Behavioral Health Integration Clinician

About the role

Join the Collaborative Care integrated behavioral health program as it expands to Michigan. The mission is to improve the quality of life for older adults living with behavioral health needs and chronic health conditions through the best-practice Collaborative Care model, focused on health behaviors and behavioral health for patients in primary care settings.

The Behavioral Health Integration Clinician is a central member of a patient’s collaborative care team, which includes the patient’s medical provider and psychiatric consultant. This role provides high-quality, evidence-based patient support, including individual assessment, treatment planning, psychotherapy, and care coordination for an assigned caseload.

Responsibilities

• Screen and assess patients for mental health and substance abuse disorders.
• Facilitate patient engagement, treatment plans, and follow-up care.
• Provide brief behavioral interventions using evidence-based techniques such as behavioral activation, problem-solving treatment, motivational interviewing, or other clinically appropriate methods supported by clinical technology software.
• Support psychotropic medication management as prescribed by medical providers, focusing on treatment adherence, side effects, and effectiveness.
• Provide health behavior and social determinants of health interventions to improve functioning and medical outcomes.
• Systematically track treatment response and monitor patients (in-person, via video, or by telephone) for changes in clinical symptoms and treatment side effects or complications.
• Provide patient education about common mental health and substance abuse disorders and available treatment options.
• Provide or facilitate in-clinic or outside referrals to evidence-based psychosocial treatments (e.g., problem-solving treatment or behavioral activation) as clinically indicated.
• Participate in regularly scheduled (usually weekly) caseload consultation with the psychiatric consultant and communicate resulting treatment recommendations to the patient’s medical provider.
• Track patient follow-up and clinical outcomes using the EHR. Document in-person, video, and telephone encounters in the EHR and use established clinical workflows to identify and re-engage patients.
• Document patient progress and treatment recommendations in the EHR and other required systems to share with medical providers, psychiatric consultants, and other treating providers.
• Facilitate treatment plan changes for patients who are not improving as expected, in consultation with the medical provider and psychiatric consultant, including referrals for more intensive or specialized mental health care.
• Actively participate in process improvement by identifying areas of inefficiency and contributing to enhancement opportunities.
• Attend meetings and conduct therapy primarily via video conference, with periodic (approximately once a month) in-person visits to clinics to connect with clinicians and administrators and ensure collaborative workflows are in place.
• Meet performance metrics each month as determined by the clinical manager and clinical director.

Requirements

• A minimum of a master’s degree in social work, psychology, counseling, rehabilitation, or another relevant field.
• 3-5+ years of experience in behavioral health intervention, clinical work, case management, and/or community care coordination.
• Experience working with diverse populations, including older adult Medicare populations with chronic medical and behavioral health challenges.
• Active independent clinical license in Michigan. Eligible licenses include:
  • Licensed Master Social Worker - Clinical (LMSW)
  • Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)
  • Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT)
  • Licensed Psychologist
• Current enrollment in Michigan’s Medicaid and Medicare is preferred; eligibility for enrollment is required.
• Hybrid position requiring telephonic or video-based service delivery. Stable high-speed home internet is required.
• Proficiency in utilizing electronic health records (EHR), scheduling systems, remote phone systems, and video systems.

Schedule

• Monday–Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern time.
• Hybrid schedule: expected to work in clinics in Traverse City two days per week.