BFT Resource Navigator Intern

Mass General Brigham•Somerville, MA

1d•$18 - $24•Onsite

About The Position

The Resource Navigator plays a key role in advancing health equity within the Department of Neurosurgery at Mass General Brigham (MGB). Working under the guidance of the Neurosurgery Health Equity Coordinator and Operations Supervisor, this part time, per-dem role focuses on supporting patients who identify social risk factor needs that may impact their care, access, or overall, well being. The resource navigator provides front line triage, direct resource navigation, and coordinated communication between clinical teams, internal hospital resources, and external community partners. This position is patient facing and serves as an essential link in addressing health disparities through inclusive outreach, education, and timely connection to services. Core responsibilities include monitoring phone lines and emails, conducting patient outreach, documenting in Epic, tracking follow up needs, and ensuring patients receive appropriate support related to housing, food access, transportation, utilities, financial assistance, and other social determinants of health. This resource navigator will maintain best practices that strengthen equitable care delivery across the Neurosurgery department.

Requirements

Ability to read, write and articulate in English
Excellent communication skills
Excellent organizational skills
Solution-oriented mindset
Passion for health equity
Ability to prioritize, meet deadlines, and work under pressure
Discretion in handling sensitive and confidential information
Flexibility: Demonstrates adaptability across diverse tasks, teams, and environments; comfortable shifting priorities, working across locations and formats, and taking on evolving responsibilities to support health equity initiatives
Ease in interacting with complex patients, some of whom have multiple comorbidities, including cognitive and social challenges.

Nice To Haves

Actively enrolled in Master of Social Work program
Background in patient care coordination, public health, resource navigation, or community programing.
Familiarity with Epic and health information systems preferred
Proficiency in Excel preferred
Proficiency in Epic preferred
Subject matter knowledge of community resources with services supporting social determinants of health preferred

Responsibilities

Resource Navigation Provide direct resource navigation and care coordination support to patients
Assist patients and care teams with applications, referrals, and follow-ups
Support all social risk factor screening and response efforts
Serve as subject matter expert on community resources
Responsible for social risk factor data collection and entry
Serve as department subject matter expert on community resources
Document all encounters in Epic 1:1 Resource navigation support not limited to: speaking with patients and caregivers over the phone and in person, research and identification of eligible community resources, dissemination of internal resources, application and form assistance, direct communication with community resources on behalf of patients, warm hand-off to community resources, follow-ups with patient and community resource after referral to ensure ongoing support, successful referral and determine outstanding need.
Administrative Duties Attend in person and virtual meetings across all MGB campuses as needed
Work productively, efficiently, and harmoniously with all surgeons and multidisciplinary teams.
Report all operational issues to direct supervisor Supports additional projects in the UAR Health Equity scope as assigned by leadership team
All other duties as assigned