POSITION DESCRIPTION:

The Office of Public Health (OPH) is the office within the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) dedicated to enhancing the quality of life in Louisiana by providing public health services to protect and promote the health of all individuals and communities in Louisiana through education, promotion of healthy lifestyles, prevention of disease and injury, and dissemination of information impacting population health. In order to carry out the above responsibilities, OPH is organized into three centers which include the Center for Community and Preventive Health (CCPH), Center for OPH Operations, and the Center for Community Preparedness and Health Protection. The Bureau of Nutrition Services (BONS) is one of five Bureaus within CCPH.
BONS is responsible for the administration and management of two federally funded nutrition programs: the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and the Commodity Supplemental Nutrition Program (CSFP). WIC has an annual budget of approximately $110 million ($70 million is dedicated to supplemental food costs) and provides supplemental foods, nutrition education, breastfeeding support, and referrals to healthcare services to approximately 105,000 participants (low-income women, infants, and children up to five years of age) monthly. Through the WIC Program, BONS also administers the Breastfeeding Peer Counselor Grant Program. CSFP has an annual budget of approximately $5 million and provides supplemental foods to approximately 55,000 participants (low-income individuals over 60 years of age) monthly. These services are provided to eligible Louisiana residents at over 60 CSFP distribution sites and 105 WIC clinics across the state. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) provides guidance for both of these federally funded programs. With approximately 60 BONS state agency staff, the Bureau oversees programmatic operations, executes and monitors 50 contracts, provides technical assistance to local staff and authorized vendors, and conducts monitoring site visits and investigations to ensure compliance with federal regulations and state statutes and policies.

SECTION DESCRIPTION:

The Nutrition Operations Section is responsible for: oversight of WIC programmatic services provided by parish health units (PHU) and contract agencies at 100 sites throughout the state, oversight of the CSFP programmatic services provided by contracts agencies throughout the state, the maintenance of the management information system (MIS) LAWIN that certifies eligible WIC participants and issues electronic benefit transfer (EBT) smart cards to participants, food rule and food package maintenance, training and technical assistance, nutrition education and breastfeeding support, WIC clinic management evaluations and CSFP distribution site visits, participant investigations, disputes, and complaints, participant outreach, partnership with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry on the Farmers Market Nutrition Program, and management of the Breastfeeding Peer Counselor Grant Program, policy development, and customer service.
The Nutrition Operations Compliance Manager functions in support of the Nutrition Operations Unit and the duties and responsibilities of this position are as follows:

80% Compliance Management

• Directs the development, coordination, implementation and administration of the compliance portion of Nutrition Operations Quality Improvement team as required by federal and state laws, regulations and administrative procedures
• Establishes, implements, maintains and updates mechanisms and methodologies to monitor and enforce contractual deliverables in accordance with internal memorandums, contract attachments and provisions, and initiatives required by the Louisiana Department of Health’s Office of Management & Finance Docusign Envelope ID: 9038D716-99B0-4200-B0F3-8613504D8A1F
• Serves as a subject matter expert (SME) on the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) for WIC a (7 CFR Part 246) and any other federal regulation that governs the operations of the WIC program
• Supports the administration and coordination of resources, organizational planning, and training programs related to management evaluations
• Researches and analyzes federal and state requirements to develop recommendations, policies, and operational guidelines for the compliance team’s functions
• Develops and administers systems to effectively monitor, record and assess results of compliance for the purpose of refining programs and procedures to more effectively achieve objectives
• Reviews management evaluation results and coordinates and implements necessary corrective action in collaboration with the Management Evaluation and Business teams
• Develops reports to show compliance trends and results
• Participates in the development of education and training materials for WIC staff in relation to compliance issues
• Assists and collaborates with other BONS SMEs on complaint and fraud investigations
• Ensure confidentiality and proper handling of sensitive information
• Organizes and prioritizes critical issues and required information
• Communicates with other State WIC Programs as necessary

15% Program Integrity

• Maintains up-to-date knowledge of USDA regulations relative to federal regulations and program integrity efforts
• Maintains up-to-date knowledge of program rules and requirements as found in other federal laws, regulations, and policies, the Louisiana Revised Statutes and the Louisiana Administrative Code, and WIC policies and procedures
• Participates in ongoing processes to audit BONS MIS-related activities to ensure program integrity associated with the delivery of services through OPH and contractors
• Prepares and provides data as requested for management evaluations, audits, and quality assurance reviews in a timely manner
• Works collaboratively with Nutrition Operations and other BONS staff responsible for data management and integrity to assist in the application of data analysis to improve program services and operation
• Ensures that files contain complete, accurate, and up-to-date information as required by the USDA and State Agency document retention schedules
• Maintains the confidentiality of participant and program documentation as required by Program policy
• Provides data as requested to assist in program policy/procedure development and implementation

5% Other

• Performs other duties not listed above but necessary for the effective operation of BONS
• Participates in continuing education by attending in-services, workshops, and conferences at local, state, regional and national levels to maintain current knowledge of required areas
• Fulfills obligation for State’s emergency preparedness and response efforts as assigned during an emergency and assists impacted clinics/vendors/local agencies to assure they are back in operation as soon as possible following the event
• Travel as required to complete tasks associated with the effective operation of BONS
• Maintains a working knowledge of policies and procedures relative to the Louisiana Department Health, State Travel, and State Procurement

Job Type: Full-time
Pay: $60,640.00 - $82,465.60 per year

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Flexible spending account
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Retirement plan
• Vision insurance

Education:

• Master’s (Preferred)

Experience:

• professional level: 4 years (Required)
• federal grants and budget: 1 year (Required)
• chronic disease prevention: 1 year (Required)
• partnership developmnet and/or leading partner groups: 1 year (Required)

Work Location: In perso

Please refer the Job description for details