NHSN Unit Manager - HP V - HAI / AR Program, Communicable Disease Branch

NHSN Unit Manager - HP V - HAI / AR Program, Communicable Disease Branch

Salary : $78,684.00 - $98,355.00 Annually

Location : Denver, CO

Job Type : Full Time

Department : Department of Public Health & Environment

Division : Division of Disease Control and Public Health Response

Opening Date : 11 / 20 / 2025

Closing Date : 12 / 4 / 2025 11 : 59 PM Mountain

FLSA Status : Exempt; position is not eligible for overtime compensation

Primary Physical Work Address : 8100 East Lowry Blvd, Denver, CO 80230

Department Contact Information : Rosalie Esparza at rosalie.esparza@state.co.us

How To Apply : Please submit an online application for this position at governmentjobs.com / careers / colorado . Reach out to the Department Contact to apply using a paper application, including any supplemental questions. Failure to submit a complete and timely application may result in the rejection of your application. Applicants are responsible for ensuring that application materials are received by the appropriate Human Resources office before the closing date and time listed.

This position is open only to Colorado state residents. This is a term-limited position and funding cannot be guaranteed beyond July 31, 2027. We are committed to increasing the diversity of our staff and providing culturally responsive programs and services. Therefore, we encourage responses from people of diverse backgrounds and abilities.

Description of Job

The Division of Disease Control and Public Health Response (DCPHR) is the department's lead surveillance, planning and response arm for public events including communicable disease outbreaks and epidemics, pandemics, bioterrorism, and other public health and mass casualty events and disasters. The division includes the Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response; State Public Health Laboratory; Health Equity Branch, Communicable Disease Branch; Immunization Branch; Public Health Informatics, Reporting, Technology Branch; Refugee Branch; and Operations Branch. The Division exists to ensure that the Department has the ability to effectively prepare for, monitor, detect, diagnose, investigate, and nimbly respond to all types of conditions, events and disasters that impact the public's health.

The Unit : To monitor, investigate, and control epidemic and communicable diseases affecting public health in Colorado, as required under Colorado statute, including enteric diseases, invasive bacterial diseases, respiratory diseases, vaccine-preventable diseases, zoonotic diseases, foodborne and waterborne diseases, tuberculosis, and healthcare-associated infections.

The Healthcare-Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance (HAI / AR) Program has a mission to prevent health care-associated infections and control the spread of emerging antimicrobial-resistance threats in all health care settings in Colorado through surveillance, containment and response, infection prevention, and antimicrobial stewardship.

About the Position : This position oversees collection, analysis, and presentation of HAI data collected by the HAI / AR Program through the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). The position supervises a unit that includes epidemiologists and other staff that coordinate health care facility reporting of HAIs to NHSN, analyze NHSN data, and provide oversight for data management, analysis, and presentation. The position oversees and assures that health care facilities are reporting HAIs as required by statute and provide technical assistance for the use of NHSN. The position oversees and assures the quality and validation of NHSN data. The position coordinates the HAI Advisory Committee that advises CDPHE on the HAI reportable conditions list and the annual delivery of the HAI Annual Report to Colorado legislature, health care providers, and the public.

What You Will Be Doing

The position includes but is not limited to the following duties :

• Plan, prioritize, and assign workload, and analyze and monitor workflow and progress to ensure the quality and quantity of work meets standards, deadlines for deliverables, and program goals and objectives.
• Establish work schedules, review and approve work time and absences using the automated system.
• Identify training and developmental needs, and provide training to develop skills.
• Provide feedback and coaching; write, review, and sign performance plans; evaluate and sign performance evaluations.
• Resolve employee performance problems and issues, disputes, and informal (Step 1) grievances; issue corrective actions and initiate discipline as needed.
• Write and review position descriptions, recommend promotions or demotions, changes in pay, and sign personnel action forms.
• Initiate the hiring process, provide subject matter expertise to OHR during the comparative analysis process, interview applicants, and hire employees after consultation with the second-level appointing authority.
• Organize and maintain NHSN user rights for Communicable Disease Branch staff.
• Update and post HAI reporting requirements and deadlines.
• Oversee assessment of which health care facilities are required to report to NHSN.
• Assist health care facilities to meet NHSN reporting requirements as part of licensure.
• Assist health care facilities to enroll in NHSN and confer rights to view reportable conditions to CDPHE.
• Ensure that data use agreements with NHSN are updated.
• Communicate with CDC for NHSN technical support.
• Communicate through NHSN about Colorado reporting requirements and deadlines.
• Offer technical assistance opportunities to health care facilities for NHSN reporting and use.
• Complete relevant activities, milestones, and performance measures required by cooperative agreements.
• Provide expertise and mentorship for data management and analysis to unit staff.
• Standardize the quality and format of public web postings of HAI / AR surveillance data.
• Mentor unit staff on epidemiology concepts related to causality, association, bias, confounding, mediation, statistical testing, and interpretation of findings.
• Coordinate and respond to data requests from the HAI / AR Program, other Communicable Disease Programs, and external partners.
• Coordinate the analysis of NHSN data.
• Provide analytic support to the HAI / AR Program for analysis of data from other surveillance platforms.
• Monitor and support quality assurance for NHSN reporting.
• Oversee validation of NHSN reporting.
• Guide the HAI Surveillance Data Analyst on data management, analysis, and presentation for the HAI Annual Report.
• Oversee drafting of the written HAI Annual Report.
• Oversee and facilitate HAI Advisory Committee meetings, including schedules, agendas, materials, minutes, recordings, conference rooms, and conference calls.
• Oversee HAI Advisory Committee membership and recruitment.
• Revise and update bylaws, and responds to inquiries about and reports out HAI Advisory Committee activities as needed.
• Maintain HAI Advisory Committee meeting materials according to retention schedule.

Minimum Qualifications, Substitutions, Conditions of Employment & Appeal Rights

An applicant may meet the minimum qualifications for this job in one of two ways : They may qualify through their work experience alone or through a combination of education and work experience.

Experience Only : Eight (8) years of health professional experience in a program affecting public health or applied epidemiology involving public health surveillance, data management, and data presentation.

Education and Experience : A combination of related education in public health, public health administration, or health administration or closely-related and / or health professional experience in the oversight of a program affecting public health or applied epidemiology, infection control practice and disease measures, communicable disease or closely related field equal to Eight (8) years.

NOTE : Click on the link here to HOW TO APPLY and submit a complete application. That documents your work history giving details of your qualifications, including how your experience aligns with the minimum and preferred qualifications for this position when listing your work history.

Conditions of Employment : Must be willing to :