Description

Care Manager – Behavioral Health

Job Description
JOB SUMMARY

Join a dynamic and supportive team here at IB Clinic who places caring and high quality patient care first. IBCC Behavioral Health is a wonderful work environment that provides mentorship for your personal career goals, supervision, and opportunities for advanced training.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Support and closely coordinate behavioral health care with the patient’s primary care provider and, when appropriate, other treating behavioral health providers.
2. Screen and assess patients for common behavioral and substance use disorders.
3. Provide patient education about common behavioral health and substance abuse disorders and available treatment options.
4. Monitor patients (in person or by telephone) for changes in clinical symptoms and treatment side effects or complications.
5. Support psychotropic medication management prescribed by PCPs, focusing on treatment adherence, side effects and other complications, and effectiveness of treatment.
6. Provide brief interventions using evidence-based techniques such as Behavioral Activation, Problem-Solving Treatment, Motivational Interviewing, or other treatments appropriate for primary care settings.
7. Provide or facilitate in-clinic or outside referrals for evidence-based psychosocial treatments as clinically indicated.
8. Participate in regularly scheduled (usually weekly) caseload consultation with the behavioral health team and discuss treatment recommendations to the patient’s PCP. Consultations will focus on patients new to treatment or who are not improving as expected.
9. Facilitate patient engagement and follow-up in care.
10. Track patient follow up and clinical outcomes using an electronic tracking system. Document in person and telephone encounters in the tracking system and use it to identify and re-engage patients.
11. Document patient progress and treatment recommendations in the electronic tracking system so they may be easily shared with PCPs, the psychiatrist, and other treating providers.
12. Facilitate treatment plan changes for patients who are not improving as expected in consultation with the PCP and the psychiatrist. These may include changes in medications or psychosocial treatments or appropriate referrals for additional services.
13. Facilitate referrals for clinically indicated services outside the primary care clinic (e.g., social services such as housing assistance, vocational rehabilitation, behavioral health specialty care, substance use treatment).
14. Complete relapse prevention plan with patients who are in remission.
15. Process in-house referrals from psychiatry and referrals to higher levels of care.
16. Assist in scheduling Behavioral Health appointments for therapy and psychiatry when needed.
17. Screen and coordinate Behavioral Health phone calls/EHR messages from patients.

REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor’s degree, with preference for social work, psychology, or related field OR LVN degree for nurse with equivalent behavioral health experience.
• Bilingual in Spanish and English.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively in a team setting.
• Ability to maintain effective and professional relationships with patients and other members of the care team.
• Strong communication skills.
• Ability to effectively engage patients in a therapeutic relationship
• Ability to work with patients by telephone or in person.
• Working knowledge of common behavioral health and substance use disorders and their psychosocial treatments

Familiarity with brief, structured intervention techniques (e.g., Motivational Interviewing, Behavioral Activation), when appropriate

DESIRED

• Experience working with underserved, transient populations
• Experience working with patients who have co-occurring mental health, substance use, and physical health problems.
• Experience with evidence-based counseling techniques, when appropriate