The Spinal Cord Injury Program is one of six nationally recognized VHA special disability programs. VHA facilities without SCI centers appoint SCI program staff to oversee access to care, referrals for treatment services and case management services for spinal cord injured veterans.

Duties

The program also provides social work services and care coordination for Veterans diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). The incumbent is administratively and clinically responsible for the program, manages the daily operation of the program, develops policies and procedures for the program operation and prepares reports and statistics for facility, VISN, and national use. The incumbent manages and controls the use of data related to these programs regarding day-to day functioning and program evaluation. Additionally, the incumbent facilitates efficient and appropriate delivery of care across episodes of care within the "Hub" (SCI Center) and the "Spoke" (VA facilities where locally accessible primary care is provided) System of Care. The "Hub" is the SCI Center where comprehensive interdisciplinary specialty and primary care are located. The "Spokes" are the other VA facilities within the specified catchment areas that provide locally accessible primary care. A. Program Management: a. Develops a system to identify SCI/ALS patients served by the facility and community who belong in this special disability group. This may involve use of the Spinal Cord Dysfunction (SCD) Registry, Patient Treatment File searches, VISTA and CPRS records, SCD reports and/or Classification reports, Patient Data Exchange, Network Health Exchange, and contacts within the community. This developed system alerts the SCI/ALS Coordinator of admissions or outpatient appointments of veterans receiving care anywhere within the facility for appropriate SCI consultation and potential referral to an SCI Center. b. Serves as the point of contact for all inquiries regarding the SCI/ALS program. This may include stakeholders (e.g., veterans, families, community hospitals and nursing homes, Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) and other Veterans Service Organizations), Spinal Cord Injury and Disorders Strategic Healthcare Group (SCI&D, SHG) and Congressional inquiries. B. Provision of Social Work Services: a. Functions as the social work member of the interdisciplinary SCI/ALS treatment team. Clinical social work services are provided to the SCI/ALS population with frequent complex and unpredictable caseload requirements. Such services include, but are not limited to: i. Develops and implements realistic and achievable social work treatment plans, as part of the interdisciplinary treatment plans, that reflect an ability to effectively utilize a broad range of treatment modalities. ii. Advocates on behalf of the veteran to ensure that services and benefits are obtained in a timely manner and in keeping with the VA's goal for excellence in customer service. C. Patient and Staff Education: a. Provides consultation to other staff, patients, and their families regarding the appropriate level of care within the VHA "Hub and Spokes System of Care." b. Shares expertise and provides consultation to professional staff throughout the facility on SCI/ALS related Issues. c. Establishes and maintains an ongoing education program for patients, students, and staff to facilitate understanding of medical treatment, including clinical practice guidelines, long term care, psychosocial problems facing the SCI/ALS populations, home care, psychosocial adjustment, and caregiver Issues specific to SCI/D/ALS. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday; 8:00 am to 4:30 pm Telework: May be authorized Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 91880-0 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

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 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 Master 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 (1) 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. (2) 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. (3) Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: (a) 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. (b) Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice. (c) 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. (d) 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. (e) 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. (4) 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. Senior social workers are licensed or certified to independently practice social work at an advanced level. Senior social workers typically practice in a major program area such as but not limited to: Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center or Polytrauma Network Site; a Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Center, or a national VHA referral center, such as a national Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or a national Transplant Center, or other program areas of equivalent scope and complexity. The senior social worker may be assigned administrative responsibility for clinical program development and is accountable for clinical program effectiveness and modification of service patterns. Assignments include clinical settings where they have limited access to onsite supervision such as CBOCs or satellite outpatient clinics. The senior social worker collaborates with the other members of the treatment team in the provision of comprehensive health care services to Veterans, ensures equity of access, service, and benefits to this population, ensures the care provided is of the highest quality. The senior social worker provides leadership, direction, orientation, coaching, in-service training, staff development, and continuing education programs for assigned social work staff. They serve on committees, work groups, and task forces at the facility, VISN and national level, or in the community as deemed appropriate by the supervisor, Social Work Executive or Chief of Social Work Services. This assignment is to be relatively few in number based on the size of the facility/service and applying sound position management. This assignment must represent substantial additional responsibility over and above that required at the full performance grade level and cannot be used as the full performance level of this occupation. References: VA Regulations, specifically VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Appendix G39 Social Worker Qualification Standard. This can be found in the local Human Resources Office The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services.

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on 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: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. 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: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

Contacts

• Address Northern Indiana HCS 1700 East 38th Street Marion, IN 46953 US
• Name: Andrea Bower
• Phone: 765-617-2998
• Email: [email protected]