC and the specific protocol under which the patient is treated. In conjunction with RN transplant coordinators, Cell Therapy Coordinators provide extensive direction to patients, donors and caregivers to ensure that patients and donors understand their schedules for testing and treatment, and assist them in accessing appropriate staff and resources to ensure compliance and support the best possible outcomes.

Located in Boston and the surrounding communities, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is a leader in life changing breakthroughs in cancer research and patient care. We are united in our mission of conquering cancer, HIV/AIDS and related diseases. We strive to create an inclusive, diverse, and equitable environment where we provide compassionate and comprehensive care to patients of all backgrounds, and design programs to promote public health particularly among high-risk and underserved populations. We conduct groundbreaking research that advances treatment, we educate tomorrow's physician/researchers, and we work with amazing partners, including other Harvard Medical School-affiliated hospitals.

• Responsible for effective and efficient scheduling of patients and/or donors for clinical services and other resources, including but not limited to exam and infusion clinics, donor services, donor network centers, apheresis facilities, cellular product laboratory processing, financial counselor support, care coordination, social work, nutrition, and other professional support services, operating room facilities, nursing support, admission to the hospital and associated beds

• As all patients or donors served by this job family shall be considered high risk or falling under highly regulated services, this job family is responsible for carrying out specialized tasks to support regulatory requirements and patient safety, requiring an understanding of the sequential processes involved in patient treatment plans that fall under specified regulatory controls

• Organizes and submits required documentation to support insurance approval and/or donor clearance

• Effectively communicates scheduled components of complex care to patients and/or donors

• Adheres to guidelines and instructions as laid out in the coordinator guide that is applicable to the position (patient, donor, pedi or adult)

• Participates in continuous training and maintains current knowledge of the clinical scheduling process, how the regulatory standards drive that process, and how the requirements impact the assigned patient population to achieve patient safety, flow and the resource utilization goals of the organization

• Responsible for ensuring filing or reporting of certain documentation, including patient records and the proper and timely posting of updates to the clinical scheduling systems and special databases as needed

• May lead or participate in the development of new scheduling systems or processes

• Participates in routine case review meetings to represent patients and/or donors assigned

• Maintains proficiency in operating multiple clinical information systems applications

• Scheduling of clinical services for assigned patients or donors following prescribed schemas and checklists, and following the guidelines for the assigned responsibilities

• Working with multidisciplinary teams of clinicians, develops timetables and ascertains resource availability for multiple clinical services to support the patient's progress through complex therapies

• Scheduling of screening and/or evaluation procedures for complex therapies or therapies requiring healthcare insurance pre-authorization; expected to interact with insurance case managers as needed to provide clinical documentation required for obtaining financial authorization;

• Active participant in routine interdisciplinary case review meetings, contributing information to the case management process based on the interactions with assigned patients, donors, and caregivers

• May be asked to cover for other Transplant and Cell Therapy Coordinators to maintain continuity of care and timely support of patients and/or donors

• Must meet documented training and competency assurances by management as required by DFCI, federal and other accrediting body guidelines; must be able to routinely apply formal standard operating procedures as laid out to meet federal and other regulatory bodies and institutional patient safety standards

• Must be competent in the use of multiple clinical information system applications; must be able to learn new systems as they are implemented; must be competent in the dissemination of information from multiple information systems to manage comprehensive and complex scheduling of services on behalf of patients while meeting the institutional needs for efficient and effective use of clinical resources

For donor search coordinator positions:

• May be introduced to donor search process algorithms and be asked to observe or be formally trained and tested in donor identification and work-up/clearance procedures as part of progression in this job family

• If managing transplant donor search and acquisition of donor products, must be able to become familiar with the transplantation process and stated HLA and search algorithms to identify suitable donors for transplant recipients, coordinate donor workup and clearance, and organize the acquisition and transport of the donor product; organizes and maintains several separate records of patient-donor transplant information following strict guidelines

• Responsible for registering stem cell donors in Patient Registration system and schedules all donor visits at DFCI and BWH

• Responsible for the scheduling of NMDP and related donors for confirmatory HLA typing, work up, mobilization and collection of stem cells

• Provides education to registry and family member donors about the donation process

• Identifies and minimizes barriers to donation by supporting donor financial and logistical needs

• Manage and handle donor testing and research samples, ensuring the appropriate samples are collected, packaged and shipped to the appropriate outside lab

• Responsible for internal transportation of stem cell including labeling, packaging and courier hand-off

• Responsible for performing stem cell count calculations on products accurately

• Orders Filgrastim from NMDP contracted pharmacy and ensure drug is received by DFCI Research Pharmacy

• Responsible for assessing HLA typing of patient and donors to determine appropriate match grade

• Becomes familiar with HLA donor search algorithms including HLA loci and other non-HLA factors, such as ABO, age and CMV status

• Administers donor Health History Questionnaire and makes donor risk determinations per NMDP guidelines

• Manage donor Apheresis and Marrow collections for multiple outside donor centers and registries

• Required to complete all NMDP donor management and protocol training each year

• Become familiar with NMDP donor management/documentation systems

• Serve as primary contact for all donors being managed at DFCI

• May accompany medical team to the OR for transplant donor bone marrow harvests and is responsible for the completion and reporting of all OR documentation required by federal, regional, and other accrediting bodies

• May be assigned to remain on-call during the evening hours as needed to receive stem cell collection cell counts and relay information to the clinical team, apheresis center and the donor

• May be assigned to provide on-call evening and weekend coverage for any urgent courier issues for incoming donor products for DFCI transplant patients coming from national and international donor centers

• Associates Degree; Bachelor’s Degree in Healthcare Administration, Health Sciences or similar field preferred.

• 2 years of experience in a patient care or healthcare administration role, or clinical laboratory technician in a complex healthcare environment.

• Demonstrated ability to work in highly regulated environments, such as clinical trials or complex medical systems

• Ability and willingness to work effectively in a collaborative interdisciplinary team model

• Must be detail oriented with excellent verbal and written communication skills

• Must be able to maintain high degree of focus on cases assigned through to completion

• Ability to work under tightly controlled conditions, following strict guidelines

• Ability to remain focused on patients or donors assigned through to completion of work, sometime requiring working longer days to ensure that cases stay on track or requiring effective handoff of cases to other coordinators

• Proficient with Microsoft Office products and knowledge of electronic medical records systems as well as willingness to learn various systems unique to this service line

• Willingness to engage in efforts to support an inclusive culture and workplace

At Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, we work every day to create an innovative, caring, and inclusive environment where every patient, family, and staff member feels they belong. As relentless as we are in our mission to reduce the burden of cancer for all, we are equally committed to diversifying our faculty and staff. Cancer knows no boundaries and when it comes to hiring the most dedicated and diverse professionals, neither do we. If working in this kind of organization inspires you, we encourage you to apply.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is an equal opportunity employer and affirms the right of every qualified applicant to receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, national origin, sexual orientation, genetic information, disability, age, ancestry, military service, protected veteran status, or other characteristics protected by law.

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