Pharmacy Clinical Informatics Specialist

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

Work arrangement
Yes