Summary

The Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) is a comprehensive team which delivers primary care to veteran patients in a longitudinal rather than episodic fashion and which has as its focus: prevention; health promotion - coordination and chronic disease management. The Social Worker is assigned to Primary Care and covers Urgent Care and Specialty Clinics as well - where appropriate.

Qualifications

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

Basic Requirements:

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy
• Education
• Have a master's degree in social work from a school of social work fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE)
• Graduates of schools of social work that are in candidacy status do not meet this requirement until the School of Social Work is fully accredited
• A doctoral degree in social work may not be substituted for the master's degree in social work
• Verification of the degree can be made by going to http://www.cswe.org/Accreditation to verify that the social work degree meets the 4 accreditation standards for a masters of social work
• Licensure
• Persons hired or reassigned to social worker positions in the GS-0185 series in VHA must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the master's degree level
• Current state requirements may be found by going to http://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/
• English Language Proficiency
• Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f)
• May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria)
• Grade Determinations: Senior Social Worker - GS-12 (1) Experience/Education
• The candidate must have at least two years of experience post advanced practice clinical licensure and should be in a specialized area of social work practice of which - one year must be equivalent to the GS-11 grade level
• Senior social workers have experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgment
• Senior social workers are experts in their specialized area of practice
• Senior social workers may have certification or other post-masters training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship or equivalent supervised professional experience in a specialty
• (2) Licensure/Certification
• Senior social workers must be licensed or certified by a state at the advanced practice level which included an advanced generalist or clinical examination - unless they are grandfathered by the state in which they are licensed to practice at the advanced practice level (except for licenses issued in California - which administers its own clinical examination for advanced practice) and they must be able to provide supervision for licensure
• (3) Demonstrated Knowledge - Skills - and Abilities
• In addition to the experience above - candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: (a) Skill in a range of specialized interventions and treatment modalities used in specialty treatment programs or with special patient populations
• This includes individual - group - and/or family counseling or psychotherapy and advanced level psychosocial and/or case management
• (b) Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice
• (c) Knowledge in developing and implementing methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services in the specialty area - utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services and to design system changes
• (d) Ability to provide specialized consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of patients in the service delivery area - as well as role modeling effective social work practice skills
• (e) Ability to expand clinical knowledge in the social work profession - and to write policies - procedures - and/or practice guidelines pertaining to the service delivery area
• (4) Assignments
• For all assignments above the full performance level - the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope - complexity (difficulty) - and variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time
• Senior social workers are licensed or certified to independently practice social work at an advanced level
• Senior social workers typically practice in a major program area such as but not limited to: Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center or Polytrauma Network Site
• a Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Center - or a national VHA referral center - such as a national Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or a national Transplant Center - or other program areas of equivalent scope and complexity
• The senior social worker may be assigned administrative responsibility for clinical program development and is accountable for clinical program effectiveness and modification of service patterns
• Assignments include clinical settings where they have limited access to onsite supervision such as CBOCs or satellite outpatient clinics
• The senior social worker collaborates with the other members of the treatment team in the provision of comprehensive health care services to Veterans - ensures equity of access - service - and benefits to this population - ensures the care provided is of the highest quality
• The senior social worker provides leadership - direction - orientation - coaching - in-service training - staff development - and continuing education programs for assigned social work staff
• They serve on committees - work groups - and task forces at the facility - VISN and national level - or in the community as deemed appropriate by the supervisor - Social Work Executive or Chief of Social Work Services
• This assignment is to be relatively few in number based on the size of the facility/service and applying sound position management
• This assignment must represent substantial additional responsibility over and above that required at the full performance grade level and cannot be used as the full performance level of this occupation
• Reference: For more information on this qualification standard - please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/
• The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12
• Physical Requirements: This position requires light lifting - use of fingers - walking - standing - ability to distinguish basic colors - ability to distinguish shades of colors - hearing (Aid permitted) - and operation of a motor vehicle
• See VA Directive and Handbook 5019 - Employee Occupational Health Services.

Duties

• Work Schedule: Monday - Friday
• 8:00 a.m
• - 4:30 p.m.
• Subject to change to meet the needs of the Agency Compressed/Flexible: Not Authorized Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave - 13 days of sick leave - 11 paid Federal holidays per year) Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual - based on prior [work experience] or military service experience
• Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment - up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth - adoption - or foster care placement of a child
• Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment - full time employees with a total family income below $144 -000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66
• Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement) Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position
• Functional Statement #: 07673-F Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized Duties for the position include but are not limited to: Works independently with veterans and their families who are experiencing a wide range of complicated medical - psychiatric - emotional - behavioral - and psychosocial problems
• Establishes and maintains effective therapeutic relationships with - and assesses and treats the complicated psychosocial problems of - veterans and their families
• Provides psychosocial care of medically complex patients and offers consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment and care coordination of complex patients
• Possesses knowledge of medical and mental health diagnoses - disabilities - and treatment procedures - including acute - chronic and traumatic illnesses - substance abuse disorders - bereavement - common medications - and general medical terminology
• Participates as a member of the interdisciplinary treatment team to formulate and implement treatment plans identifying the patients' problems - strengths - weaknesses - coping skills and any assistance needed
• Receives referrals from any member of the interdisciplinary team - from veterans and/or their families who call or walk in for assistance - and from community professionals
• Conducts thorough assessments to determine psychosocial problems that cause distress - often impacting the health condition and creating barriers to care needs of veterans and family members - the underlying causes of the presenting problem - the interpersonal and environmental factors impacting the problem - and its effect on the patient's ability and desire to comply with the treatment recommendations by the multidisciplinary team
• These stressors can include adjustment to the current medical condition - untreated or undertreated mental health or substance abuse conditions - economic instability - legal problems - and inadequate housing and transportation
• Provides wellness/prevention education and stress management - which includes knowledge in Whole Health - facilitates patient/family support groups - and participates in shared medical appointments as appropriate
• Assists veterans and their families with coping and dealing with the loss and grief experiences in disability - terminal illness - and death
• Provides case management interventions for veterans with members of the interdisciplinary team in order to coordinate a collaborative effort to meet the agreed upon goals for veterans' treatment needs
• Facilitates community placements through collaboration with veterans and their families as well as interdisciplinary treatment team members to ensure that appropriate community placements are completed in a timely manner
• VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU VA Careers - Licensed Clinical Social Worker: https://youtube.com/embed/U_xC25QsN0w Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional