Applications Analyst - Epic Willow (Salaried, Full time)

Organization Overview, Mission, Vision, and Values

Our mission is to improve the health of people in the communities we serve through compassionate, high-quality care, prevention, and wellness education. Washington Regional Medical System is a community-owned, locally governed, non-profit health care system located in Northwest Arkansas in the heart of Fayetteville, which is consistently ranked among the Best Places to live in the country. Our 425-bed medical center has been named the #1 hospital in Arkansas for five consecutive years by U.S. News & World Report. We employ 3,200 team members and serve the region with over 40 clinic locations, the region’s only Level II trauma center, and five Centers of Excellence - the Washington Regional J.B. Hunt Transport Services Neuroscience Institute; Washington Regional Walker Heart Institute; Washington Regional Women and Infants Center; Washington Regional Total Joint Center; and Washington Regional Pat Walker Center for Seniors. 

Position Summary

The Applications Analyst – Epic Willow reports to the Assistant Manager, Epic Applications. This position is responsible for advanced support, troubleshooting, maintenance, design, build, testing, implementation, and optimization of Epic Willow and related pharmacy applications. The role partners with pharmacy leadership, pharmacists, physicians, nursing, clinical informatics, revenue cycle, supply chain, information services, and Epic/vendor stakeholders to support safe, efficient, compliant, and patient-centered medication management across inpatient and ambulatory settings. Key areas of responsibility include medication records and formularies, ordering and verification, dispensing, inventory, clinical decision support, charging, interfaces, pharmacy automation, medication administration dependencies, application reliability, and cross-application integration.

Essential Position Responsibilities

• Maintain advanced knowledge of Epic Willow functionality, including medication records, formularies, order and verification workflows, dispensing, inventory, pharmacy queues, clinical decision support, charging, medication administration dependencies, application interfaces, pharmacy automation, and downstream impacts across the enterprise
• Lead pharmacy, clinical, operational, revenue cycle, supply chain, internal information services, and Epic/vendor partners in developing Epic Willow enhancements, optimization initiatives, and workflow improvement projects
• Oversee Epic Willow application design, build, configuration, maintenance, and validation to ensure functionality aligns with pharmacy operations, medication safety, clinical care, regulatory, revenue cycle, inventory, and end-user requirements
• Perform complex analysis, build, implementation, and optimization of medication workflows supporting prescribing, verification, preparation, dispensing, administration, monitoring, charging, inventory management, and medication reconciliation
• Configure and maintain medication records, formularies, NDC mappings, order questions, dispense logic, pharmacy queues, labels, clinical decision support, shortage substitutions, charging rules, and related pharmacy master files in accordance with approved governance and change-control processes
• Meet regularly with pharmacy leaders, pharmacists, physicians, nursing, medication safety, clinical informatics, revenue cycle, supply chain, and operational teams to evaluate workflow concerns and identify opportunities to improve safety, efficiency, compliance, documentation integrity, and user experience
• Lead coordinated testing for Epic Willow, including unit, regression, system, integrated, interface, pharmacy automation, medication ordering, verification, dispensing, administration, charging, inventory, reporting, and user acceptance testing
• Serve as an application and workflow resource by translating medication management, pharmacy operational, clinical, regulatory, and business requirements into reliable system solutions
• Coordinate Epic Willow interfaces and integrations with automated dispensing cabinets, dispensing and packaging systems, wholesaler and drug knowledge databases, barcode workflows, medication administration functionality, revenue cycle applications, and other connected systems
• Provide mentorship for team members and assist with team member training, workflow education, and knowledge transfer, as needed
• Ensure programs and services support applicable Joint Commission, CMS, controlled-substance, medication management, quality, Promoting Interoperability, and organizational governance requirements
• Ensure the safeguarding of protected health information and appropriate access to medication and pharmacy data
• Maintain accurate application documentation, build records, test scripts, workflow diagrams, issue resolutions, and support materials
• Monitor help desk software for new tickets; troubleshoot complex pharmacy application issues; perform root-cause analysis; and document timely, sustainable resolutions
• Lead Epic Willow projects, upgrades, enhancements, optimization efforts, go-live activities, testing, stabilization, and ongoing maintenance initiatives
• Identify and lead opportunities to standardize and improve medication ordering, verification, dispensing, administration, inventory, charging, reporting, and pharmacy operational workflows through application optimization and process improvement
• Adhere to all information services policies, procedures, application governance, change-management, and documentation standards
• Participate in on-call support and lead incident response, medication-related issue resolution, and downtime procedures, as assigned

Qualifications

• Education:  Bachelor’s degree or clinical license, preferred.
• Licensure and Certifications: Epic Willow Inpatient and/or Epic Willow Ambulatory certification required. Additional Epic certification or proficiency in Willow Inventory, Beacon, Orders, Bridges, or related integrated applications preferred. Pharmacy licensure or certification is preferred when applicable to the candidate’s background.
• Experience: Four to six years of clinical, pharmacy, operational, or healthcare applications experience as an applications analyst supporting multiple modules or applications, with direct experience in Epic build, testing, implementation, troubleshooting, and optimization strongly preferred. Experience supporting Epic Willow workflows is preferred, including medication records and formularies, order verification, dispensing, inventory, charging, clinical decision support, pharmacy automation, medication administration dependencies, interfaces, and reporting. Strong knowledge of medication-use processes, pharmacy operations, application dependencies, testing methodologies, integration workflows, change control, and coordination with pharmacy, clinical, revenue cycle, supply chain, technology, interface, data, reporting, and operational teams is required.

Work Environment: This position will spend 90% of time sitting while performing work in a standard office environment and 10% of time standing and/or walking while pushing, pulling, lifting, and/or carrying up to 50 lbs. This role is considered a remote position with onsite presence as needed.

Notice: This job description is designed to provide an overview of the essential and principal duties and responsibilities of the position. The job description is not designed or intended to cover or set forth a comprehensive listing of all activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Washington Regional reserves the right in its absolute discretion to change duties, responsibilities or activities or assign new duties, responsibilities, or activities at any time with or without notice. Employees may be directed to perform job-related tasks other than those specifically presented in this description.