Behavioral Health Lead (LICSW)

RI Primary Care•Warwick, RI

11h•$105,000 - $125,000

About The Position

RIPCMG is seeking an experienced Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) to serve as Behavioral Health Lead. This is a working clinical leadership role: approximately 80–85% of the week is direct patient care, while the remaining 15–20% is spent leading the RIPCPC Integrated Behavioral Health team, managing the behavioral health program, and serving as the organization’s point person for behavioral health regulatory and payor contract matters. The role combines longitudinal psychotherapy with integrated behavioral health in primary care. The lead carries a panel of children, adolescents, and adults needing ongoing treatment, while also providing warm handoffs, same-day consultations, brief interventions, and Collaborative Care Model (CoCM) services. The position works across RIPCMG and RIPCPC, leading and supervising clinicians, developing workflows and referral criteria, tracking outcomes, supporting compliant billing, and ensuring services align with state requirements and health plan contracts. The Behavioral Health Lead also represents behavioral health with organizational leaders, primary care teams, community partners, and health plans. The position is an opportunity to help build and expand behavioral health services across a growing organization.

Requirements

Master of Social Work (MSW) from a program accredited by the Council on Social Work Education.
Active, unrestricted Rhode Island LICSW license at time of hire.
At least five years of post-master’s clinical experience, including at least two years in integrated primary care, Collaborative Care, or another medical setting.
Experience providing clinical supervision to licensed clinicians and eligibility to provide licensure-track supervision under Rhode Island regulations.
Working knowledge of behavioral health billing, payor coverage rules, and Rhode Island regulatory requirements for behavioral health services.
Clinical experience treating children, adolescents, and adults.
Ability to provide both brief, solution-focused interventions and longitudinal, evidence-based psychotherapy.
Experience with measurement-based care, suicide risk assessment, and safety planning.
Comfort using electronic health records, registries, and basic performance reporting.

Nice To Haves

Formal Collaborative Care training, such as through the University of Washington AIMS Center, and experience as a behavioral health care manager in an operating CoCM program.
Experience launching or expanding an integrated behavioral health or Collaborative Care program, including workflow design and billing setup.
Pediatric and adolescent integrated behavioral health experience.
Training in modalities such as CBT, TF-CBT, DBT, motivational interviewing, or parent-child interventions.
Experience supporting payor contracting, credentialing, delegated audits, or regulatory compliance for behavioral health services.
Working knowledge of the Rhode Island behavioral health system, including crisis services and Medicaid managed care.
Bilingual English/Spanish.

Responsibilities

Provide diagnostic evaluation, treatment planning, and individual, family, and group psychotherapy to a longitudinal panel of children, adolescents, and adults using evidence-based approaches.
Deliver integrated behavioral health services in primary care, including warm handoffs, same-day consultations, and brief interventions for patients and primary care clinicians.
Serve as behavioral health care manager for Collaborative Care patients; engage patients, administer validated measures, maintain the registry, treat to target, and present the caseload for weekly review with the psychiatric consultant.
Communicate psychiatric consultant recommendations to treating primary care clinicians and follow through on care-plan changes.
Conduct suicide and safety risk assessments, develop safety plans, and coordinate with crisis resources when needed.
Coordinate referrals to higher levels of care and community services, and transition patients among longitudinal therapy, brief intervention, and Collaborative Care as appropriate.
Meet productivity expectations of 15–18 billable encounters per week and maintain an active Collaborative Care caseload of about 25–30 patients, adjusted for supervision load.
Complete timely, compliant psychotherapy and Collaborative Care documentation, including accurate time logs that prevent minutes from being counted toward two services.
Provide clinical supervision to the RIPCPC Integrated Behavioral Health team, including case consultation, documentation review, and oversight of high-risk cases.
Provide licensure-track supervision to LCSWs pursuing LICSW licensure and complete supervised-experience verification for the Rhode Island Board of Social Work Examiners.
Lead weekly team huddles and caseload reviews, assigning referrals by acuity and fit to longitudinal therapy, integrated care, or Collaborative Care.
Provide clinical input on hiring, onboarding, training, coverage, and performance in partnership with RIPCPC leadership and Human Resources.
Manage behavioral health workflows across RIPCMG sites, including referral intake, warm handoffs, Collaborative Care consent and enrollment, registry management, step-up and step-down criteria, and crisis response.
Track and report access, caseload, productivity, and outcomes, including PHQ-9 response and remission and HEDIS behavioral health measures.
Partner with billing and compliance on payor coverage, documentation standards, and periodic chart audits.
Educate primary care clinicians and staff on referral criteria, warm handoffs, and collaboration with the behavioral health team.
Represent behavioral health in RIPCMG and RIPCPC leadership meetings and with community partners.
Serve as the point person for behavioral health regulatory questions, including Rhode Island licensure and supervision rules, Medicaid and health plan requirements, confidentiality rules, and mental health parity.
Monitor federal and state behavioral health regulations and payor policies and translate changes into workflow, documentation, and training updates.
Review proposed payor contract terms, fee schedules, and quality requirements for behavioral health services; identify operational or financial risks.
Act as the named behavioral health contact for health plans on credentialing questions, quality programs, delegated oversight, and audits; prepare policies, evidence, and corrective action responses as needed.
Partner with Credentialing to maintain behavioral health clinicians’ payor enrollment and confirm which services each license type may bill under each contract.