Meet the Clinicians: Jennifer VanWinkle

We are privileged to work with many associates who have firsthand clinical experience. These talented individuals work together with our technology teams and clients to make sure we’re delivering solutions that work in the real world – not just the testing lab.

In this series, we spotlight individuals who have worked in clinical settings and now use those skills and their wealth of knowledge to meet and exceed the needs and goals of our clients.

Jennifer VanWinkle – Solutions Strategist

1. Tell us about yourself.

I’m a skilled healthcare professional with more than 20 years of experience. Recently, I’ve dedicated my profession to improving healthcare through information technology. I designed and drove the execution of several key strategies across the home care and hospice segment at Netsmart. I was promoted to clinical product manager in 2015. Since assuming this position, I strategically defined a three-year roadmap to progress my business unit into the mobile point-of-care market and have successfully executed this initiative to date. I drive the development of our Homecare Advisor clinical applications for both iOS and windows-based solution sets across engineering, marketing and sales. This includes next generation solutions, regulatory and maintenance.

2. Give us some highlights of your career in healthcare.

I have spent the last 16 years in the field of occupational therapy in many different settings including home care, residential care, long-term care, outpatient and acute care. I have managed up to 14 rehabilitation facilities across Missouri, Illinois and Arkansas. Throughout my career, I’ve always been a leader, pushing myself and those around me to excel, even when I wasn’t in a formal leadership role.

3. Why did you make the change from clinical work to working at Netsmart?

It was by pure chance that this opportunity in healthcare IT came up. My career began as a contractor in software development. I was a clinical content analyst at McKesson for the product management team. Determined to learn the applications, I quickly gained a solid understanding of the solutions and services. It was in that role that I found myself as a problem solver. My understanding of the healthcare industry and the challenges it faces provided me with the insight to design and develop features that would translate into ROI for both the client and business unit.

My clinical experience has afforded me exposure to several diverse (EHR) solutions, which allows me to think outside the box. My leadership quickly identified this skillset and it turned into full time employment as a product design analyst. It was in this role that I worked on an interdisciplinary team to solve business problems. This team included product managers, business analysts, architects, engineers and quality assurance. I worked very closely with clients onsite to identify the root cause of reported service orders both clinical and technical in nature. In doing so, I translated my findings into business opportunities that were then prioritized on the quarterly road map.

On our hospice and home care focus groups I presented collected data analysis and concept summaries of proposed design solutions. Additionally, I worked very closely with our sales team, product consultants and education department to keep them well-informed of new functionality and features and assisted them with product demonstration and RFP.

4. What makes you passionate about serving the clients/organizations who use Netsmart’s services?

I have found that I’m able to utilize my clinical and leadership experience as the product manager to effectively assist clinicians and the people they serve on a greater scale. I’ve remained clinically active and have maintained all state and national licensure and certification. This affords me the ability to stay apprised of the greatest challenges that clinicians are facing in home care today. I understand the importance of a documentation system that doesn’t interfere with their ability to provide excellent patient care, while capturing all pertinent and required data that demonstrates necessity of skilled services. My passion for success has provided great opportunities for growth and allows me to further my career in clinical software product development.

5. What does your perfect weekend look like?

I have two amazing and active kids, Alivia and Gavin. While my husband and I enjoy watching and supporting them in volleyball, baseball and football, my perfect weekend would be on the water, either a lake or pool, relaxing with them with no schedules or agendas.