Social Worker (Program Coordinator)

The Cincinnati VA Medical Center (CVAMC) is a two-division campus located in Cincinnati OH and Fort Thomas KY serving 15 counties in Southwest OH Northern Kentucky and Southeast Indiana with 6 Community Based Outpatient Clinics located in Bellevue KY; Florence KY; Lawrenceburg IN; Hamilton OH; Clermont County OH and Georgetown OH. The CVAMC also supports two off main campus locations in the Cincinnati area via an Eye Center and Mental Health Outreach Community Division.

Duties:

• Complies with established Social Work Services documentation policy and procedure standards.
• Serves on board and/or committees to provide for the self-governance of the Practice.
• Carries out functions related to assessments and discharges of Veterans admitted to Cincinnati VA short-term outpatient interventions to enhance compliance with medical care participates in social work service compliance and monitoring of established policies procedures quality performance monitors agency accreditation requirements documentation standards and involvement in community committees.
• Consults for the Inpatient/ED Social Work staff.
• Facilitates patient flow by identifying and resolving barriers which may hinder effective patient care.
• Engages in process improvement activities that are focused on efficient care delivery and promotes positive clinical and quality outcomes including avoiding and reducing unnecessary admissions and readmission rates.
• Supports the successful transition of care by ensuring the patient understands and has the tools to follow prescribed discharge plan as well as follow-up with the appropriate primary care behavioral health care and/or specialty care provider when issues or concerns are identified.
• Facilitates appropriate coverage when staffing deficits are indicated.
• Provides consultation to Inpatient & Emergency Room Social Workers including: delegating workload to team assigning inpatient/outpatient consults consulting on difficult cases from policy/procedure and practice guidelines approach.
• Complies with a daily preliminary discharge delay report to Inpatient & Ambulatory Care Program Coordinator.
• Co-signs entry level social work notes and maintaining updated scope of practice documents.
• Identifies high-risk patients and provides case management services.
• Provides crisis intervention services seeking to address the cause as well as the presenting complaint coordinates family conferences and serves as liaison to family members.
• Implements a multidisciplinary discharge plan to provide Veteran and family with necessary medical and supportive services.
• Incorporates integral complex treatment modalities.
• Works diligently to accommodate Veteran and VA needs in the discharge planning process.
• Assists patients and significant others with end-of-life decision making including goals of treatment and hospice services.
• Assist patients and their significant others with coping and dealing with the loss and grief experiences in disability terminal illness and death.
• Provides Advance Directive education to Veterans and assists them with completing the forms. Also assists interdisciplinary team with identifying appropriate decision maker if Veteran is unable to make own decision (Next of kin HCPOA Legal Guardian).
• Participates as a member of committees workgroups or process improvement teams to: Enhances delivery of social work services to Veterans including:
  - Further advancement of social work practice within the internal and external community.
  - Pursuit of social work leadership within the internal and external community.
  - Enhancement of education/training of social work within the internal community.
• Serves on board and/or committees to provide for the self-governance of the Practice.
• Serves as liaison to community agencies and networks with agency representatives.
• Obtains and/or participates in continuing education.
• Protects printed and electronic files containing sensitive data in accordance with the provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974 and other applicable laws Federal regulations VA statutes and policy and VHA policy.
• Protects the data from unauthorized release or from loss alteration or unauthorized deletion.
• Follows applicable regulations and instructions regarding access to computerized files release of access codes etc.
• Meets the needs of customers while supporting VA missions.
• Consistently communicates and treats customers (veterans their representatives visitors and all VA staff) in a courteous tactful and respectful manner. Incumbent provides the customer with consistent information according to established policies and procedures.

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements ( Effective May 7 2025 drivers licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Must pass pre-employment examination.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the Required Documents section of this announcement.

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

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 masters 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 masters degree in social work. Verification of the degree can be made by going to 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 masters degree level. Current state requirements may be found by going to 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
  
  Social Worker (Program Coordinator) GS-12
  
  Experience and Education. One year of experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level. Experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills and judgment demonstrating progressively more professional competency. Candidate may have certification or other post-masters degree training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship or equivalent supervised professional experience.
  
  Licensure/Certification. Individuals assigned as social worker program coordinator must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level and 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:
  • Knowledge of program coordination and administration which includes consultation negotiation and monitoring.
  • Knowledge and ability to write policies procedures and/or practice guidelines for the program.
  • Ability to supervise multidisciplinary staff assigned to the program.
  • Skill in organizing work setting priorities meeting multiple deadlines and evaluating assigned program area(s).
  • Ability to provide training orientation and guidance within clinical practice.
  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. Program coordinators at the GS12 grade level are administratively responsible for a clinical program providing treatment to Veterans in a major specialty area such as but not limited to: Spinal Cord Injury Homeless Continuum Veteran Program Hospice and Palliative Care Program Suicide Prevention Program Veterans Justice Outreach Caregiver Support Program and Community Nursing Home Program. The program coordinator may be the sole practitioner in this specialty at the facility and typically provide direct patient care services in the program area. The program coordinator oversees the daily operation of the program develop policies and procedures for program operation and prepare reports and statistics for facility VISN and national use. They may be responsible for the programs budget developing and monitoring staff compliance with practice standards and guidelines on documentation workload data entry ethical practice and service delivery. The program coordinator provides analysis and evaluation of clinical program data and computerized programs to identify system-wide trends and needs to enhance the quality of service. They may be responsible for or contribute to the programs resource and fiscal management monitoring control points developing the annual budget operating within that budget and accounting for appropriated funds. The program coordinator is administratively responsible for the clinical programming and prepares reports and statistics for facility VISN and national use. They provide leadership direction orientation coaching in-service training staff development and continuing education programs for assigned staff. They initiate and conduct a variety of program or service audits and complete designated clinical practice audits and reports including productivity assessments. They oversee program operations and evaluations identifying areas for improvement gathering relevant data assessing the data developing and implementing ideas for improvement and evaluating efficacy of improvement efforts.
  
  Reference: For more information on this qualification standard please visit full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12.
  
  Preferred Experience: Preferred but not required experience includes prior work in acute care settings such as inpatient units or the emergency department with exposure to crisis intervention complex discharge planning and frequent interdisciplinary collaboration. Experience managing high-acuity cases coordinating with multiple services and community resources and working in fast-paced environments is preferred. The ability to navigate barriers to discharge (e.g. housing placement limited support) and support staff through challenging cases is also preferred.
  
  Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019 Employee Occupational Health Services.
  Education

  Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges universities schools or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information visit:

  Additional information

  During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.
  
  This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.
  
  This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status.
  
  VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply. The health-related positions in VA are covered by Title 38 and are not covered by the Schedule A excepted appointment authority.
  
  If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.
  
  Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicants criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations Security and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

  Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government passionate about the ideals of our American republic and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

  A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

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  Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.