Social Worker (Program Coordinator)

The Social Work (SW) Dialysis Program Coordinator serves a patient population with highly complex health and mental health needs. The Coordinator holds both clinical and administrative responsibility to ensure effective service delivery, application of current VHA guidelines, and modification of service as needed.

VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional Duties are but not limited to: Duties include but are not limited to: Develops and implements procedures specific to VANTHCS and ensure compliance with local, VISN, Office of Community Care (OCC), and VA Central Office directives, as well as state and federal End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) programs, Joint Commission standards, and other regulatory requirements. Responsible for planning, developing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating program operations. Program goals are achieved through collaborative team efforts. The Coordinator leads administrative dialysis-related social work processes in collaboration with dialysis social workers, Social Work leadership, Community Care, and other stakeholders. Facilitates and coordinates social work services for inpatient and outpatient referrals within the Renal Program, including Hemodialysis Unit, Renal Outpatient Clinics, and community-based referrals. They are also responsible for coordinating and case managing community-based hemodialysis services and monitoring Veterans under VA authorization to ensure continuity of care. Responsible for providing direct clinical services and resolving patient care issues. The incumbent independently conducts psychosocial assessments, discharge planning, and case management for eligible Veterans and their families, regardless of complexity to address biological, psychosocial, social, and environmental needs. The Coordinator is responsible for conducting assessments and education related to pre-dialysis initiation and transplantation. Duties include assisting with financial and insurance resources - such as filing a Service Connected (SC) claim/increase due to ESRD, Medicare enrollment, and secondary insurance - as well as coordinating community transportation referrals and VA travel. Additional responsibilities include community networking for education, interdisciplinary case presentations, and active participation in treatment and discharge planning to ensure timely, patient-centered care. The incumbent manages program data to support daily operations and evaluation. They develop data-driven quality improvement initiatives with defined goals and outcomes to assess program effectiveness. Responsibilities also include creating operational policies and procedures and preparing reports and statistics for facility, VISN, and national use. Acts as a liaison between Patient Administrative Services (PAS), dialysis unit, providers, and accepting units by confirming acceptance and facilitating provider-to-provider communication, including sharing the accepting nephrologist's contact information with the VA nephrologist. Work Schedule: Monday- Friday, 8:00am- 4:30pm Recruitment/Relocation Incentives (Sign-on Bonus): 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: Ad-hoc Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 56945-F

Qualifications

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. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). 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. 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 4 accreditation standards for a masters of social work. Licensure: Persons hired or reassigned to social worker positions in the GS-0185 series in VHA must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the master's degree level. Current state requirements may be found by going to http://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/. 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). Grade Determinations: Social Worker (Program Coordinator), GS-12 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: Experience in Dialysis Social Work Experience working independently without direct supervision 1 year experience in Program Coordination and/or Leadership Role Experience in working with an IDT Experience in Complex Case Management Occasional driving to Veteran's homes in NTX catchment area/driver's license required Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: Light lifting and carrying, under 15 pounds; Straight pulling (1 hour); Pushing (1 hour); Reaching above shoulder; Use of fingers, Both hands required; Walking (2-3 hours); Standing (1 hour); Repeated bending (1 hour); Ability for rapid mental and muscular coordination simultaneously; Near vision correctable at 13" to 16" to Jaeger 1 to 4; Far vision correctable in one eye to 20/20 and to 20/40 in the other; Both eyes required; Ability to distinguish basic colors; Ability to distinguish shades of colors; Hearing (aid permitted); Frequent keyboarding 4-7 hours; Sitting (5-7 hours). A pre-placement examination will be required to be able to determine if the incumbent is able to safely operate a Government Vehicle. Basic Life Support (BLS): BLS certification is required for all direct patient care positions per local policy. The incumbent is responsible for completing orientation, mandatory education, and annual competency.