Behavioral Health Patient Placement Coordinator

Beth Israel Lahey Health

4d•$24 - $32•Onsite

About The Position

The Behavioral Health Patient Placement Coordinator is a key member of the BILH Behavioral Health Transfer Center, supporting centralized coordination and placement of patients who require inpatient behavioral health services. This office-based role conducts clinical reviews of referrals, facilitates admission decisions, and coordinates patient placement to support timely access to appropriate care. Working with inpatient behavioral health units, referring hospitals, providers, and community partners, the coordinator helps optimize system bed capacity and patient flow while supporting patient outcomes, operational efficiency, and a seamless admission experience. The coordinator serves as a clinical and operational liaison, supports patient-centered decision-making, and helps ensure regulatory compliance and improve behavioral health admissions and transfers.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Nursing, Social Work, Psychology, Healthcare Administration, or a related field.
Exceptional communication, critical thinking, organizational, and interpersonal skills.
Ability to collaborate effectively across multidisciplinary teams and with external partners.
Commitment to patient-centered care, operational excellence, and continuous process improvement.
Working knowledge of behavioral health diagnoses, psychiatric admission processes, emergency behavioral health assessments, and managed care requirements is preferred in the posting, rather than required.
Understanding of medical comorbidities and their impact on behavioral health treatment planning and placement decisions.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications and electronic medical record systems.
Ability to communicate clearly and effectively in written English and converse in English with staff, patients, families, and external customers.
Ability to make decisions guided by general instructions and practices, analyze varied problems, organize work within general guidelines, and seek assistance in difficult or unpredictable situations.
Ability to remain calm and provide professional, respectful customer service in stressful situations.
Completion of required competencies, certifications, and annual training, including CPR, risk management, and de-escalation training.
Staff must be vaccinated against influenza as a condition of employment.

Nice To Haves

Experience in behavioral health, psychiatric services, patient access, care coordination, case management, transfer center operations, or related clinical settings.
Knowledge of behavioral health diagnoses, psychiatric admission processes, emergency behavioral health assessments, and managed care requirements.
Epic experience.

Responsibilities

Collaborate with referring hospitals, emergency departments, community providers, and other referral sources to obtain clinical information and coordinate patient transitions.
Review referrals clinically and apply admission, exclusion, and level-of-care criteria to determine placement options; escalate cases for physician, psychiatric, or leadership review when required.
Coordinate and facilitate admissions for accepted patients, supporting timely placement across behavioral health services.
Identify cases requiring additional medical or psychiatric review and facilitate escalation to the Director of Behavioral Health Admissions or other designated leaders.
Partner with behavioral health units across the system to optimize bed utilization, patient flow, and capacity management.
Maintain real-time awareness of available and anticipated behavioral health capacity.
Prioritize placement according to clinical need, level-of-care requirements, available capacity, and system protocols.
Identify placement barriers and proactively facilitate their resolution or escalation.
Communicate placement status and outstanding requirements to referring teams.
Support equitable distribution of appropriate patients across available system capacity.
Document referral status, clinical reviews, dispositions, barriers, and communications accurately.
Participate in and lead quality improvement initiatives to enhance behavioral health access, placement efficiency, patient flow, and care coordination.
Serve as a central resource and liaison for placement inquiries from internal and external stakeholders.
Maintain knowledge of applicable regulatory standards and ensure compliance with requirements from DMH, DPH, The Joint Commission, payers, and other governing agencies.
Promote quality, safety, and patient-centered care throughout admissions and transfers.
Establish and maintain collaborative relationships with referral sources, payers, physicians, clinical teams, and hospital departments.
Participate in developing, implementing, and continuously improving workflows and operational processes that enhance access to behavioral health services.
Complete required competencies, certifications, and annual training, including CPR, risk management, and de-escalation training.
Perform additional duties and responsibilities as assigned.