Program Specialist, Treatment and Care Coordination Services

ONLY PERMANENT EMPLOYEES IN THE TITLE AND THOSE THAT ARE REACHABLE ON THE SPECIAL CONSULTANT (MHSS) CIVIL SERVICE LIST/ EXAM NO.1177 ARE ELIGIBLE TO APPLY.

Agency Description

Established in 1805, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (the NYC Health Department) is the oldest and largest health department in the country. Our mission is to protect and improve the health of all New Yorkers, in service of a vision of a city in which all New Yorkers can realize their full health potential, regardless of who they are, how old they are, where they are from, or where they live.

As a world-renowned public health agency with a history of building transformative public health programming and infrastructure, innovating in science and scholarship to advance public health knowledge, and responding to urgent public health crises from New York City’s yellow fever outbreak in 1822, to the COVID-19 pandemic we are a hub for public health innovation, expertise, and programs, and services. We serve as the population health strategist, and policy, and planning authority for the City of New York, while also having a vast impact on national and international public policy, including programs and services focused on food and nutrition, anti-tobacco support, chronic disease prevention, HIV/AIDS treatment, family and child health, environmental health, mental health, and racial and social justice work, among others.

Our Agency’s five strategic priorities, building off a recently completed strategic planning process emerging from the COVID-19 emergency, are:

• To re-envision how the Health Department prepares for and responds to health emergencies, with a focus on building a “response-ready” organization, with faster decision-making, transparent public communications, and stronger surveillance and bridges to healthcare systems 2) Address and prevent chronic and diet-related disease, including addressing rising rates of childhood obesity and the impact of diabetes, and transforming our food systems to improve nutrition and enhance access to healthy foods
• Address the second pandemic of mental illness including: reducing overdose deaths, strengthening our youth mental health systems, and supporting people with serious mental illness
• Reduce black maternal mortality and make New York a model city for women’s health
• Mobilize against and combat the health impacts of climate change
  
  

Our 7,000-plus team members bring extraordinary diversity to the work of public health. True to our value of equity as a foundational element of all our work, and a critical foundation to achieving population health impact in New York City, the NYC Health Department has been a leader in recognizing and dismantling racism’s impacts on the health of New Yorkers and beyond. In 2021, the NYC Board of Health declared racism as a public health crisis. With commitment to advance anti-racist public health practices that dismantle systems that perpetuate inequitable power, opportunity and access, the NYC Health Department continues to work in and with communities and community organizations to increase their access to health services and decrease avoidable health outcomes.

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The Bureau of Mental Health procures and monitors approximately 500 contracted programs that provide supportive housing, crisis intervention, mental health treatment, care coordination and psychiatric rehabilitation services. Additionally, the Bureau directly operates the City’s court-mandated Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) program and the NYC Supportive Transition and Recovery Team (NYCSTART) for young adults experiencing a first episode psychosis. Lastly, the Bureau evaluates its contracted and directly operated programs to understand their impact and promote quality improvement, conducts population level surveys and behavioral health care system surveillance to identify gaps care and inform decision making, advocacy and policy.

Duties Will Include But Not Be Limited To

• Negotiate scopes of service and budgets for behavioral health treatment and care coordination services with other public and voluntary agencies.
• Maintains liaison with personnel from State Regulatory bodies and from community groups.
• Undertakes and or participates in special projects to improve service delivery operations.
• Monitor adherence to scopes of service, budgets, relevant regulations and policies through frequent site visits, data collection and analysis.
• Provide consultation and technical assistance to contracted behavioral health treatment and care coordination providers to promote quality of care, adherence to contractual, regulatory and policy requirements. Technical assistance will also focus on care for persons at high risk of violence, including potential disconnections from care.
• Conduct and facilitate provider meetings.
• Liaise with DOHMH's Single Point of Access to monitor and promote access to and continuity of care with special attention to those with high-risk histories.
• Address questions, concerns and complaints from programs and consumers. Review and discuss programmatic audits and fiscal issues as necessary.
• Refer, provide and/or coordinate meetings and trainings to address program needs.
• Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of assigned contracted programs/program types and best practices. Based on this understanding, identify, and recommend opportunities for programmatic improvements and contract renewals.
• Represent DOHMH professionally at meetings, conferences, and workgroups.
• Develop and implement surveys, questionnaires, or other surveillance methods, identify potential data sources, and analyze new and existing data sets to inform program planning and evaluation activities.
• Conduct proposal review and evaluation of PARs and RFPs.
• Assist with the preparation of reports on agency functioning and service delivery as requested.
• Participate in data gathering for Quarterly Program Review and other management reports.
  
  

Minimum Qualifications

A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university, and either:

• A Master's degree in Social Work from an accredited college or university in the school of social work, or 60 graduate semester credits from an accredited university in social work, psychology, health, rehabilitation, public health, psychiatric nursing or special education; plus one year of full-time, satisfactory experience providing direct care in a social, psychiatric, health, mental retardation/ developmental disabilities or substance abuse/ chemical dependency/ alcoholism agency or in the administration of a program providing direct care as described above, or as a consultant on program planning or evaluation for such services; or
• A Master's degree of at least 30 graduate semester credits from an accredited university in psychology, sociology, anthropology, public health, special education, psychiatric nursing, counseling, human services, health, rehabilitation, public administration, or business administration; plus two years of experience as described in "1" above; or
• A satisfactory combination of education and/or experience. Candidates without either a Master's degree as described in "1" or "2" above or at least 60 graduate semester credits in the areas listed in "1" above, must have at least:
• a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university and one year of actual experience as described in "1" above; plus
• a satisfactory combination of: (i) graduate semester credits in the areas listed in "1" and "2" above; and/or (ii) additional experience as described in "1" above, to equal 60 graduate semester credits or 2 years of experience. Graduate semester credits from an accredited university may be substituted for the experience in qualification "3 b)" only, on the basis of 30 graduate semester credits for each year of experience. Experience may be substituted for graduate semester credits in qualification "3 b)" only, on the basis of one year of experience for each 30 graduate semester credits.
  
  

NOTE: For assignment to Assignment Level II, in addition to meeting the above qualification requirements, all candidates must have one additional year of experience as described in "1" above.

Preferred Skills

• The ideal candidate will possess exceptional written and verbal communication skills, strong analytical and problem-solving skills, and the ability to manage competing priorities and track progress to adhere to set timelines. - Strong computer and data management skills, including proficiency with Word, Excel, and Power Point.
  
  

55a Program

This position is also open to qualified persons with a disability who are eligible for the 55-a Program. Please indicate at the top of your resume and cover letter that you would like to be considered for the position through the 55-a Program.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness

As a prospective employee of the City of New York, you may be eligible for federal loan forgiveness programs and state repayment assistance programs. For more information, please visit the U.S. Department of Education’s website at https://studentaid.gov/pslf/.

Residency Requirement

New York City residency is generally required within 90 days of appointment. However, City Employees in certain titles who have worked for the City for 2 continuous years may also be eligible to reside in Nassau, Suffolk, Putnam, Westchester, Rockland, or Orange County. To determine if the residency requirement applies to you, please discuss with the agency representative at the time of interview.

Additional Information

The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.