Venuga Varatharajan
9 Callander Place, Bella Vista,NSW
Summary
Highly motivated and conscientious individual with over twenty years of experience in healthcare settings. Skilled in health information management, electronic medical record implementation and support, business analysis and resolution, and project management. Possesses excellent communication skills and is capable of interacting effectively with personnel at all levels. Proven ability to work independently as well as a team player. Committed to enhancing knowledge and skills through continued education and professional development. Aims to make a positive impact on the healthcare organisation.
Overview
22
22
years of professional experience
Work History
EMR Patient Care Informatics Manager
Sydney Children's Hospital Network
09.2023 - Current
- Responsibility to review and interpret all eMR clinical and administrative workflow designs, and then document the eMR application, system, interface, integration and reporting requirements to support the specialised tertiary paediatric healthcare
- Ensure the system and workflows designed are patient centric, focussed on delivery of safe care, improved efficiencies and support best practice healthcare
- * Liaise with business and technical stakeholders, eHealth, NSW Ministry of Health, and vendors to ensure solution design is compatible with the existing technology base, SCHN and Health standards, policies and conventions, and the SCHN Digital Strategy
- Develop an action plan to deliver the changes required for implementation and adoption of SCHN eMR.
EMR Application Manager
Sydney Children’s Hospital Network
01.2016 - 09.2023
- Application management and support of Patient Management system including Surgical Waitlist, Outpatient scheduling and Health Information applications across both facilities (Westmead and Randwick)
- Assist in a number of initiatives that align with the clinical and IM&T strategies of the network and the statewide single digit patient record strategy.
- Enhancements, upgrade, optimisation and development of eMR Patient Management, Scheduling and Profile solutions.
- Application Testing including development of test scripts.
Maternity Leave
The Children’s Hospital At Westmead
12.2014 - 01.2016
EMR Application Manager (Patient & Record Management)
The Children's Hospital At Westmead
03.2012 - 12.2014
- Providing management advice, support and guidance for implementation and on-going support of clinical applications at CHW
- Provide overall support of all systems managed by unit and participate in development and implementation of training strategies
- Managing and maintaining system tables for Admissions, Wards, Out Patients and Medical Records elements associated with Patient Management systems to support day-to-day delivery of clinical care Assist with development of all Policies and Procedures related to use of clinical systems and electronic records management
- Foster and maintain relationships with clinical users and business unit managers as well as network with key stakeholders within the CHW assist in a number of initiatives that align with the clinical and IM&T strategies of CHW and the statewide ICIP implementation strategy
- This includes successful definition of specifications, configuration and acceptance testing of clinical systems at CHW.
eMR Application Specialist
The Children's Hospital At Westmead
02.2008 - 03.2012
- Providing management advice, support and guidance for implementation and on-going support of clinical applications
- Assist with progressive implementation of Cerner HNA Millennium Scheduling application by interpreting business and user requirements to support business practice and patient care
- Provide overall support of all systems managed by unit and participate in development and implementation of training strategies
- Managing and maintaining scheduling system to support day-to-day delivery of clinical care, as well as fostering and maintaining relationships with clinical users and business unit managers within CHW.
eMR Application Manager
The Children's Hospital At Westmead
11.2006 - 02.2008
- EMR Projects
- Electronic discharge summary implementation project (eDRS)
- Project Plan development and management
- Project Statement development including quality plan development
- Requirements Definition Planning
- Business Process Review Workshops
- Functional Analysis and Design
- Risk and issues management
- Quality and audit activities
- System Testing (Unit and Integration Testing)
- User focus group coordination
- Post Implementation Reviews
Deputy Health Information Manager
The Children's Hospital At Westmead
10.2005 - 11.2006
- Responsible for efficient planning, administration and evaluation of a comprehensive Medical Record Service, including co-ordination and development of overall medical record policy
- Responsible for the day to day management and function of document imaging processes and staff overseeing scanning tasks.
Special Projects Health Information Manager
The Children's Hospital At Westmead
06.2004 - 10.2005
- Supervisory responsibilities for a team a clerical office workers
- Responsible for abstracting data from patient records and coding using 3M Encoder in ICD-9-CM
- Relieving other Health Information Manager in periods of absence
- Responsible for undertaking specific projects relating to health information within Medical Record Service
- Working closely with eMR team to manage change management following implementation of new PAS system.
Health Information Manager
03.2004 - 06.2004
- Project lead for health information management solutions of the Cerner Patient Administration System (PAS) implementation.
Product Specialist
Trak Health
02.2003 - 03.2004
- Overseeing development and management of Health Information Management solutions of electronic medical record and Patient administration system.
Health Information Manager
Primecare Consulting Company
02.2002 - 02.2004
- Medical record management at private and public hospitals
- Clinical coding using ICD-AM at day surgery units, public and private hospitals
- Quality audits
- ACHS accreditation
- Extraction of coded data for private health insurance companies
Education
Bachelor of Applied Science - Health Information Management
University of Sydney
01.2002
Skills
Project Management
Involvement in various aspects of project management including;
- Project planning
- Project initiation
- Project Management and Governance
- Project Deliverables
- State Implementation Roles and Responsibilities
- Issues and Risk Management
- Change Management - Completed AIM Implementation Methodology Course
- Quality Assurance and Audit
- Initiation, development and promotion of methods for collection and presentation of statistical data, morbidity and mortality data and administrative information
- Management of medical record systems incorporating both onsite and offsite storage systems
- Compliance to all Department of Health patient confidentiality standards relating to management of health information
- Participation in Equip surveys ensuring compliance to all Australian Council of Healthcare standards (ACHS) requirements for medical record function
- Experience in clinical coding in ICD-10-AM in both public and private health care settings
- Medico-legal management including FOI requests, research, insurance and Police request management
Communication
- High standard of communication skills developed through preparation of business proposals, newsletters, project reports and procedure manuals/ user guides
- Verbal communication skills developed through creating and delivering presentations to diverse audiences
- Effective interpersonal skills demonstrated through networks developed throughout organisation and membership and responsibilities on various committees and working parties
- Experience with dealing with people on all levels from various disciplines and functions across large organisation
- Continuing involvement in BPR initiatives for State via BPR/Information Working Party
- Experience in development of detailed business process flowcharts as per BPR Methodology adopted for Implementation Planning Study
Planning and Organisation
- Experience in preparation of departmental business plans and strategy
- Aptitude for thoroughness and attention to detail
- Excellent problem solving capabilities Able to use creative and innovative problem solving methods and approaches
- Demonstrated ability to work to deadlines
Computer applications
- Systems Administration and functional experience in Cerner applications
- Proficient user of Office 365
- Working knowledge of MS Access and various Internet applications
- Issues Management via LogPlus application
- NSW EDW – Cerner build and testing
- Patient Journey Board
- JIRA, Confluence and Tempo
- HIE - Cerner build and testing
- Competent user of ServiceNow and Sara applications
- Competent user of Unicentre Helpdesk System
- Experience in onsite and phone support (Level 1 and 2 Support)
- Change control management and enhance request management
- CR and SR escalation using Cernercom
- Experience in training small groups in Cerner Applications
- Development of training plans and detailed user and system documentation
- Involvement in development and progression of competency based trainee program from clinical coders
- Completion of ‘Train the Trainer’ and ‘Workplace Assessment” course modules to facilitate in house training for hospital staff in both computerised and manual medical record systems
- Completed various Cerner eMR Training courses
Affiliations
- Health Information Management Association of Australia (HIMAA)
- Member of the 2003 HIMAA Conference
- HIMA NSW Branch Executive Committee Communications and Special Projects Co-coordinator 2003
- Junior Vice President 2004
- Other Affiliations January 2008 – current Secretary Fund for Mahalir Illam (a not for profit charity)
Bella Vista Public School Parent and Citizens Association
- President (March 2022 - current)
- Vice-President (March 2021-March 2022)
- Secretary (December 2019 – March 2021)
Timeline
EMR Patient Care Informatics Manager
Sydney Children's Hospital Network
09.2023 - Current
EMR Application Manager
Sydney Children’s Hospital Network
01.2016 - 09.2023
Maternity Leave
The Children’s Hospital At Westmead
12.2014 - 01.2016
EMR Application Manager (Patient & Record Management)
The Children's Hospital At Westmead
03.2012 - 12.2014
eMR Application Specialist
The Children's Hospital At Westmead
02.2008 - 03.2012
eMR Application Manager
The Children's Hospital At Westmead
11.2006 - 02.2008
Deputy Health Information Manager
The Children's Hospital At Westmead
10.2005 - 11.2006
Special Projects Health Information Manager
The Children's Hospital At Westmead
06.2004 - 10.2005
Health Information Manager
03.2004 - 06.2004
Product Specialist
Trak Health
02.2003 - 03.2004
Health Information Manager
Primecare Consulting Company
02.2002 - 02.2004
Bachelor of Applied Science - Health Information Management
University of Sydney