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Senior Social Worker, PACT HRICM/TCM

Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Health Administration
VA Texas Valley Coastal Bend Health Care System
This job announcement has closed

Summary

The social worker provides for the needs of the PACT team, the high-risk intensive program and the Post 9/11 M2VA Case Management program. The PACT High Risk Intensive Program is designed to meet the needs of high-risk Veterans who require intensive case management to prevent hospitalization and to coordinate care. The overall objective of the program is to assist the Veteran/caregiver in managing the disease(s) process, coordinating care and maintaining and/or improving health.

Overview

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Reviewing applications
Open & closing dates
09/14/2021 to 09/13/2022
Salary
$79,446 to - $103,284 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 12
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Laredo, TX
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
No
Travel Required
Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel within VCB catchment area and for community/home visits for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Excepted
Promotion potential
None
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Other
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
CAZM-11226353-21-KSB
Control number
614084400

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Duties

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NOTE: This announcement has been extended. Applicants will be referred approximately every two weeks.

The Social Worker works collaboratively with medicine and specialty clinics to further the VA mission in providing exceptional health care to improve the health and well-being of Veterans. Social Work services include high risk screening, psychosocial assessment, consulting, managing crises, treating, referring, coordinating VA services and community resources and interfacing with outside health care systems. This level of interface represents a unique level of differentiation, complexity and interdependency of skills and tasks.

  • Interviews Veterans and their family members/significant others to establish facts about their presenting problems, their causes, and the impact of such problems as it relates to their functioning and health as part of a comprehensive psychosocial assessment.
  • Reviews all data, subjective and objective, and makes a clinical assessment, identifying needs and strengths.
  • Effectively uses professional skill, objectivity and insight.
  • Uses advanced clinical training, insight and experience to interpret data and to identify viable treatment options.
  • Assesses high risk factors, acuity and need for services to develop a treatment plan and objectives.
  • Utilizes motivational interviewing and completes an individualized personalized healthcare plan.
  • Performs specialized treatment of complex physical or mental illness.
  • Incorporates complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment of veteran patients, including making psychosocial and psychiatric diagnoses within approved clinical privileges.
  • Provides individual, group, and family counseling and advanced level case management interventions used in the treatment of veterans.
  • Develops psychosocial treatment plans in coordination with interdisciplinary team members, including goals for discharge planning.
  • Works closely with the veteran or service member's interdisciplinary treatment team to assure good communication and treatment planning.
  • Responsible for the screening, consultation, securing authorizations and admissions of high-risk Veterans.
  • Functions as the primary contact for community agencies, hospitals, health care facilities, city and county governments, providing general information about VA benefits and eligibility.
  • Coordinates and provides information in compliance with HIPAA and VA Privacy regulations regarding VA benefits pertaining to nursing home care, in-home assistance, and aide and attendance/housebound benefits.
  • Evaluates Veterans' eligibility for VA nursing home care, and identifies the medical needs to distinguish between extended care services, other VA inpatient programs, long term care options, in-home health services and county services.
  • Develops and implements methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services in specialty areas, utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services.
  • Demonstrates the ability to design changes based on empirical findings.
  • Offers consultation to colleagues, social work students, residents, interns, and fellows from other disciplines regarding the psychosocial treatment of patients, rendering professional opinions based on experience and expertise and role modeling effective social work practice skills.
  • Demonstrates the ability to teach and mentor staff and students in the special area of practice and to provide supervision for licensure or specialty certifications.
  • Provides ongoing collaboration, mentoring, and education to TXVCBHCS staff regarding the unique needs of the Veteran.
  • Performs other related duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm
Telework: Not Available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Title/Functional Statement #:Senior Social Worker, PACT HRICM/TCM/PD000000
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
  • Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
  • You may be required to serve a probationary period
  • Subject to a background/security investigation
  • Must be proficient in written and spoken English
  • Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process
  • Participation in the seasonal influenza and Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Vaccination programs are requirements for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/13/2022.
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.

English Language Proficiency Requirement - Per VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, Section A, Paragraph 3j: No person will be appointed under authority of 38 U.S.C., chapter 73 or 74, to serve in a direct patient-care capacity in VHA who is not proficient in written and spoken English.

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 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/. Once licensed or certified, social workers must maintain a full, valid, and unrestricted independent license or certification to remain qualified for employment. Loss of licensure or certification will result in removal from the GS-0185 social worker series and may result in termination of employment.

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).

Preferred Experience:

  • Two years of Medical Social Work/Case Management experience including experience in working with Veterans/Families and caregivers.
  • Certification in Advance Case Management or Certified Case Manager (CCM) preferred/if available.
  • Must be familiar with local community agencies and resources.
  • Counseling experience including individual and group.
Grade Determinations: GS12 Senior Social Worker
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.

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.

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.

Advanced Practice Level: For all assignments above the full performance (journey) 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. Advanced Practice Level is defined as the ability to provide independent and expert clinical psychosocial and case management services in a specialized area of practice to Veterans who tend to have serious and severe crises, may lack any familial and community support, may be poor self-monitors, may frequently fail to comply with instructions and treatment, or may have major deficits in coping skills and require continuing professional psychological support. The advanced practice or senior social worker has an increased depth and breadth of practice skills; has expertise in participating in the professional development of colleagues through mentorship and teaching; demonstrates leadership in developing and expanding professional intervention strategies; demonstrates leadership in defining and attending to professional practice issues; and has the ability to expand the conceptual knowledge of the profession. The advanced practice or senior social worker will make independent professional decisions and recommendations for agency action; the consequences to the Veteran of these decisions and actions may be quite serious. Work involves intensive social work services requiring the exercise of mature professional judgment and the flexible use of a wide range of complex social work practice skills not typically required in routine social work interventions. The advanced practice or senior social worker has mastered a range of specialized interventions and provides consultation to colleagues, renders professional opinions based on experience and expertise, develops new models of psychosocial assessment or intervention, and incorporates complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment. The advanced practice or senior social worker utilizes outcome evaluations to further treatment and designs system changes based on empirical findings.

References: VA Handbook 5005/120 Part II Appendix G39 VA Qualification Standards. http://vaww1.va.gov/ohrm/Directives-Handbooks/Direct_Hand.htm

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS12.

Physical Requirements: light lifting and carrying (under 15 pounds); walking (4-6 hours); standing (3-6 hours); repeated bending (up to half an hour); operation of a crate, truck, tractor, or motor vehicle; ability for rapid mental and muscular coordination simultaneously; far vision correctable in one eye to 20/20 and to 20/40 in the other; depth perception; ability to distinguish basic colors; hearing (aid permitted); mental and emotional stability; cognitive stability.

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Failure to provide transcripts may result in non-referral of your application if education cannot be verified.

Must 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 accreditation standards for a masters of social work.

NOTE: If your school was accredited by CSWE at the time of graduation, but is no longer listed on the CSWE website, you must provide documentation of accreditation with your application packet.

NOTE: If your school has changed names, or is no longer in existence, you must provide this information in your application.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

Additional information

Pandemic Telework Program: Due to COVID-19, the VA is currently in an expanded telework posture. If selected, you may be expected to temporarily telework, even if your home is located outside the local commuting area. Once employees are permitted to return to the office, you will be expected to report to the duty station listed on this announcement. [Management officials will provide information about returning to the official, pre-pandemic worksite, when applicable.] At that time, you may be eligible to request to continue to telework depending upon the terms of your organization's telework policy and the duties of the position.

As required by Executive Order 14043, Federal employees are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 regardless of the employee's duty location or work arrangement (e.g., telework, remote work, etc.), subject to such exceptions as required by law. If selected, you will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and submit documentation of proof of vaccination before your start date. The agency will provide additional information regarding what information or documentation will be needed and how you can request a legally required exception from this requirement using the reasonable accommodation process.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status.

VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply. The health-related positions in VA are covered by Title 38, and are not covered by the Schedule A excepted appointment authority.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.

If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document you do not have in electronic form, view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, résumé, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

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