Privacy Specialist

Awarded a Healthiest Employer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona aims to fulfill its mission to inspire health and make it easy. AZ Blue offers a variety of health insurance products and services to meet the diverse needs of individuals, families, and small and large businesses as well as providing information and tools to help individuals make better health decisions.

At AZ Blue, we have a hybrid workforce strategy, called Workability, that offers flexibility with how and where employees work. Our positions are classified as hybrid, onsite or remote. While the majority of our employees are hybrid, the following classifications drive our current minimum onsite requirements:

• Hybrid People Leaders: must reside in AZ, required to be onsite at least twice per week

• Hybrid Individual Contributors: must reside in AZ, unless otherwise cited within this posting, required to be onsite at least once per week

• Hybrid 2 (Operational Roles such as but not limited to: Customer Service, Claims Processors, and Correspondence positions): must reside in AZ, unless otherwise cited within this posting, required to be onsite at least once per month

• Onsite: daily onsite requirement based on the essential functions of the job

• Remote: not held to onsite requirements, however, leadership can request presence onsite for business reasons including but not limited to staff meetings, one-on-ones, training, and team building

Please note that onsite requirements may change in the future, based on business need, and job responsibilities. Most employees should expect onsite requirements and at a minimum of once per week.

Purpose of the job

Performs privacy investigation, research and training to ensure that BCBSAZ complies with state and federal laws, as well as activities that promote an ethics culture within BCBSAZ.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

1.       Required Work Experience

·      6 months of experience with government or corporate compliance, privacy, or legal issues (Level 1)

·      4 years of experience with government or corporate privacy issues (Level 2)

·      5 years of experience with government or corporate privacy issues (Level 3)

2.       Required Education

·      High-School Diploma or GED in general field of study (All Levels)

3.       Required Licenses

·      N/A

4.       Required Certifications

·      N/A

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

1.       Preferred Work Experience

·      2 years experience with compliance, privacy, government  programs or legal  issues (Level 1)

·      5 years experience with compliance, privacy, government programs or legal  issues in a healthcare industry (Level 2)

·      7 years experience with compliance, privacy, government programs or legal  issues in a healthcare industry (Level 3)

2.       Preferred Education

·      College Degree

·      Master’s Degree in business, legal or healthcare field of study (Level 3)

·      Juris Doctorate (Level 3)

3.       Preferred Licenses

·      N/A

4.       Preferred Certifications

·      Specialized training and/or certification from the BCBS Association (Levels 1 and 2)

·      Advanced privacy professional certificate or legal training (Levels 2 and 3)

ESSENTIAL job functions AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Level 1

• Researches, writes, revises, and/or delivers privacy training modules for both on-line and stand-up delivery that applies the laws, regulations and policies to targeted risk areas. 
• Researches, develops and writes employee supplemental education materials such as brochures, flyers, e-mail notices, newsletter articles and website content on complex government  or corporate privacy issues.
• Participates on corporate teams as necessary. 
• Develops, implements and performs monitoring and auditing systems as reflected in the Federal Sentencing Guidelines and government program guidance for privacy including those required for regulatory agencies, Company management and Board of Directors.
• Monitors and responds to correspondence in department email box from internal customers and external contacts including brokers, members and members’ next of kin.
• Assist team in meeting project deadlines and schedules; assists with vendor reviews and privacy incidents as requested.
• Maintains internal business partner facing website to ensure accurate information is available Reviews of Powers of Attorney, Trust documents and company created forms submitted by members to allow access to Private Health Information.Maintains database or similar systems to track the status of member submitted documentation.
• Prepare and maintain complex tracking system for submission and reporting of outside counsel invoicing.Administrative duties, as requested.

Level 2

• Researches best practices and new government laws and regulations for government and corporate privacy  programs and recommends modifications to programs based on BCBSAZ’s size, corporate culture and risk assessments.
• Performs privacy and security reviews in accordance with accreditation, privacy and regulatory standards.
• Provides consultation to management on privacy issues that affect their departments.
• Represents BCBSAZ at industry conferences and presents best practices.
• Manages projects with multi-disciplinary teams.
• Works collaboratively and cross trains with other Privacy Specialists and others in the Legal Department.
• Acquires and maintains an in-depth knowledge of privacy, including legal requirements, current government or corporate compliance, ethics, and industry best practices.  Serves as subject matter expert.
• Assists management of Legal as required on other projects / tasks.
• Serves as back up for Corporate Ombudsman, responding to high-priority member and provider complaints.

Level 3

• Through critical analysis, identifies possible violations of laws, regulations, or policies of employees, providers, subscribers, vendors and contractors by applying the appropriate standards.
• Performs in-depth investigations for possible violations by researching, data gathering, interviewing, analyzing findings, developing corrective action plans and implementing those plans. 
• Mentors team members and trains new team members.

ALL Levels

• Each progressive level includes the ability to perform the essential functions of any lower levels.
• The position requires a full-time work schedule. Full-time is defined as working at least 40 hours per week, plus any additional hours as requested or as needed to meet business requirements.
• Performs all other duties as assigned.

REQUIRED COMPETENCIES

1.       Required Job Skills (All Levels)

·         Intermediate skill in use of office equipment, including copiers, fax machines, scanner and telephones

·         Intermediate PC proficiency

·         Intermediate proficiency in spreadsheet, database, presentation and word processing software

2.       Required Professional Competencies (All Levels)

·         Advanced knowledge of ethical, corporate or government  compliance, or privacy issues

·         Analytical skills to support independent and effective decisions

·         Prioritize tasks and work with multiple priorities, sometimes under limited time constraints.

·         Perseverance in the face of resistance or setbacks

·         Effective interpersonal skills and ability to maintain positive working relationship with others.     

·         Verbal and written communication skills and the ability to interact professionally with a diverse group, executives, managers, and subject matter experts.

·         Ability to create and deliver employee education of complex government or corporate privacy issues in an understandable way.

·         Maintain confidentiality and privacy 

·         Analytical knowledge necessary to generate reports based on available data and then make decisions based on reported data  

·         Excellent judgment

3.       Required Leadership Experience and Competencies (All Levels)

·         Take appropriate risks using available data          

·         Build synergy with a diverse team in an ever-changing environment.

PREFERRED COMPETENCIES

1.       Preferred Job Skills (All Levels)

·         Advanced skill in use of office equipment, including copiers, fax machines, scanner and telephones

·         Advanced PC proficiency

·         Advanced proficiency in spreadsheet, database, presentation and word processing software

2.       Preferred Professional Competencies (All Levels)

·         Expert knowledge of government  or corporate Privacy

·         Ability to work with ambiguous and conflicting information while keeping focused on the end goal.

3.       Preferred Leadership Experience and Competencies

·         N/A

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Our Commitment

AZ Blue does not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status or any other protected group.

Thank you for your interest in Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona.  For more information on our company, see azblue.com.  If interested in this position, please apply.