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Accreditation and Compliance Specialist

Categories: Student Affairs

Position TitleAccreditation and Compliance Specialist

About the University

Western Washington University, with over 15,000 students in seven colleges and the graduate school, is nationally recognized for its educational programs, students and faculty. The campus is located in Bellingham, Washington, a coastal community of 90,000 overlooking Bellingham Bay, the San Juan Islands and the North Cascades Mountain range. The city lies 90 miles north of Seattle and 60 miles south of Vancouver, British Columbia. Western has additional sites in Anacortes, Bremerton, Everett, Port Angeles, and Poulsbo. Western is recognized nationally for its successes, such as being named one of the top public master's-granting institutions in the Pacific Northwest for 25 years in a row by U.S. News & World Report.

Western Washington University is committed to achieving excellence through advancing inclusive success, increasing our Washington impact, and focusing on transformational education grounded in the liberal arts and sciences and based on innovative scholarship, research, and creative activity. Western's greatest strength is the outstanding students, faculty, staff, and alumni/ae who make up its community. Western supports an inclusive governance structure for all and provides a learning and working environment in which everyone can thrive. In pursuit of this excellence, individual employees are expected to establish and maintain productive and effective inclusive working relationships amongst diverse populations including staff, faculty, administration, student, and external constituents. Further, individual employees are expected to have the ability to operationalize sustainability concepts (economic, societal, environmental) into all aspects of performing their job duties.

About the DepartmentThe Student Health Center supportsWestern's mission (https://president.wwu.edu/mission-strategic-plan) , which states that together with our students, staff, and faculty, we are committed to making a positive impact in the state and the world with a shared focus on academic excellence and inclusive achievement. We encourage applications from women, people of color, people with disabilities, veterans, and other candidates from underrepresented backgrounds and with diverse experiences interested in this opportunity.

About the PositionThe primary responsibility of the Accreditation and Compliance Specialist is the maintenance of Western Washington University (WWU) Student Health Center’s (SHC) certification with the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC).

This position works under general supervision and performs process/data analysis, assists in the development of policies, program evaluation, and performs compliance audits. This position provides consultative services to SHC Governing Body and staff regarding health care policy. We actively seek candidates from diverse backgrounds including communities of color, the LGBTQ community, veterans, and people with disabilities. The greater the diversity of our people, the better we can serve our community.

This is a full-time, 10-month cyclic, project position ending June 30, 2027.

JOB DUTIES

% of time Duties / Responsibilities

55% Maintenance of Accreditation:

+ Develop and update policies for Student Health Center in alignment with University and AAAHC standards.

+ Manage AAAHC policy and procedure review process. This includes setting document review schedules and tracking staff participation in these reviews.

+ Maintain all AAAHC documentation stored in PowerDMS in coordination with supervisor and document owners.

+ Serve as the expert on AAAHC requirements and perform regular review of AAAHC publications for changes in standards/requirements.

+ In collaboration with the Student Health Center Governing Body provide SHC with ongoing readiness assessments for accreditation surveys across the AAAHC standards.

+ Support AAAHC work groups and committees. This includes tracking deadlines for all accreditation activities, and assures all responses are on target to meet deadline or are escalated through necessary reporting structure to meet necessary compliance timeframe.

+ Oversee the reaccreditation process lifecycle, including survey team visits, important submission dates, timely payments of all fees, documentation and reporting.

35% Regulatory Compliance and Data Privacy and Security:

+ Support compliance with applicable data privacy and security laws and regulations in the Student Health Center in collaboration and with oversight from the WWU HIPAA Privacy Officer and HIPAA Security Officer.

+ Develop and submit required annual reports.

5% Training and Education for Staff:

+ Communicate updates for privacy and security compliance and AAAHC guidelines to staff as needed.

+ Assess training needs for SHC staff in regards to accreditation and compliance standards.

+ Provide training opportunities for SHC staff to review and increase understanding.

+ Engage with campus partners for additional training and advisement on AAAHC and patient privacy and security compliance standards.

+ Foster a professional work environment that is collaborative, caring, and supports student and staff well-being.

5% Other Administrative Duties:

+ Oversee all Governing Body agendas and provide detailed minutes during meetings.

+ Participate in and potential leadership of committee work.

+ Participate in professional development regarding access, diversity, equity, and inclusion that advances abilities to best perform job responsibilities.

+ Identify and mitigate project risks, updating leadership regularly.

+ Other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications

+ Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and experience producing comparable knowledge and abilities.

+ Experience through one full lifecycle of accreditation surveys, with AAAHC or other equivalent.

+ Knowledge of current national standards for medical clinic operations and current information privacy laws (including HIPAA and FERPA).

+ Experience writing and updating policies and procedures, in alignment with national, state, and university regulations.

+ Strong time management and organizational skills

+ Strong demonstration of written and oral communication skills.

+ Ability to prioritize and multi-task with minimal supervision in a dynamic work environment.

+ Ability to role model growth mindset and developmental practices towards policy and procedure changes.

+ Ability to identify and collaborate to remove inequities, barriers to access, and forms of oppression that may be present in the programming or services related to this position.

+ Demonstrated awareness, knowledge, and skills to interact effectively with persons representing a wide range of diverse backgrounds.

+ Familiarity with MS Office Suite of applications including Outlook, Word, Teams, Sharepoint and Excel.

+ Experience working collaboratively with multi-disciplinary teams.

+ Experience translating complex and technical subject matters into plain language writing for non-technical audiences.

+ Experience developing policies that are accessible and support diverse teams. Examples may include practices of Universal Design etc.

Preferred Qualifications

+ Leadership experience in project management.

+ Experience working within the healthcare environment, preferably within college health, urgent care, or family practice.

+ Experience in the AAAHC accreditation process.

+ A Bachelor’s degree with major study in health care administration, or closely allied field.

+ Familiarity with electronic medical records systems (such as PointnClick) and document management software (such as Power DMS).

+ Ability to become a software ‘super user’ for PDMS and/or PointnClick.

+ Experience with collecting and organizing organizational documents and reporting of data

+ A strong commitment to creating a culturally responsive environment for staff and students, the delivery of programs that support diversity objectives, and the development of cultural engagement and responsiveness skills.

Special Requirements / Conditions of Employment

+ Maintain continuing education relevant to assigned duties and for maintenance of any certifications or licensure.

+ Pre-employment Criminal Background Check (required for new hires).

+ WWU SHC follows CDC guidelines for Employee Health in a healthcare setting, including proof of several vaccinations and annual vaccinations during employment. Employees must show proof of compliance/willingness to comply by start date.

All employees must comply with our Immunization policies, includingProof of Rubeola Measles Immunity (https://policy.wwu.edu/POL-U1300.01-Requiring-Proof-Of-Rubeola-Measles-Immunity) within 60-days of hire. Please reach out [email protected] you need information regarding medical or religious exemption and applicable accommodations.

SalaryHiring range is $58,070 - $66,780 depending on qualifications and experience. Through longevity position tops out at $75,490/year.

Benefits Information

Benefits Overview for Administrative Professional Position (https://hr.wwu.edu/files/2022-01/Benefits%20-%20Professional%20Staff.pdf) .

Application Instructions

A cover letter and resume are required and should address your experience related to the position responsibilities and the required and preferred qualifications. Please include the names and contact information of three professional references. References will only be contacted if necessary, with notice provided beforehand.

Closing Date NotesApplication review begins August 18, 2025; position is open until filled.

Western Washington University (WWU) is an equal opportunity employer. In compliance with applicable laws, WWU does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, national origin, age, citizenship or immigration status, pregnancy, use of protective leave, genetic status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, creed, religion, veteran or military status, disability or the use of a trained guide dog or service animal (including a service animal in training) by a person with a disability, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law, in its programs or activities, including employment, admissions, and educational programs. See WWU’s Policies on Prohibiting Discrimination Based on A Protected Class (https://policy.wwu.edu/POL-U1600.02-Prohibiting-Discrimination-Based-on-A-Protected-Class-Interim) andProhibiting Discrimination Based on Sex (https://policy.wwu.edu/POL-U1600.04-Prohibiting-Discrimination-Based-on-Sex-Interim) . Inquiries may be directed to the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance, Title IX and ADA Coordinator, Western Washington University, Old Main 126 (MS 9021), 516 High Street, Bellingham, WA 98225;360.650.3307(voice) or 711 (Washington Relay); [email protected]

WWU is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities upon request. To request this document in an alternate format or to request an accommodation, please contact Human Resources Disability Services (https://hr.wwu.edu/workplace-accommodation) ,360.650.3751or 711 (Washington Relay).

Annual Security and Fire Safety Report: This report is provided pursuant to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act ("The Clery Act"). It includes statistics for the previous three calendar years concerning reported crimes that occurred on Western's campus; in certain off-campus buildings or property owned or controlled by Western; and on public property within, or immediately adjacent to and accessible from, the campus. The report also includes institutional policies concerning campus security, such as policies concerning alcohol and drug use, crime prevention, the reporting of crimes, sexual assault, and other matters. You can obtain a copy of this report in printed or alternate formats by contacting the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs [email protected]. The report can be found at:Annual Security and Fire Safety Report (https://studentaffairs.wwu.edu/annual-security-and-fire-safety-report) .

All new employees must comply with the immunization policy and show employment eligibility verification as required by the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service before beginning work at WWU. A thorough background check will be conducted on all new hires which includes asexual misconduct background check (https://hr.wwu.edu/sexual-misconduct-background-checks) .

Job no: 502604

Advertised: Jul 18 2025 09:00 Pacific Daylight Time

Applications close: