RITA EBERT
Overview
22
22
years of professional experience
Work History
Medical Management Lead
Defense Health Agency
02.2023 - Current
- Support standardized and integrated care management implementation within the Military Health System (MHS) as the Medical Management Lead for Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs) in the entire Defense Health Network (DHN) Indo-Pacific and select Western Pacific MTFs in DHN Pacific Rim and DHN Central.
- Serve as the liaison between the Defense Health Agency (DHA) and Pacific MTF Medical Management (MM) Leads, case managers (CMs), utilization managers (UMs), and disease managers (DMs) to facilitate the provision of appropriate, quality, and cost effective care across the DHNs and the MHS Enterprise. Elevate questions/concerns from MTF MM Leads, CMs, UMs, and DMs to DHA for attention/guidance/resolution.
- Serve on collaborative teams, work groups, and special projects to foster medical management practices.
- Monitor training status of CMs, DMs, UMs and compile appropriate reports as indicators of medical management.
- Serve as change manager to introduce and implement new informatics tools (clinical registries and updated EHR) to end users across the Network.
- Advise DHA/DHN senior leadership in areas of medical management.
Nurse Case Manager
U.S Army, Soldier Recovery Unit
08.2021 - 01.2023
- Gathered and recorded patient health information and data to assess, identify and manage characteristics that affect care outcome.
- Analyzed patient responses to medications, therapies and variances in plans of care.
- Developed and modified patient care plans and assisted interdisciplinary team to identify client needs and goals to determine priorities of care.
- Communicated with healthcare team members to plan, implement and enhance treatment strategies.
- Collaborated with healthcare leaders and providers to support and offer resources in performance of duties to maintain high-quality and efficient patient care.
- Facilitated therapeutic communication, conflict resolution and crisis intervention by redirecting negative behaviors and helped patients regain or improve coping abilities.
- Implemented aspects of patient care under physician orders and sought clarification when needed to promote safety, quality and cost-efficient care.
- Managed patients recovering from medical or surgical procedures.
- Provided exceptional case management services to complex patients such as polytrauma, cancer, TBI, PTSD, major depression.
Clinical Nurse Officer-in-Charge
U.S. Army, Soldier Centered Medical Home
10.2017 - 08.2021
- Serve as the department nursing subject matter expert. Oversee the scope of practice and provision of nursing services within a department comprised of 5 Primary Care Clinics, Immunizations Clinic, and COVID-19 test site to facilitate medical readiness and deployability for 16,000 Active Duty Soldiers.
- Provide full range of supervisory duties, including personnel and resource management comprised of coordinating staffing support, scheduling, and hiring.
- Plan, organize work to be accomplished, establish priorities, make work assignments, monitor progress in terms of timeliness and accuracy of work performed. Evaluate work performance of subordinates and give advice, counsel, or instruction to employees on both technical and administrative matters.
- Establish and enforce performance standards and conduct performance appraisals.
- Provide input regarding organizational, structural, or content changes throughout the ambulatory care centers, services, and clinics in the Medical Treatment Facility.
- Provide care coordination activities, internally within the accountable care organization, and externally with civilian and military medical facilities.
- Direct and educate staff on organizational policies and initiatives to include The Joint Commission (TJC) accreditation and medical home recertification (either National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) or TJC).
- Champion 3 Lean Six Sigma (LSS) or A3 performance improvement (PI) projects to facilitate High Reliability Organization.
- Assist Soldier Health Care Services Chief/Medical Director to create and implement Standard Operating Procedures.
- Actively participate in the Hawaii Military Health System (MHS) Primary Care, Medical Management, and Population Health Working Groups to standardize health care delivery across the Hawaii MHS and facilitate patient-centered integrated care for Army, Navy, and Air Force beneficiaries across the Hawaii multi-service market.
Population Health Nurse
U.S. Army, Soldier Centered Medical Home
12.2013 - 10.2017
- Provide leadership and direction to patient-centered medical home care teams which motivates them to pursue excellence through effective and efficient work processes and technology. Build broad-based constituencies and coalitions to effectively implement population health initiatives and advance population health strategies to support implementation of risk-based healthcare delivery. Apply epidemiological methods to describe the population and its risks, identifying and employing evidence-based interventions and managing data to determine program needs.
- Monitor performance against enterprise benchmarks. Review and analyze quantitative and qualitative data sets for trends in clinical outcomes and value-based performance.
- Make and execute recommendations to drive PI and innovative strategies in support of high quality and cost-effective outcomes. Ensure optimal productivity and performance levels through development and implementation of training and PI programs.
- Maintain continuous alignment with program scope and make modifications to enhance effectiveness and meet organizational goals. Develop comprehensive disease management programs, applying and promoting disease management, health promotion and wellness concepts and strategies.
- Implement Clinical Practice Guidelines to support disease prevention and disease management-based population health initiatives. In conjunction with leadership, accountable for attaining department-wide compliance with regulatory requirements and accreditation standards for TJC and the NCQA.
Nurse Case Manager
U.S. Army, Brain Injury Clinic
09.2007 - 11.2013
- Develop an effective case management program for patients with complex brain injury, behavioral health, and other medical conditions to facilitate the best level of care and smooth transition of patients through the health care continuum.
- Demonstrate excellence in case management practice through patient empowerment and advocacy to promote positive health outcomes and timely disposition of cases. Conduct holistic initial and follow-up assessments to assist patients in establishing specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely goals, balancing patient desires with benefit limitations. Utilize effective collaboration, negotiation, and facilitation skills when interacting with a interdisciplinary treatment team to help develop patient-centered comprehensive treatment plans in accordance with best practice guidelines and protocols. Identify high risk, high acuity patients and provide counseling and consultative support to patients/families regarding health promotion/maintenance, disease process, rehabilitative needs, and health/medication management.
- Partner with Tripler Army Medical Center Information Management Department to develop an automated system (web application) to collect and analyze case management and outcomes data to assess the overall effectiveness of case management services and brain injury treatment program to continuously improve care delivery. Serve as administrator for this web app.
- Train new-hires and supervise LPNs and other RN case managers when substituting as the charge nurse, assigning work based on operational priorities, difficulty of assignments, and employee skill.
Emergency Department Nurse
Staff Or Travel Nurse Or Call-In Various Hospitals
11.2001 - 10.2007
- Trauma nurse at Emergency Departments in various hospitals (Kuakini Medical Center, Tripler Army Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente and Baptist Hospital West) in three states. Provided professional and compassionate nursing services to ill and injured patients requiring emergency medical attention and set up follow-up care and referrals as necessary. Initiated the patient's nursing care plan based on comprehensive nursing assessment and physician's orders. Assisted the physician in performing emergency procedures, including chest tube insertion, tracheostomies, gastric lavage, and suturing lacerations. Screened patient records in order to assess patient history of health related conditions and/or medications that may impact the patient's health status.
Education
Pursuing Online MBA - Projected Graduation 2026
West Texas A&M University
Bachelor of Science - Nursing
University Of Hawaii At Manoa
Honolulu, HIBachelor of Arts - Japanese Studies
University Of Hawaii At Manoa
Honolulu, HIAssociate of Science - Secreterial Administration
Cannon's Business College
Honolulu, HawaiiSkills
- Change management
- Process improvement A3/LSS
- Case management
- Disease management
- Population health management
- Health promotion
- Database management
- Data analysis
- Networking & collaboration
- High performance team building
- Performance appraisal
- EHR transition
Affiliations
- Civilian Service Achievement Medal for Outstanding Service, Commitment, and Dedication While Serving As a Nurse Case Manager in the Soldier Recovery Unit (December 2022)
- Commander's Award for Civilian Service for Outstanding Achievement While Serving as a Supervisory Nurse During the Annual PCMH Flu Drive (November 2020)
- Civilian Service Achievement Medal for Outstanding Service in Support of COVID Operations (March-May 2020)
- Commander's Award for Civilian Service for Meritorious Service While Serving as Supervisory Nurse (September 2019)
- Achievement Medal for Civilian Service for Outstanding Contributions for a Successful TJC Accreditation Survey (August 2019)
- Army Medical Department Center & School - Practice Managers Course (January 2020)
- Army Medical Department Center & School - Entry Level Executive Nursing Course (September 2017)
- Army Medical Department Center & School - Basic Healthcare Administration Course (July 2014)
- Registered Nurse License - active in HI (expires June 2023)
- Red Cross - Basic Life Support for Healthcare Providers (expires March 2025)
- Commission for Case Manager Certification - Certified Case Manager (expires May 2025)
Timeline
Medical Management Lead
Defense Health Agency
02.2023 - Current
Nurse Case Manager
U.S Army, Soldier Recovery Unit
08.2021 - 01.2023
Clinical Nurse Officer-in-Charge
U.S. Army, Soldier Centered Medical Home
10.2017 - 08.2021
Population Health Nurse
U.S. Army, Soldier Centered Medical Home
12.2013 - 10.2017
Nurse Case Manager
U.S. Army, Brain Injury Clinic
09.2007 - 11.2013
Emergency Department Nurse
Staff Or Travel Nurse Or Call-In Various Hospitals
11.2001 - 10.2007
Pursuing Online MBA - Projected Graduation 2026
West Texas A&M University
Bachelor of Science - Nursing
University Of Hawaii At Manoa
Bachelor of Arts - Japanese Studies
University Of Hawaii At Manoa
Associate of Science - Secreterial Administration
Cannon's Business College
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