Position Summary:

Methodist Healthcare Ministries is seeking a Manager to oversee our Medical-Legal Partnership program and policy initiatives. The role will require expertise of both medical and legal public policy issues, with a specific focus on integrating legal services within the healthcare setting to help patients with legal issues such as housing/eviction and benefit enrollment. The Policy Manager will lead the Medical-Legal Partnership team in the Department of Policy & Advocacy, coordinate cross-collaborative efforts, engage in policy development and analyze data to make informed recommendations. The manager will advocate for systemic changes through the lens of the IHELP framework: Income and insurance (I), Housing and utilities (H), Education and employment (E), Legal status (L), and Personal and family stability (P).

Salary:

Annual salary rate begins at $93,734.00. Mid range at $117,168.00. Actual starting rate will be commensurate with experience and education.

Qualifying Skills:

Knowledge of a medical legal partnership program| Knowledge of legal and social barriers to public benefit programs | Strong understanding of the policy development process at local, state and federal levels | Strong quantitative and qualitative research skills, data interpretation, and making policy recommendations | Robust project management capabilities to meet organizational objectives

Essential Duties:

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  Team Leadership and Management: Lead the organization-wide initiative, promote cross-departmental collaboration, oversee contracted legal staff, and manage the Medical-Legal Partnership integration efforts. Manage program definition, initiation, and implementation. Oversee budget allocation for various program-related activities such as contracts, events, and travel. Ensure team's performance meets target objectives as defined yearly by department leader. Contribute to the advancement of the Policy & Advocacy team strategy by supporting strategic priorities through assigned milestones.


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  Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Plan, organize and facilitate meetings, workshops and events to ensure there is collaboration and shared objectives between healthcare providers and legal professionals while maintaining big-picture assessment and alignment with MHM's strategic and policy priorities.


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  Data-Driven Policy Analysis: Conduct and overseequantitative and qualitative data to analyze the efficacy of policy priorities, best practices, and current and future programs (i.e., Medical Legal Partnership program) and develop public policy recommendations addressing systemic inequities. Also oversees data collection and reporting function for internal program reporting.


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  Advocacy Coalitions: Actively engage in, and leverage best practices to improve, medical and legal coalitions aimed at affecting policy change focused at local, state and federal levels.


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  Advocacy Material Development: Oversee the creation of policy briefs, white papers, fact sheets, advocacy alerts, presentations, testimony, and coalition letters to educate and influence key stakeholders.


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  Communication and Relationship Management: Direct the development of compelling content for the website, newsletters, social media, and other print materials to explain the benefits and implications of medical-legal partnerships on health and wellness. Design workshops and develop presentations for leadership, team members, partner organizations and conferences. Contribute to the development of, and participation in, content for multiple channels, including informational video recordings related to public policy priorities and team supported programs. Develop and facilitate content for website, newsletters, social media and print materials.


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  Contract Management & Oversight: Manage a set of contracts andsupervise contract-related staff and activities, including negotiating, monitoring, budgeting, and reviewing deliverables. Provides early identification of potential problems and allows for flexibility within current and future contract parameters.


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  Policy Management: Identify, analyze, and synthesize government policies at federal, state, and local levels, including budgetary tracking and interpretation of source documents. Research and analyze current and future program emphases and legislative proposals, conducting statistical analyses and drafting policy recommendations to address systemic inequities. Lead in the creation of various advocacy materials such as policy briefs, white papers, and advocacy alerts, engaging in coalitions to drive policy change across local, state, and federal arenas.


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  Research and Education: Manage external strategic research and educational efforts in alignment with policy priorities, offering insights and data interpretation to support MHM program implementation. Translate research findings into research and education materials. Disseminate research to identified stakeholders and partners. Adhere to document storage protocols for all research and education materials. Gain understanding of the market and the impact of Social Determinants of Health (SDoH), vital conditions and root causes of health and wellbeing. Serve as the organizational research liaison. Design and implement qualitative and quantitative evaluation tools to support the development and evaluation of policy objectives.


• Perform all other duties as assigned.

Education/Experience:

• JD from an accredited law school, Doctorate in Public Health or Master's degree in public policy, public health, public administration, social/behavioral or government related fields required.


• Must have a minimum of four (4) years of experience in a private practice or legal services setting or four (4) years of experience in public policy and advocacy at local, state or federal levels, with an emphasis on health care delivery systems, public health programs, or related fields required.


• It is required that at least 1 of the 4 years of experience includes supervising contract staff.


• Demonstrated ability to build relationships and to engage with internal and external stakeholders on collaborative projects.


• Experience advocating on behalf of underserved populations and addressing disparities that impact the health and wellbeing of individuals, families and communities is strongly preferred.

• Supervises contracted staff of the Medical-Legal Partnership team in accordance with the organization's policies. Responsibilities include onboarding and training contracted team members.

Ability to read, analyze, and interpret health status and policy reports, publications, professional journals, governmental regulations, and legal documents. Ability to interpret and prepare policy positions via white papers and presentations. Ability to write speeches and articles for publication that conform to prescribed style and format. Ability to speak effectively and respond to questions from diverse audiences. Bilingual (English/Spanish) preferred.

Reasoning Ability:

Must have critical thinking skills and able to define problems collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions. Must be able to analyze and interpret an extensive variety of local, state, and federal public policies and data, and comprehend implications for populations served by MHM.

Certificates and Licenses:

None

Computer Skills:

Demonstrates advanced working knowledge of the Internet, Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Tableau. Able to visualize data, customize toolbars, import and insert graphs, develop spreadsheets, and complex reports.

Other:

Passion to create change that leads to better lives and healthier communities.

Capacity to adapt rapidly to changing priorities, objectives, and situations.

Ability to work in a changing environment and take on tasks at all levels.

Must be able to drive and have access to a vehicle; maintain valid driver's license and auto liability insurance.

Able to collaboratively work with hybrid team of onsite or remote team members a plus.

Travel:

Must be available to travel at least 25% of the time as job duties require. May work some evenings, weekends and holidays as job duties may require, depending on biennial state legislative sessions.

Work Environment and Physical Demands:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those a team member encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the team member is exposed to an office environment and community settings having direct contact with people on a regular basis. Position may necessitate bending, stooping, twisting, turning, walking, sitting, and standing for periods of time. Must be able to lift and maneuver up to 25 pounds.

Organization's Mission and Commitment to Health Equity:

The mission of Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. (MHM) is "Serving Humanity to Honor God" by improving the physical, mental, and spiritual health of those least served in the Rio Texas Conference area of The United Methodist Church. The Board of Directors approved a strategic plan in October 2019 that places health equity at the center of the work MHM wants to do. The Board of Directors approved the following statement:

Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. believes that to improve the wellness of the least served and fully live out its mission of "Serving Humanity to Honor God," it must recognize the inequities inherent in its communities that contribute to poor health outcomes. Health Equity is both the process and goal by which Methodist Healthcare Ministries seeks to carry out that purpose. Health Equity is a framework of thought and action that strives to reduce racial and socio-economic disparities and create fair and just opportunity for every person to reach their full potential for health and life and contribute to that of others.