Senior Social Worker - Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV)

About the role

The HCHV Liaison works in coordination with the HCHV Program team to provide a seamless system of healthcare services under the supervision of the HCHV Program Coordinator. The HCHV Liaison will serve as the Contracting Officer Representative (COR) and as such, will make recommendations about contract renewal to the VISN (Veterans Integrated Service Network) Contracting Office. The HCHV Liaison monitors the clinical care and assesses the compliance of the programs in contract with the VAMC. When necessary, the HCHV Liaison intervenes to facilitate compliance or corrective actions and, when appropriate, develops, facilitates, and monitors plans of correction.

Responsibilities

• Provides administrative oversight of the HCHV contract funded programs as defined in the HCHV rules, regulations, and directives. This may include verification of veteran status and eligibility for participation in the contract housing program, maintaining admission and discharge dates of participants for billing purposes, reviewing and approving/disapproving readmissions to and extensions of care, collecting and submitting participant information as outlined by NEPEC (Northeast Program Evaluation Center), HOMES (Homeless Operations and Management Evaluation Systems) and any other evaluation procedures, and tracking scheduling for and attendance at required VA Mental Health/ Substance Abuse, and/or medical appointments.
• Covers the National Call Center for Homeless Veterans and follows up with area veterans by providing access to emergency housing, assessment, and referrals to OKCVAMC or community services/resources.
• Coordinates and participates in annual program site inspections utilizing the HCHV Program rules, regulations, and directives as guidance and forwards completed inspection packages to the appropriate offices. When necessary, the HCHV Liaison notes inspection deficiencies and establishes methods to monitor corrective actions. This process may include development of timelines for consequences as a result of inaction or insufficient action related to deficiencies.
• Serves as a Point of Contact for the National Call Center for Homeless Veterans and follows up with area veterans by providing access to emergency housing, assessment, and referrals to OKCVAMC or community services/resources.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Requirements

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Compressed/Flexible: Not available Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not authorized EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Contact vhaedrpprogramsupport@va.gov the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases When setting pay, a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade).

Qualifications

• 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. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).
• 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/.
• 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
• 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.
• Preferred Experience: History of working with homeless population to include outreach to encampments, shelters, etc.