This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific individual eligibility requirements in accordance with VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) and eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after complete review of the EDRP application. 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 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/. Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services. English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). GRADE DETERMINATIONS. In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. Senior Social Worker, GS-12 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: 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. Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice. 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. 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. 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. 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. References: VA Handbook 5005/120 Part II Appendix G39, Dated September 10, 2019. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: The physical demands of this position involve primarily walking, sitting, talking, driving, use of the telephone, etc. Light lifting, under 15 pounds, Light carrying, under 15 pounds, Hearing (aid permitted). ["The Senior Social Worker functions as a primary contact for community agencies, hospitals, health care facilities, city and county governments, providing general information about VA benefits & eligibility and the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. The incumbent is one of the identified points of contact for discharge planning from community hospitals communicating and coordinating care with the Primary Care team, Mental Health team and Veteran/Family. The incumbent 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. The incumbent evaluates Veterans' eligibility for VA nursing home care and identifies the medical needs to distinguish between extended care services, other VA inpatient programs, Medi-Cal long term care options, in-home health services and county services. Incumbent facilitates communication between outside hospitals and the Palo Alto Division primary care providers. Major duties include but not limited to: Incumbent develops, adapts and directs social work services to meet the changing needs of the Integrated Primary Care and Mental Health Clinics and any specialty clinics at the VA Palo Alto Division while engaging the IPACT Teamlets to work with patient and family to address bio-psycho-social needs. Attends regular team meetings and daily team huddles as appropriate, manages consults sent for IPACT Social Work and ensures social work case management triage assessment, comprehensive assessment and case management notes are completed in a timely manner per policy. Incumbent serves as a leader for IPACT Medical Social Worker at the Palo Alto Division for advanced knowledge of VA and Community resources, consultation regarding difficult cases when the supervisor is not available and offering regular competency trainings to IPACT SW Section and Staff. Incumbent will be responsible for tracking and managing IPACT Palo Alto and off-site medical social work consults and troubleshooting data management (e.g. encounter/documentation concerns to monitor and maintain appropriate productivity). Incumbent will be responsible for tracking and coordinating timely completion of Goals of Care Discussions, POLST and Advance Directives as well as coordinating Advance Care Planning Patient Education Groups, Long Term Care Planning Education Groups, Resource Groups, and Grief Groups. Incumbent will also cross cover Mental Health Groups as needed and may also participate in coordinating the New Patient Orientation Education Group with the interdisciplinary team members. Incumbent coordinates medical social work services including referrals to community resources and provides support services in these areas to the mental health clinic and serves as an advocate for Veterans while addressing system and psychosocial barriers to care to track opportunities for quality improvement that should be tracked and adapted to improve processes. Incumbent coordinates long term care referrals to VA Community Living Centers (CLC) at Menlo Park and/or Livermore and facilitates long term care referrals to contracted nursing homes with the Community Nursing Home (CNH) Coordinator. Develops and maintains extensive knowledge of community agencies, resources and programs to provide information and referral services to Veterans and their families. Manages referrals to and coordination with community agencies, hospitals, programs and resources. Incumbent coordinates referrals to Homemaker, Home Health Aide (H/HHA), Adult Day Health, Inpatient Respite Program, and first conducts functional assessments to assess patient eligibility for the services and communicates with family and service providers about options increasing custodial care in the home. Incumbent collaborates with H&CBC nurses and assists CBOC PACTs with home health referrals to provide continuity of treatment for patients requiring skilled care in their homes. Incumbent has working knowledge of requirements for home skilled service consults and provides support to PACTs with Home Skilled Service consults as well as OT home safety evaluations. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM Telework: Available. Virtual: This may be a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 000000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: May be authorized to a highly qualified applicant. EDRP Authorized: Contact V21CCOEEDRP@VA.GOV, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized. Financial Disclosure Report: Not required."]
The Veterans Health Administration is America’s largest integrated health care system, providing care at 1,298 health care facilities, including 171 medical centers and 1,113 outpatient sites of care of varying complexity (VHA outpatient clinics), serving 9 million enrolled Veterans each year.
