Behavioral Health Lead (LICSW)

Akido•California, CA

12h•$105,000 - $125,000

About The Position

RIPCMG is seeking an experienced Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) to serve as its Behavioral Health Lead. This is a working clinical leadership role: approximately 80–85% of the week is direct patient care, with the remaining 15–20% devoted to leading the RIPCPC Integrated Behavioral Health team, running the behavioral health program, and serving as the organization’s point person for regulatory and payor contract matters. The role combines longitudinal therapy for children, adolescents, and adults with integrated behavioral health in primary care, including warm handoffs, same-day consultations, brief interventions, and the Collaborative Care Model (CoCM). The Lead works across RIPCMG and RIPCPC, providing care in the medical group while supervising IPA behavioral health clinicians and ensuring services meet state requirements and health plan contract terms. The position will shape program workflows, referral criteria, measurement, team operations, and contracts.

Requirements

Master of Social Work (MSW) from a program accredited by the Council on Social Work Education.
Active, unrestricted Rhode Island LICSW license at the 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.
Skill in 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 longitudinal behavioral health care to children, adolescents, and adults, including diagnostic evaluations, treatment planning, and individual, family, and group psychotherapy using evidence-based approaches.
Deliver integrated behavioral health services in primary care through warm handoffs, same-day consultations, and brief interventions, and support primary care clinicians in managing behavioral health needs during visits.
Serve as behavioral health care manager for Collaborative Care patients: engage patients, administer validated measures, maintain the registry, provide measurement-based care, and bring caseloads to 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 between longitudinal therapy, brief intervention, and Collaborative Care as appropriate.
Meet productivity expectations of 15–18 billable encounters per week and an active Collaborative Care caseload of approximately 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 in accordance with Rhode Island requirements and complete supervised-experience verification for the Board.
Lead weekly team huddles and caseload reviews, assigning referrals according to acuity and fit for longitudinal therapy, integrated care, or Collaborative Care.
Provide clinical input on hiring, onboarding, training, coverage, and performance for RIPCPC clinicians in partnership with RIPCPC leadership and Human Resources.
Own 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 relevant 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 across RIPCMG and RIPCPC, 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.
Serve as the behavioral health subject matter expert for payor contracting by reviewing proposed contract terms, fee schedules, and quality requirements and identifying operational or financial risks.
Act as the named behavioral health contact for health plans regarding credentialing, quality programs, delegated oversight, and audits; prepare policies, evidence, and corrective action responses as needed.
Partner with Credentialing to maintain behavioral health clinicians’ enrollment with payors and confirm which services each license type may bill under each contract.