The Cell Therapy Coordination job family provides specialized adult and pediatric patient and resource scheduling for high complexity, high risk clinical services supporting hematopoietic stem cell transplant patients and donors, and immune effector cell therapies including CAR-T.  Following exceptionally tightly defined procedures as a member of a highly orchestrated interdisciplinary team, Cell Therapy Coordinators perform complex and time sensitive case management and scheduling processes across multiple clinical platforms using diverse computer systems following proscribed documentation and checklists.  Requiring an ability to learn and work within multiple sets of regulatory compliance requirements, and performing complex decision tree procedures in more advanced levels of the job family, Cell Therapy Coordinators provide vital technical support infrastructure to a dynamic clinical environment of care. 

Cell Therapy Coordinators work closely with and schedule patients and donors, or may perform donor search and clearance procedures, supporting clinical providers, nursing staff, apheresis and other tissue collection staff, cell processing staff, NMDP network centers, donor registries, social work, care coordination resource specialists, clinic testing and exam staff, procedures facilities, off-site medical facilities, oral medicine and other consulting specialist offices, hospital admitting, and a host of other resources involved in the preparation for and ongoing care of patients undergoing cellular therapies.  Ensures that required documents are available at appointments and testing is performed within standards as established by FACT, the FDA, NMDP and JC and the specific protocol under which the patient is treated.  In conjunction with RN transplant coordinators, Cell Therapy Coordinators provide extensive direction to patients, donors and caregivers to ensure that patients and donors understand their schedules for testing and treatment, and assist them in accessing appropriate staff and resources to ensure compliance and support the best possible outcomes.

This position’s work location is hybrid with two or three days per week remote. The selected candidate may only work remote days from a New England state (ME, VT, NH, MA, CT, RI).  

Located in Boston and the surrounding communities, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is a leader in life changing breakthroughs in cancer research and patient care. We are united in our mission of conquering cancer, HIV/AIDS and related diseases. We strive to create an inclusive, diverse, and equitable environment where we provide compassionate and comprehensive care to patients of all backgrounds, and design programs to promote public health particularly among high-risk and underserved populations. We conduct groundbreaking research that advances treatment, we educate tomorrow's physician/researchers, and we work with amazing partners, including other Harvard Medical School-affiliated hospitals.

• Responsible for effective and efficient scheduling of patients and/or donors for clinical services and other resources, including but not limited to exam and infusion clinics, donor services, donor network centers, apheresis facilities, cellular product laboratory processing, financial counselor support, care coordination, social work, nutrition, and other professional support services, operating room facilities, nursing support, admission to the hospital and associated beds
• As all patients or donors served by this job family shall be considered high risk or falling under highly regulated services, this job family is responsible for carrying out specialized tasks to support regulatory requirements and patient safety, requiring an understanding of the sequential processes involved in patient treatment plans that fall under specified regulatory controls
• Organizes and submits required documentation to support insurance approval and/or donor clearance
• Effectively communicates scheduled components of complex care to patients and/or donors
• Adheres to guidelines and instructions as laid out in the coordinator guide that is applicable to the position (patient, donor, pedi or adult)
• Participates in continuous training and maintains current knowledge of the clinical scheduling process, how the regulatory standards drive that process, and how the requirements impact the assigned patient population to achieve patient safety, flow and the resource utilization goals of the organization
• Responsible for ensuring filing or reporting of certain documentation, including patient records and the proper and timely posting of updates to the clinical scheduling systems and special databases as needed
• May lead or participate in the development of new scheduling systems or processes
• Participates in routine case review meetings to represent patients and/or donors assigned
• Maintains proficiency in operating multiple clinical information systems applications
• Scheduling of clinical services for assigned patients or donors following prescribed schemas and checklists, and following the guidelines for the assigned responsibilities
• Working with multidisciplinary teams of clinicians, develops timetables and ascertains resource availability for multiple clinical services to support the patient's progress through complex therapies
• Scheduling of screening and/or evaluation procedures for complex therapies or therapies requiring healthcare insurance pre-authorization; expected to interact with insurance case managers as needed to provide clinical documentation required for obtaining financial authorization;
• Active participant in routine interdisciplinary case review meetings, contributing information to the case management process based on the interactions with assigned patients, donors, and caregivers
• May be asked to cover for other Transplant and Cell Therapy Coordinators to maintain continuity of care and timely support of patients and/or donors
• Must meet documented training and competency assurances by management as required by DFCI, federal and other accrediting body guidelines; must be able to routinely apply formal standard operating procedures as laid out to meet federal and other regulatory bodies and institutional patient safety standards
• Must be competent in the use of multiple clinical information system applications; must be able to learn new systems as they are implemented; must be competent in the dissemination of information from multiple information systems to manage comprehensive and complex scheduling of services on behalf of patients while meeting the institutional needs for efficient and effective use of clinical resources

Cell Therapy Coordinator II

In addition to the above, this level may be assigned cases including performing any of the following:

7. Scheduling of clinical services for assigned patients or donors following prescribed schemas and checklists, and following the guidelines for the assigned responsibilities
8. Working with multidisciplinary teams of clinicians, develops timetables and ascertains resource availability for multiple clinical services to support the patient’s progress through complex therapies
9. Scheduling of screening and/or evaluation procedures for complex therapies or therapies requiring healthcare insurance pre-authorization; expected to interact with insurance financial counselors to provide clinical documentation required for obtaining financial authorization
10. Active participant in routine interdisciplinary case review meetings, contributing information to the case management process based on the interactions with assigned patients, donors, and caregivers
11. May be asked to cover for other Cell Therapy Coordinators to maintain continuity of care and timely support of patients and/or donors
12. Must meet documented training and competency assurances by management as required by DFCI, federal and other accrediting body guidelines; must be able to routinely apply formal standard operating procedures as laid out to meet federal and other regulatory bodies and institutional patient safety standards
13. Must be competent in the use of multiple clinical information system applications; must be able to learn new systems as they are implemented; must be competent in the dissemination of information from multiple information systems to manage comprehensive and complex scheduling of services on behalf of patients while meeting the institutional needs for efficient and effective use of clinical resources

Cell Therapy Coordinator I

• Associates Degree; Bachelor’s Degree in Healthcare Administration, Health Sciences or similar field preferred.
• 1 year of experience in a patient care or healthcare administration role, or clinical laboratory technician in a complex healthcare environment.

Cell Therapy Coordinator II

• Associates Degree; Bachelor’s Degree in Healthcare Administration, Health Sciences or similar field preferred.
• 2 years of experience in a patient care or healthcare administration role, or clinical laboratory technician in a complex healthcare environment.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES REQUIRED:

1. Demonstrated ability to work in highly regulated environments, such as clinical trials or complex medical systems
2. Ability and willingness to work effectively in a collaborative interdisciplinary team model
3. Must be detail oriented with excellent verbal and written communication skills
4. Must be able to maintain high degree of focus on cases assigned through to completion
5. Ability to work under tightly controlled conditions, following strict guidelines
6. Ability to remain focused on patients or donors assigned through to completion of work, sometime requiring working longer days to ensure that cases stay on track or requiring effective handoff of cases to other coordinators
7. Proficient with Microsoft Office products and knowledge of electronic medical records systems as well as willingness to learn various systems unique to this service line
8. Willingness to engage in efforts to support an inclusive culture and workplace

PATIENT CONTACT: (Please indicate yes or no.  If yes, specify what age population served)

Yes – all ages.

Competencies that may be required depending on the specific position:

Proficient in DFCI/BWH/CHB clinical systems as applicable to the position, presently including but not limited to, BOE, Sunquest, LiveLink, Onc Pro, OnCore, NMDP Traxis, NMDP Starlink, FormsNet, Salesforce, MasterControl, OTTR, eCeptionist, BMDW, Epic, Powerchart, Hematrax

Interest or willingness to learn technical aspects of HLA typing and donor search algorithms

Annual Review & sign off of DFCI SOPs

Annual Review and sign off of workflow checklists

Willingness and ability to learn FACT, FDA & NMDP requirements

DFCI Annual Safety Training

NMDP trainings and competency testing

WORKING CONDITIONS: (include physical efforts when necessary)

SPECIAL WORKING CONDITIONS (Responsible for on-call, 24  hr. coverage, etc.):

Significant movement among sites of care; may be required to perform on-call coverage, provide coverage of pagers or cell phones after hours and on weekends, and may be involved with donor product courier travel requiring training on the transport of tissue and blood products internally and externally

At Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, we work every day to create an innovative, caring, and inclusive environment where every patient, family, and staff member feels they belong.  As relentless as we are in our mission to reduce the burden of cancer for all, we are equally committed to diversifying our faculty and staff.  Cancer knows no boundaries and when it comes to hiring the most dedicated and diverse professionals, neither do we. If working in this kind of organization inspires you, we encourage you to apply.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is an equal opportunity employer and affirms the right of every qualified applicant to receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, national origin, sexual orientation, genetic information, disability, age, ancestry, military service, protected veteran status, or other characteristics protected by law.   

EEOC Poster