Social Worker Site Coordinator

ABOUT US:

The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center is an independent, non-profit biomedical research organization located in Torrance, California. In dozens of laboratories throughout the campus, researchers are working to unravel the mysteries of heart and kidney disease, cardiac complications in newborns, chronic lung disease, skin cancer, sickle cell disease, disorders of the autoimmune system, and much more. Many of these projects are collaborative in nature, involving experts from different areas of specialization. Our discoveries have prevented blindness in newborns, enabled premature infants with fragile lungs to breathe and allowed children with rare, often fatal diseases to grow up healthy and strong.

MEDICAL-FINANCIAL PARTNERSHIP (SOCIAL WORKER SITE COORDINATOR)

PEDIATRICS & PRENATAL SITES

As part of the program and in support of its aims, provides professional clinical social work services to patients and families presenting difficult medical and related psychosocial problems in various clinical settings (primarily clinics and community ambulatory health care) to assist them in resolving their social and structural challenges to health and in making effective use of the healthcare system and community services. Also, performs professional social work services in connection with and coordination of the treatment of clients in need of psychosocial, mental health, and economic stability services, especially to prevent and address the risk and consequences of childhood adversity.

Essential Job Functions

• Delivers longitudinal social risk/need resource coordination services - including but not limited to Medical-Financial Partnership clinical, treatment, and support activities - in the prenatal, family medicine, and/or pediatric clinic setting.
• Supports connection to psychosocial, mental health, and economic stability supports from prenatal, perinatal/nursery, pediatrics, and/or family medicine care as well as community supports.
• Supports and supervises Medical-Financial Partnership team members, including but not limited to MSW trainees.
• Collaborates and coordinates with health care team members, including but not limited to: health care team trainees, e.g., medical students, residents, nurse practitioner students, etc.; LAC-DHS social workers, and community service providers to respond to adverse childhood experience exposures and psychosocial, mental health, and economic risk/need identified through clinical workflows.
• Provides direct Medical-Financial Partnership family resilience coaching services to patients and caregivers in the prenatal, pediatric, and/or family medicine clinical settings.
• Conducts interviews, assessments, and evaluations of patients and family members to identify social, emotional, and economic barriers, needs, and strengths and identify factors which may interfere with obtaining maximum benefits from medical care and community services that support prevention of childhood adversity, trauma, and social risk.
• Identifies, makes referrals to, coordinates, and monitors community resources/agencies, other professional disciplines, and County departments to provide services in accordance with the patient treatment plan.
• Documents the social/emotional assessments, progress, and treatment plans made and the treatment rendered in accordance with utilization review standards issued by healthcare regulatory agencies. This includes documentation in the medical record with communication to members of the primary care team.
• Develops and implements a social work treatment plan in consultation with Medical-Financial Partnership team in coordination with the clinical social work team, when appropriate, and in collaboration with patients and family members based upon an analysis of the patient and families' psychosocial and economic factors, including barriers, strengths, and needs.
• Participates in multi-disciplinary health team conferences to formulate, assess, and consult about the overall patient/family care plans by interpreting to the team the psychosocial and economic aspects of the patient and families' circumstances.
• Participates in multi-disciplinary orientation sessions and in-service training for other disciplines through lectures and group discussions to heighten awareness and increase understanding of the psychosocial risks and needs associated with a particular illness.
• Attends in-service training programs, continuing professional education, seminars and workshops to support ongoing continuing education and workforce development in accordance with California state licensure requirements (if applicable) and to continue professional development in social work practice, mental health theory, and in the effective delivery of healthcare services.

CLASSIFICATION STANDARDS

• Positions allocable to this class are assigned to ambulatory clinical care settings (primarily) and hospital-based care settings (secondarily) are characterized primarily by the highly Incumbents multi-disciplinary and ancillary support staff to plan, organize, and deliver a Medical-Financial Partnership Program spanning prenatal and pediatric services program for parent-child dyads; coordinate Medical-Financial Partnership services: including but not limited to clinical, treatment, support activities.
• Incumbents in this class oversee a staff of clinicians including MSW interns, as well as professional, paraprofessional, and general service staff; administer and interpret policies and procedures; supporting the implementation and participating in clinical care, trainings, materials, and guidance.
• Incumbents in this class train, instruct, and evaluate and makes work assignments; effectively communicates program services and direction to clinicians and Medical-Financial Partnership team members; discusses problem cases or scenarios with team members with supervisors and provides suggestions and recommendations; reviews case records for completeness, consistency, and quality of services, provided inclusion of proper techniques, insuring compliance with state and federal mandates; consults with supervisees to promote staff development and provides guidance on special complex or problem cases.

Roles:

• Manages coordination and monitoring of daily calendar, team meetings, and visits for all Medical-Financial Partnership team members and all Medical-Financial Partnership clinical encounters.
• Facilitates daily team huddles and additional team meetings, manages the Medical-Financial Partnership calendar, and supervises team's daily care coordination and service responsibilities. This includes but may not be limited to supervising and providing performance feedback and support to Medical-Financial Partnership staff reporting to the Coordinator, ensuring fidelity of the Medical-Financial Partnership services delivered, supporting service delivery through quality improvement and quality assurance activities, and participating in evaluation of program implementation, staff training, and impact.
• Confers with program directors, program managers, and others they report to concerning human resources, program resources and structures, work problems and opportunities for increased program effectiveness.
• Implements clinical workflows for family strengths and needs identification and response in collaboration with Medical-Financial Partnership supervisors, program directors, team, and providers across all clinical settings by determining type and level of Medical-Financial Partnership and other services to be provided; doing quality-assurance; and carrying out policies and procedures.

Clinical quality improvement activities to enhance team effectiveness

• Keeps informed in the fields of early relational health and socio-emotional development, trauma-informed care, evidence-based practices, integrated health care models and practices, quality improvement, law and ethics in social work, Los Angeles County and local communities' resource landscape, as they are applicable to the populations served.
• Participates in Medical-Financial Partnership multi-disciplinary team conferences to discuss and evaluate client's progress, and to develop a care coordination and care transition plans.

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS:

• At least 2 years Post-degree experience working in a multidisciplinary team within a medical setting assessing psychosocial needs of patients and families
• At least 2 years Post-degree experience evaluating infant, family, early childhood mental health and developing interventions/care plans
• Able to work in a fast-paced environment with minimum supervision
• Spanish language fluency
• Previous experience supervising and/or managing individuals or teams, ideally MSWs or MSW interns/students

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

SELECTION REQUIREMENTS:

OPTION I - A Master's Degree* in Social Work from a graduate school accredited by the Council on Social Work Education including supervised clinical social work field work experience. Applicants must have a valid Associate Clinical Social Worker (ACSW) registration issued by the California Department of Consumer Affairs Board of Behavioral Sciences or intention to obtain their ACSW.

• OR -

OPTION II - A Master's Degree* in Social Work from a graduate school accredited by Council on Social Work Education and one year of experience in medical, mental health, child- and family-facing services, or child welfare social work setting(s) involving problems of medical, mental, or emotional adjustment in a medical setting. Applicants must have a valid Associate Clinical Social Worker (ACSW) registration issued by the California Department of Consumer Affairs Board of Behavioral Sciences or intention to obtain their ACSW.

Physical Class II - Light: Light physical effort which may include occasional light lifting to a 10 pound limit, and some bending, stooping or squatting. Considerable walking may be involved.

A valid California Class C Driver License or the ability to utilize an alternative method of transportation when needed to carry out job-related essential functions.

Medical setting is defined in areas as outpatient medical facilities, inpatient medical settings, subacute medical facilities and residential medical settings.