Organizational Summary
Upstream USA is a fast-growing, national nonprofit committed to ensuring that equitable, patient-centered contraceptive care is made available to any patient and is fully integrated into the health system as part of basic health care. We envision a future where all patients are screened for their contraceptive needs and offered patient-centered contraceptive counseling that's free from bias, noncoercive, trauma-informed and delivered by knowledgeable providers and support staff following best medical practices and evidence-based guidelines. We believe all patients should be able to access the contraceptive service of their choice – when they want it and where it is convenient for them to get it.
We do this by partnering with healthcare organizations, providing them free training, education and technical assistance. Surveys from patients receiving care at Upstream-trained healthcare organizations consistently show that patients feel heard and respected, and are able to access the contraceptive method of their choice.
To meet the growing needs in our country, Upstream has launched a national expansion to transform contraceptive care in more than 700 healthcare organizations across the United States by 2030, reaching 5 million patients of reproductive age. Already, our work with more than 130 healthcare partners in nearly forty percent of the country helps integrate much needed contraceptive services across the spectrum of healthcare, including primary care practices.
Upstream is funded primarily through philanthropic individuals and foundations, and does not accept funding from pharmaceutical companies. Upstream's budget has grown from $1.7 million just six years ago to approximately $60 million in 2024. Upstream's work has also garnered attention from many leading publications including Harvard Public Health, Bloomberg, MedPage Today, and Politico.
Position Summary
The Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Specialist is an exciting opportunity to help support Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning activities in close collaboration with Upstream's practice transformation teams. The MEL Specialist will support efforts to collect and analyze Upstream program implementation data, as well as EHR-constructed measures and other data, both quantitative and qualitative. They will become an expert in using organizational data platform(s), leading data-informed discussions with internal practice transformation teams and external health care organization(HCO) teams for improvement, and synthesizing data to report learnings for both internal and external audiences. The MEL Specialist will support the Director of Learning and Outcome Studies to monitor progress towards our outcomes and to use our findings to inform organizational strategy. Join a passionate, committed team as we implement our contraceptive care initiative nationwide.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
The MEL Specialist will perform a variety of analytical, operational, and administrative duties, including but not limited to: developing tools, analyses and reports that support initiative-wide monitoring and evaluation efforts; support efforts to collect, analyze and interpret Upstream program and EHR-derived data; supporting the coordination and implementation of a virtual patient survey; supporting coordination of health center partner EHR connections with a third-party data vendor; becoming a "power user" of Upstream data platforms, coordinating meetings with internal and external stakeholders, and working with Upstream leadership to synthesize results for program improvement and reporting purposes. The MEL Specialist will work independently on projects and also work collaboratively within our team to handle a wide variety of dynamic activities.
Data Collection Management, Analysis, and Reporting
Under the direction of, and in concert with, the Director of Learning and Outcome Studies:
- Become an expert in using dashboards and reports from Upstream's third-party data platform that houses aggregate patient data from HCO partner electronic health records (EHR) systems
- Identify and troubleshoot potential problems in HCO partner data, as detected in our third-party data platform vendor; collaborate with Upstream EHR Advisor and third-party vendor representatives to resolve identified issues
- Work with the recruitment team to explain the data platform benefits to potential health center partners and help persuade them to become an Upstream data user
- Serve as a primary point of contact for interpreting data trends related to contraceptive care program implementation for internal program team members and external agency partners including Upstream's custom suite of contraceptive care measures.
- Conduct both single HCO and cross-HCO analyses using EHR-derived and program data
- Contribute to the critical analysis of Upstream's suite of contraceptive care performance metrics and internal program data in order to provide recommendations for utilization of measures and monitoring data for performance improvement at the agency and cross-agency levels
- Produce actionable insights for HCO, and internal practice transformation team staff on Upstream intervention progress by regular review of agency EHR data and other data streams in collaboration with other MEL and program team colleagues
- Prepare quantitative and qualitative reports using PowerBI, Excel, Salesforce, Google Suite, and third party data platforms
- Develop or prepare innovative, succinct, and well-written summary reports, visualizations and presentations for both internal and external stakeholders about agency or cross-agency level progress and results
- Make presentations and recommendations to learning-through-data-feedback-loop forums in an effort to continually improve Upstream's program.
- Work with the Director of Learning and Outcome Studies to develop data analysis methodologies for assessing program impact in partner agencies.
Team Communication
Under the direction of, and in concert with, the Director of Learning and Outcome Studies:
- Develop meeting agendas and materials, support facilitation and documentation of meetings with Practice Transformation Teams and other colleagues
- Contribute to the MEL Team by sharing updates on your work and integrating new methods and ideas shared by other team members
Other Responsibilities
- Scope, support and lead special projects as needed for the MEL team.
- Share research and analytical insights to wider MEL team for further analysis
- Additional duties as assigned.
Required Education, Experience, Knowledge, Skills and Ability
Upstream celebrates and fosters an inclusive work environment and encourages people of all identities, perspectives and backgrounds to apply.
Our ideal candidate will demonstrate aptitude in the specified areas below:
- 4-6 years of relevant work experience post-undergraduate degree or 2-4 years of relevant experience plus a graduate professional degree in public health, epidemiology, data science, or health data-related field
- Experience in health care data analysis
- Experience in the field of sexual and reproductive health/family planning and/or primary care preferred
- Excellent interpersonal and meeting facilitation skills. Builds and maintains positive, productive relationships with colleagues, staff, consultants, and clients
- Superb communication skills, and demonstrated ability to function independently and professionally in a public-facing role, and with internal Upstream staff at all levels
- Knowledge of electronic health records (EHR) systems, health data systems or infrastructure is a plus
- Knowledge and basic experience in participating in quality improvement or performance improvement initiatives and/or managing population health analytics in the health care setting
- Experience with data-visualization and related tools (e.g. Tableau, PowerBI, etc)
- Confidence working independently, exercising good judgment, and making informed decisions with limited direction
- Exhibit flexibility and agility in response to changing priorities
- Solid organizational mission alignment and commitment to collaboration and teamwork
- Demonstrate ability and willingness to continuously acquire new competencies and accept new challenges
- Experience with data cleaning, dataset preparation, and conducting analyses (descriptive analytics and bivariate analyses) in statistical software preferred (e.g., STATA, R, etc.)
- Excellent organizational, and project management skills, with outstanding attention to detail
- Intermediate skill level with Excel and Google Sheets (pivot tables, etc) and G-Suite including Mail, Calendar, Drive
- Upstream USA's COVID-19 Vaccine Policy requires employees to have completed a COVID-19 vaccine primary series unless a medical or religious exemption is approved. As a condition of employment, newly hired employees must provide proof of their COVID-19 vaccination or, if applicable, request a medical or religious exemption.
- All Upstreamers must also be able to attend work-related in-person meetings and functions as needed.
- In our hybrid work environments, there is a basic expectation that our Upstreamers will ensure that their work from home setups will have reliable access to phone and Internet to ensure connectivity to their teams.
- At Upstream we gather for moments that matter for training, teaming and connection. Our teams come together for occasional in person meetings and organizational retreats. As part of our hybrid work practices, this travel expectation will be applicable for all Upstreamers, even those based remotely.
- Engage in EDI learning & development, community engagement, and culture building activities up to 5% FTE (i.e., 2 work hours per 40 hour work week). Examples include attending trainings, conferences and summits, volunteering time, participating in local community events, mentoring and learning, participating in Communities of Belonging or Culture Council, developing language acquisition, learning universal design principles, and using professional development benefits for EDI topics, among other activities.
Attributes
The ideal candidate will embody and embrace our core values which serve as our operating principles:
- We keep our mission at the center; our mission to expand opportunity by reducing unplanned pregnancy guides our decisions, actions and purpose
- We trust each other; we are reliable, empathetic, compassionately direct, and confident in each others' ability to do the same
- We work every day to build an equitable, diverse and inclusive culture; we respect the backgrounds contexts and experiences of individuals, teams and partners in our interactions
- We bring joy to our work; we create opportunities to celebrate, connect and strengthen relationships with one another.
Additional Attributes
- Confident and proactive self-starter able to take initiative and work well independently
- Collaborative; Works well with partners, teammates and cross-functional groups
- Curiosity about data and what we can learn from them
- Demonstrates a high degree of adaptability to work in a rapidly growing, post start-up organization
- Possesses excellent interpersonal skills. Builds and maintains positive, productive relationships with colleagues, staff, consultants, and contractors
- Solid work ethic and a team-oriented approach
Valued and Non-Essential Education, Experience, Knowledge, Skills and Ability (Not required to apply)
- Master's-level degree in public health, health science or statistics field strongly preferred
Travel Requirements
This role will require up to 15 % of business travel. All Upstreamers can expect a minimum of 8 days of business travel per year to attend 1-2 annual organizational retreats and two annual team/department meetings.
Upstream Benefits
Upstream USA offers a comprehensive benefit package including medical, dental, vision, life insurance, long and short-term disability, 401K with a match, generous vacation, personal, sick and holiday time off, parental leave, professional development, a fitness and cell phone allowance for all full time employees and part time employees who work a minimum of 24 hours per week.
Hiring Range
The hiring range for this role is $80,800 to $85,000. Final offers for this position will be based upon several factors including the scope of the role, market compensation analysis, position requirements, candidate's experience level and capabilities, specific candidate geographic location, internal pay equity considerations and will be made within the parameters of Upstream USA's compensation framework and philosophy.
Hiring Process
Candidates who advance in our preliminary review process will have an opportunity to discuss the position, their employment background and lived experience with a member of our talent acquisition team by telephone. Those who advance to subsequent steps in our interview process may participate in up to three rounds of meetings by Zoom or in person and in a thought exercise/case study assignment. Each round could consist of multiple meetings with various Upstreamers.
EDI Vision Statement
Internally, we envision promoting equity by reducing disparities in the Upstream talent lifecycle and engagement, cultivating a diverse workforce and inclusive culture, and fostering power sharing when we make decisions.
EDI Guiding Principles
Through Equity, both in the workplace and in contraceptive care, we address root causes that enable disparities to occur, acknowledge that different resources and opportunities may be needed to reach fairer outcomes, and implement systems-level changes that are sustainable over time.
Through Diversity,we acknowledge, respect, and celebrate the collective mixture of differences and similarities of Upstreamers and our community partners. At Upstream, we value the diversity of identities at all intersections, while at the same time centering racial diversity.
Through Inclusion, we succeed at creating a culture of belonging thatembraces differences in identities and experiences by building trust, joy, and psychological safety. We cherish and elevate these differences through power-sharing in how things get done internally and in service of our mission.
Communities of Belonging
Serving as employee resource groups for Upstreamers, Communities of Belonging assist in advancing our equity, diversity, and inclusion journey. They assist in instilling organizational values in our work and support our EDI vision. Open to all employees, Communities of Belonging create opportunities for leadership development, community engagement, support, and resource mobilization.
Upstream Careers
At Upstream, we embrace diversity. We nurture it and we thrive on it because it benefits our organization, our partners, and our community. Our goal is to attract, develop and retain exceptional people, and to create a work environment that is dynamic, rewarding and enables each of us to realize our potential. Upstream is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, genetic information, gender identity or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know. Learn more about working at Upstream, our values, and our commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Upstream USA participates in E-Verify.
Upstream Headquarters
2 Oliver Street, Suite 402, Boston, MA 02109
www.upstream.org
No phone calls please.
Be advised that we do not ever conduct hiring interviews via text or email. Please protect yourself by learning more about our hiring practices and common red flags to look out for.