Senior Social Worker

Full Job Description

The Senior Social Worker will be responsible to assist Veterans with care coordination and discharging from inpatient Non-VA care facilities and returning to VA Care.

The incumbent provides care coordination and case management to link patients to VA and Non-VA Medical and Behavioral Health Care services.

The social worker supports all activities within their scope of practice to ensure the Veteran has access to the continuum of health care and eligible benefits.

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

Basic Requirements: United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. English Language Proficiency.

In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), no person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English.

Education: Have a master's degree in Social Work from a school of social work fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE).

Graduates of schools of social work that are in candidacy status do not meet this requirement until the school of social work is fully accredited.

Note: A doctoral degree in Social Work may NOT be substituted for the master's degree in Social Work.

Verification of the degree can be made by going to http://www.cswe.org/Accreditation to verify that the social work degree meets the accreditation standards for a masters of social work.

Licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the advanced practice level which included an advanced generalist or clinical examination, unless they are grandfathered by the state in which they are licensed to practice at the advanced practice level (except for licenses issued in California, which administers its own clinical examination for advanced practice) and they must be able to provide supervision for licensure.

May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria).

GS-12 Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements stated above, the following qualification criteria must be met for each grade.

The candidate's qualifications must clearly demonstrate the level of competence required for the grade Experience/Education.

The candidate must have at least two years of experience post advanced practice clinical licensure and should be in a specialized area of social work practice of which, one year must be equivalent to the GS-11 grade level.

Senior social workers have experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgment. Senior social workers are experts in their specialized area of practice.

Senior social workers may have certification or other post-masters training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship or equivalent supervised professional experience in a specialty.

Licensure/Certification.

Senior social workers must be licensed or certified by a state at the advanced practice level which included an advanced generalist or clinical examination, unless they are grandfathered by the state in which they are licensed to practice at the advanced practice level (except for licenses issued in California, which administers its own clinical examination for advanced practice) and they must be able to provide supervision for licensure.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities.

In addition to the experience above, candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: (a) Skill in a range of specialized interventions and treatment modalities used in specialty treatment programs or with special patient populations.

This includes individual, group, and/or family counseling or psychotherapy and advanced level psychosocial and/or case management.

(b) Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice.

(c) Knowledge in developing and implementing methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services in the specialty area, utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services and to design system changes.

(d) Ability to provide specialized consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of patients in the service delivery area, as well as role modeling effective social work practice skills.

(e) Ability to expand clinical knowledge in the social work profession, and to write policies, procedures, and/or practice guidelines pertaining to the service delivery area Assignments.

For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity (difficulty), and variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time.

Senior social workers are licensed or certified to independently practice social work at an advanced level.

Senior social workers typically practice in a major program area such as but not limited to: Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center or Polytrauma Network Site; a Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Center, or a national VHA referral center, such as a national Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or a national Transplant Center, or other program areas of equivalent scope and complexity.

The senior social worker may be assigned administrative responsibility for clinical program development and is accountable for clinical program effectiveness and modification of service patterns.

Assignments include clinical settings where they have limited access to onsite supervision such as CBOCs or satellite outpatient clinics.

The senior social worker collaborates with the other members of the treatment team in the provision of comprehensive health care services to Veterans, ensures equity of access, service, and benefits to this population, ensures the care provided is of the highest quality.

The senior social worker provides leadership, direction, orientation, coaching, in-service training, staff development, and continuing education programs for assigned social work staff.

They serve on committees, work groups, and task forces at the facility, VISN and national level, or in the community as deemed appropriate by the supervisor, Social Work Executive or Chief of Social Work Services.

This assignment is to be relatively few in number based on the size of the facility/service and applying sound position management.

This assignment must represent substantial additional responsibility over and above that required at the full performance grade level and cannot be used as the full performance level of this occupation.

Preferred Experience: Strong collaboration skills to work effectively with both VA and community partners.

Flexibility and adaptability to navigate changing priorities and perspectives across multiple systems.

Excellent customer service and communication skills to ensure respectful, solution focused interactions with Veterans, families and providers.

Advanced knowledge of VA community resources, medical and mental health diagnoses and crisis intervention skills.

Proficiency with VA systems (CPRS, VISTA, Joint Legacy Viewer) and strong written and verbale communication skills.

Preferred experience with high risk populations, complex discharge planning and programs such as HCHV, STARS and Geriatrics and Extended care.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-12.

Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services Major Duties:

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional Major Duties include, but are not limited to the following: Independently develops plans for care coordination for Veterans hospitalized in the community in collaboration with the Veteran, family and interdisciplinary treatment team.

Incumbent must possess the skills to offer psychosocial interventions and measures outcomes to interventions via avoidance of new hospital admissions.

Must have working knowledge of Veterans' benefits and services relating to medical and behavioral care, special programs, service-connected compensation, non-service-connected pension and related Veteran Benefit Administration programs and services.

Facilitates referrals based upon Veteran needs and eligibility, including coordinating screening of patients for specific VA programs such as HCHV, STARS, Outpatient Mental Health, Medical Foster Home and various programs within Geriatrics and Extended Care.

Incumbent additionally is able to coordinate community-based services as needed post hospitalization; this may include identifying discharge placement, coordinating transition to lower levels of care, and providing information and referral for additional services from other VA programs, VA vendors, government programs and community agency programs.

Independently identifies high-risk patients and provides clinically appropriate case management and care coordination services.

The incumbent serves as a liaison between both VA and Non-VA Care health care professionals, as well as Veteran and caregivers.

Has working knowledge and experience in use of medical and mental health diagnoses, disabilities and treatment procedures.

Establishes and maintains effective working relationships with community hospital case management peers.

Incumbent is able to independently work with patients and families who are experiencing a variety of psychiatric, medical and social problems.

Independently provides consultation services to other staff regarding the psychosocial needs of Veterans and the impact of psychosocial problems on health care and adherence to treatment plans.

Has the ability to evaluate the incumbent's own practice through professional peer review, case conferences and other organizational means.

Incumbent is able to communicate effectively both orally and in writing, with people from varied backgrounds.

Must be familiar with agency, federal and/or state government practices, policies, and procedures, especially as they related to mandated reporter responsibilities of suspected abuse, neglect, or financial exploitation of vulnerable adults and children.

Must have the ability to recognize internal and external conditions and influences, including Veterans Health Administration (VHA) mandates and programs that require the establishment of new management policies, standards, and procedures including the skill to design and develop the tools necessary to cope with varied situations.

Uses initiative and resourcefulness in deviating from traditional methods or trends and patterns to develop new methods, criteria and proposed new policies.

Must have working knowledge of computers, CPRS, VISTA menu, Joint Legacy Viewer and proficiency in the use of word-processing and creating and utilizing spreadsheets.

Must have or be able to attain working knowledge of other computer systems, especially those programs in use by VHA, as required for agency needs. All other duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday; 8:00am - 4:30pm Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not authorized Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases When setting pay, a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade).

Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year) Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior [work experience] or military service experience.

Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child.

Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66.

Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement) Telework: Available; ad hoc or as determined by agency policy Functional Statement #: 544-59628F Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized