Medical Social Worker

Cherokee Indian Hospital Authority•Cherokee, NC

17h•Hybrid

About The Position

The incumbent is responsible for all operational activities of the Social Services program. The incumbent is responsible for planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, and managing Social Services activities in order to assure meeting the needs of the patient. The position also includes case management duties to assure clinically and financially responsible care. He/she maintains liaison with other departments, agencies, organizations, and community resources in determining appropriate resource utilization.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work.
At least 2 years’ experience as a Social Worker. Prefer that experience reflects knowledge of Hospital Social Work.
Current Basic Life Support (BLS) required for the position. Can be acquired through the facility following appointment to position.
Knowledge of principles, practices, techniques, and theories of social work in order to plan and provide social services to meet the physical, emotional, spiritual, and socio-cultural needs of patients of all ages; specifically, Infancy (Birth-1 year), Toddler and Early Childhood (2-5 years), Latency (6-9 years), Preadolescence (10-12 years), Early Adolescence (13-15 years), Adolescence (16-20), Adult (21-64 years), and Elderly (65-+ years).
Knowledge of disease process, health care treatment and systems, and treatment protocols.
Knowledge of health care financial management, provider payer mechanisms, business environment, and resource management.
Knowledge of strategic planning, outcome measurement, quantitative methods and statistics.
Knowledge of ICD_10 coding, billing practices.
Knowledge and ability to analyze the results of various medical procedures and translate into appropriate plans of care.
Knowledge of nursing home admission requirements, including steps to initiate nursing home processing.
Knowledge of the transfer/admission to inpatient process for CIHA.
Knowledge of Family Care Services policy and procedures and ability to coordinate care requirements with patient centered goals in mind.
Knowledge and ability to independently plan, manage, and organize work in order to meet priorities, accomplish work within established time frames and work in stressful situations.
Knowledge of the occupational functions of multi-disciplinary integrated health care teams.
Knowledge of the culture and health profile of the patient population.
Knowledge and ability to teach and counsel patient/family and staff on plans for care and use of health care resources.
Knowledge of available health care programs and community resources.
Knowledge of processes and procedures for establishing, revising, continually monitoring, and evaluating standards for Social Services.
Knowledge of medical record documentation and how to perform medical record reviews.
Ability to communicate to and interact with persons, (staff, health care professionals, individuals in the community) with different functions, levels of knowledge, and requirements.
Knowledge of JCAHO accreditation standards, social services quality improvement standards, HCFA regulations, Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance.
Knowledge of clinical teaching methodologies and methods of evaluating the effectiveness of teaching strategies.
Ability to gather and analyze data and communicate findings.

Responsibilities

Serves as the consultant to the Primary Care staff on all matters pertaining to social work services.
Provides a wide range of social work activities to eligible Primary Care patients.
Is the official liaison and will promote and facilitate a positive professional relationship between CIHA Primary Care and other social service and human service programs in the area. This includes all Tribal, regional, community, courts, and other medical and behavioral health facilities upon request for the Native American population served.
Assists patients and families with discharge planning
Arranges patient transfer and transporting to and from other facilities
Referrals for financial resources
Referrals for death and dying resources and services
Referrals for advanced directive facilitation and resources
Assists with referrals for child/adult abuse/neglect to the appropriate agencies.
Shares social evaluations and knowledge of patients, their families, and community resources with physicians, planning for the treatment and/or rehabilitation of patients through consultation.
Utilizes the electronic health record for documentation of interventions and outcomes and interactions with individuals encountered in providing care.
Assists the primary care team with the development of plans of care by assessing the patient’s needs through interviews with patients, relatives, and other care team members in order to obtain pertinent information.
Ensures conformance to acceptable standards of Social Service and Case Management practice, including all policies, procedures, rules, and regulations of the Cherokee Indian Hospital, JCAHO, CMS, and State Division of Medical Assistance.
Responsible for assisting with planning, developing, and implementing the Social Service program.
Implementing Social Service activities within the organization including concurrent and retrospective reviews, identification of actual and/or potential delays in service and/or treatment, and reporting trends of inappropriate utilization of resources.
Attends daily multidisciplinary inpatient rounds and confers with the Inpatient Social Worker and Medical staff on Social Services and Care Management services.
Assists the nursing staff as needed with coordination of care and disposition of patients from Primary Care, such as, but not limited to patients requiring placement or transfer to any medical, non-medical and/or behavioral health facilities.
Assists the nursing and medical staff as needed with facilitation of transfer for patients from outside facilities back to CIHA medical or behavioral health inpatient units.
Responsible for identifying providers or services needed to coordinate the patient’s care in the Primary Care setting, or upon discharge from the Cherokee Indian Hospital or any regional facility.
Interprets patient’s resource and care management needs to the Medical and Nursing staff and collaborates with them in the determining available resources.
Maintains files and prepares reports on Social Service and Case Management activities and areas for improvement for submission to the Primary Care Nurse Manager and other appropriate groups.
Participates in the development and implementation of Performance Improvement activities, and participates or leads at least one Quality Improvement activity per year (PDSA).
Attends meetings, planning sessions, committees, and serves on teams to promote quality and performance improvement.
Participates in various hospital committees as assigned
Attends conferences and meetings relating to social service practices.
Performs other related duties as required.