Special Populations Provider

Special Populations Provider

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Special Populations Provider (SPP) provides compassionate, patient-centered, trauma-informed primary and urgent medical care to patients of Brockton Neighborhood Health Center’s (BNHC) Special Populations Clinic (SPC). The SPC Clinic is primary care pod that provides low-barrier care to high-risk patients experiencing complex medical and social needs including homelessness, substance use, psychiatric conditions, justice-involvement, and infectious disease-related needs. This position involves conducting in reach to individuals incarcerated at Plymouth County Correctional Facility (PCCF) to collect medical histories and backgrounds from patients reentering to the Brockton area from incarceration. The SPP provides care in accordance with professional standards and established Brockton Neighborhood Health Center (BNHC) policies and procedures.

PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Professional responsibilities:

• Conducts comprehensive primary care services, including well examinations, health care maintenance and episodic urgent sick visits, to patients who present to the Special Populations Clinic.

• The Special Populations Provider will hold a primary care panel in addition to meeting the needs of Special Population patients.

• Addresses medical needs of patients in collaboration with BNHC specialty teams, including BNHC’s substance use services, infectious disease team, homeless services team, and behavioral health teams.

• Maintains a practice that is culturally and linguistically sensitive, using interpreters and other assistance as appropriate.

• Designs a plan of care based on assessment of physical, emotional, and social needs and in collaboration with the patient and, if appropriate, the family.

• Refers patients, as appropriate, to specialists and other practitioners and facilities.

• Reviews patient charts and ensures that appropriate treatment plans are developed and followed.

• Collaboratively works with other caregivers regarding patient education and rehabilitation including promotion of mental and physical health

• Maintains collaborative relationship with other physicians, administration, and other clinical staff. Furnishes professional guidance and assistance to colleagues and other staff. Utilizes skills and expertise of other disciplines to ensure comprehensive care for all patients.

• Cooperates with the efforts of the Patient Care Committee to monitor and improve the quality of patient care provided.

• Commitment to providing low-barrier medical care to patients of BNHC’s SPC Clinic with the understanding that lack of access care to care will lead to heightened negative health outcomes for special populations patients.

• Willingness to initiate MOUD, psychiatric medications, HIV and other ID meds, with appropriate training and consultation provided

• Familiarity and comfortability with the concept of harm reduction by providing guidance to patients on topics including safer injection practices, overdose prevention, and preventing HIV/HCV transmission.

• Maintains an understanding of the transient and chaotic nature of the lives of patients experiencing homelessness, justice-involvement, mental health disorders, and substance use disorder and adjusts approach to offering medical care according to this understanding.

Communications:

Demonstrates sensitivity and responds appropriately to verbal and non-verbal communications of patients, families, and co-workers.

• Maintains patient's right to privacy, assuring dignity in the provision of care and is discreet in all communications, written and oral, about the patient's care.

• Maintains working relationships and open communication with the CMO, program managers, and department directors regarding clinic operations and components, areas of improvement, and enhancement of services.

Problem Resolution

• Consistently utilizes good judgment in the resolution of problems, clinical and non-clinical.

• Possesses the ability to act independently and is willing to make decisions utilizing good judgment.

• Has the ability to visualize and anticipate new problems and to be part of the problem-solving process.

• Ability to adopt the mindset of providing comprehensive care to patients when they present to the Special Populations Clinic, eliminating unnecessary barriers to care.

Interpersonal skills

• Utilizes tact, courtesy, patience, and discretion in dealing with others.

• Possesses the ability to maintain a stable presence under stress due to pressure of the work environment.

• Ability to work with staff from diverse social and economic backgrounds with respect, understanding, and teamwork - including and especially staff from non-clinical disciplines

Career Development

• Attends and actively participates in scheduled staff meetings.

• Participates in professional staff teaching, both formal and informal.

• Maintains clinical competence through ongoing medical education and training.

• Maintains admitting privileges at Good Samaritan Medical Center and/or Brockton Hospital.

MINIMUM SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE REQUIREMENTS:

• Comfortable working in a community health center setting as well as a correctional facility, with limited available resources

• Strong boundaries in the areas of patient care and work/life balance are required for working in a correctional setting

• Maintains current Massachusetts licensure and maintains current certifications, where appropriate.

• Advanced practice provider or physicians welcome to apply

• If the candidate is a physician, board certified or eligible in family practice, internal medicine. If board eligible, actively pursues board certification.

• Ability to develop and work with a multi-disciplinary team, including adavanced practice providers, social workers and case managers.

• Fluency in Spanish, Portuguese, French, or Haitian Creole is highly desirable.

• Previous experience in ambulatory care and/or public health preferred.

WORKING CONDITIONS:

Long hours may sometimes be required, including rotating call responsibilities depending on position.

• Potential exposure to patient blood and body fluids.

• Must be comfortable with walk-in availability to ensure low-threshold access for SPC patients.

Additional compensation available upon successful completion of one year of program involvement

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

Physical demands require lifting of small pieces of equipment, boxes, and/or patients not to exceed 50 pounds. Frequent standing and walking required. Visual acuity sufficient for frequent reading. Hearing acuity sufficient for holding conversation with or without assistive devices.

About us: BNHC is a multicultural organization that collaborates with community agencies and residents to provide high quality comprehensive health care. We are committed to health promotion and disease prevention. BNHC began providing services in 1994 in a mobile medical van operating out of a church parking lot. Since then, the center has rapidly grown to provide desperately needed services to low-income and marginalized populations in the greater Brockton area. BNHC is committed to providing care that is responsive to community health needs and is linguistically, culturally, and financially accessible. BNHC serves an extremely diverse patient population including Brazilian, Cape Verdean, Haitian, Latino, Portuguese, African American and Caucasian, 77% of whom live in poverty.

BNHC is committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for patients and staff. As a condition of employment, employees, to include new hires, are required to be fully vaccinated to include the most recent COVID 19 booster and annual flu vaccines, with the exception of those who havedocumented medical or religious exemptions, that must be approved by BNHC according to its protocols. Additional vaccines may be required based on the recommendation of the CDC. New hires who are not yet vaccinated for flu or COVID can arrange to be vaccinated on site.