Pharmacy Clinical Informatics Specialist

INNOVA Health an INNOVA People Co.; Sacramento (CA); Remote; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A Sacramento-based acute care health system is seeking a Pharmacy Informaticist specializing in Epic Willow to bridge pharmacy, clinical and IT teams.

You will triage backlog across Willow inpatient/ambulatory, OpTime and ASAP; define clinical requirements; validate fixes and drive changes to resolution.

This is a high-impact contract role with potential to convert, requiring PharmD or BS Pharmacy and CA license, Epic Willow experience and strong cross-functional collaboration.

Qualifications

• PharmD or BS Pharmacy degree required or eligible for CA licensure.
• Active California pharmacist license or eligibility before start.
• 3+ years in pharmacy informatics within acute care/hospital setting.

Responsibilities

• Triage and resolve backlog across Willow inpatient/ambulatory, OpTime and ASAP with emphasis on patient safety.
• Translate clinical needs into build requirements for IT analysts and validate fixes in testing.
• Collaborate with pharmacy, physicians, nurses and IT to standardize medication workflows and interfaces.

Skills

Pharmacy informatics

Epic Willow

Clinical translation

Backlog management

Stakeholder engagement

Education

PharmD or BS Pharmacy

CA pharmacist license

Tools

Epic Willow Inpatient

OpTime

ASAP

Pyxis interface

Job description

Pharmacy Informaticist (Epic Willow) – Sacramento Acute Care Health System

Oct 8, 2026 · @Joel Slenning

Position snapshot

Title

Pharmacy Informaticist (Epic Willow)

Client

Acute care health system

Location

Sacramento, CA

Epic modules

Willow (Inpatient and Ambulatory), OpTime, ASAP (ED)

Reports to

System Pharmacy / Pharmacy Informatics leadership

Employment type

Contract, with option to convert to contract-to-hire

Work setting

Remote

Licensure

Active California RPh license or other Pharmacy State Licensure

About the opportunity

Our client, a Sacramento-based acute care health system, is carrying roughly 3,000 open build tickets across Epic Willow, OpTime and the ED. Their IT team is staffed with analysts, and today one pharmacist informaticist bridges every clinical and operational question between pharmacy, providers, nursing and IT.

You will join as a second pharmacist informaticist to expand that capacity. You'll be the clinical translator: deciding whether an issue is a build fix IT needs to make or an operational change pharmacy needs to adopt, then driving it to resolution.

This is a high-impact role. Your work directly reduces the backlog, improves medication safety, and gives clinicians a system that works the way they do.

What you'll do

Backlog triage and resolution

• Review and prioritize build tickets across Willow Inpatient/Ambulatory, OpTime and ASAP, starting with patient-safety and high-volume issues


• Determine root cause: Epic build defect, workflow gap, or operational practice that needs to change


• Write clear clinical requirements and build specifications for IT analysts, then validate fixes in testing before go-live

Clinical and IT translation

• Meet regularly (virtually) with pharmacy leaders and staff in each market to gather issues and explain system changes


• Partner with physicians and nurses on medication-related build issues in orders, MAR, verification and dispensing workflows


• Serve as the liaison between system pharmacy, market pharmacy operations and IT analysts

Medication build and standards

• Reinforce system pharmacy medication standards across markets and in the Epic build


• Identify and request changes to preference lists, order sets and order panels


• Troubleshoot Pyxis/automated dispensing cabinet interface issues, including medication ID mapping that is not working


• Support ERX/medication record, dispensable product and formulary maintenance

Communication and governance

• Document decisions, workflow changes and build rationale


• Bring recurring issues and standardization decisions to pharmacy and clinical governance groups


• Create tip sheets and education for pharmacists, technicians, providers and nurses when workflows change

Required qualifications

• PharmD or BS Pharmacy


• Active, unrestricted California pharmacist license (or eligible before start)


• 3+ years of pharmacy informatics experience in an acute care hospital or health system


• Hands-on Epic Willow Inpatient experience, including medication build and troubleshooting


• Working knowledge of order sets, preference lists and medication records


• Experience with automated dispensing cabinets (Pyxis preferred) and their Epic interfaces


• Track record of translating clinical needs into build requirements for IT analysts


• Comfortable presenting to and influencing pharmacists, physicians, nurses and IT leaders

Preferred qualifications

• Epic Willow certification (Inpatient and/or Ambulatory)


• Experience with OpTime/Anesthesia and ASAP (ED) medication workflows


• Multi-hospital or multi-market health system experience


• Prior backlog-reduction, optimization or post-go-live stabilization work


• Residency (PGY1/PGY2) or certification in informatics


• Familiarity with ISMP and system formulary standardization practices

Who thrives in this role

You’ll succeed here if you like ownership and can work through ambiguity without waiting for perfect process. You are equally comfortable at a pharmacy huddle and in a build review with IT.

In your first 90 days, you will:

• Learn the ticket queue and agree on a prioritization method with the current informaticist and IT


• Build working relationships with pharmacy leaders in each market


• Own a defined share of the backlog and show measurable ticket closure


• Establish a repeatable process for flagging order set, preference list and Pyxis issues