Psychiatric Medical Assistant

 Full-Time, Johnston RI 

General Responsibility:Works in concert with the Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners as a member of the patient care team. To perform basic duties related to overall patient services at the Tri-County Community Action Agency. To process patients in a timely manner, assist Psychiatric Providers and patients and respect confidentiality of the Agency and patients, ensuring the mission and vision of TTCAA. The Psychiatric MA ensures accuracy and quality of care for Tri-County Community Action Agency patients.

Specific Responsibilities:In addition to Medical Assistant Responsibilities, the Psychiatric Medical Assistant has additional responsibilities including, but not limited to: 

1. Returning calls to existing psychiatric patients and triaging necessity of services; assess if the call is urgent; review if there was a recent appointment with a medication change; confirm if there were any missed appointments and reschedule when necessary; schedule if patient needs a follow-up appointment and assess when to schedule the appointment based on patient needs.
2. Return calls to existing psychiatric patients who call-in early for controlled substances. Remind patient of controlled substance agreement. Check to confirm date of last prescription and medication refill. Reassign task to provider if appropriate.
3. Review pre visit summaries with Psychiatric Provider each morning. Have prescription monitoring reports completed for each day and review with Psychiatric Provider the patients that are in need of a UTOX in addition to vitals collected.
4. Complete new patient screening: Gather information for recent hospitalizations, controlled substances, and complex medical/psychiatric comorbidities to help determine appropriate referral/level of care. Alert Psychiatric Provider for potential concern of different/additional level of care.
5. Prior to the psychiatric provider meeting with the patient performs vital signs including but not limited to blood pressure, height, weight, pulse, temperature. Documents all results in the electronic medical record. Alert provider if vitals are abnormal.
6. Obtains and records patient information (new patient information, medications, illnesses, ER/hospital visit,) into electronic medical record for the Providers. 
7. Inputs Patient Health Questionnaires (PHQ-2 & PHQ-9) results into chart.
8. Assists with the provision of patient education. 
9. Works closely with Providers to ensure effective patient flow. 
10.  Assists patients with resolving barriers to obtaining specialty evaluations (e.g. uninsured patients who require assistance with community care applications). 

Required Qualifications: 

1. High School diploma/GED 
2. Medical Assistant certification 
3. Strong computer skills
4. Very strong communication skills
5. Behavioral Health experience preferred
6. De-escalation/Motivational interviewing experience or training preferred

 Competitive Benefit Package: We offer an excellent, competitive salary and benefits package including Health, Dental, Vision, Life, and Disability insurance, as well as a 403b Savings Plan/Pension with an Agency match, Vacation, Sick, Holiday time and access to Agency-sponsored EAP services for employees and their families. Many training opportunities are available that include, but are not limited to various educational experiences, certificate programs, CPR and First Aid training as well as ongoing occasions for additional learning. Tri-County is a qualified entity for employees to access loan repayment opportunities.

 Application Process: Please visit our website at www.tricountyri.org to view our current openings. Click on the Job Opportunities link on the bottom of the page; click on “To view all available employment opportunities, click HERE”.

Tri-County Community Action Agency is an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer. Tri-County is committed to treating all applicants and employees fairly based on their abilities, achievements, and experience without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, limited English proficiency (LEP), gender identity, or any other classification protected by law.