What are the responsibilities and job description for the Medical Social Associate - Continuum of Care position at uic?
Position Summary:
Reporting to the Director, Health Social Work. The Medical Social Associate acts as the primary contact for patient engagement with access to care, post-acute referrals, referrals to community-based resources and support, responsible for ongoing relationships with the healthcare community and ambulatory sites of care. The Associate will be responsible for evaluating/improving processes to access health care at UIH and within the community, identifying best practices that can be replicated, and providing excellent care. They provide a variety of support services to the technical, professional, administrative or management operations of an organization.
Duties & Responsibilities:
- Facilitate discharge planning referrals, review worklist. Partner with social worker and case manager as necessary to ensure successful referrals
- Provide patient/family with facility and agency lists, quality measures, and other pertinent information to support patient choice, and document such
- Guide patients through the health care system and assesses and resolves barriers to placement
- Assist patients in accessing services and programs at UIH and within the community; assists with setting up transportation if needed
- Facilitates patient interaction and communication with healthcare staff and providers
- Able to personally speak with constituents to assess their barriers in accessing care, through a state wide referral system.
- Work with patients to create a plan to reduce those barriers.
- Help provide the services and support that the patients and their families may require, including care coordination .
- Provide clerical support for patient discharges, arrange transportation
- Request and document Determination of Need referrals
- Comprehensively provides or recommends social service and private financial support to assure patients’ medication is affordable, resulting in greater clinical compliance to treatments and services.
- Attends committee meetings, medical rounds, and other planning/organizational meetings as requested.
- Identify and develop relationships with other referral sources.
- Participates in quality improvement initiatives and assists in collecting data regarding quality measures
- Identify gaps in resources offered and work within the community to bridge those gaps.
- Conduct follow-up calls to patients, families and caregivers as indicated
- Utilizes evidence/best practices when developing patient education materials
- Advises underinsured patients to take corrective actions to enhance their insurance coverage.
- Performs quality control review of a variety of administrative documents or transactions.
- Complete Assessments for various Diagnostic issues, such as Stroke, HIV, Homelessness, RISK for Readmissions, etc.
- Perform other related duties and participate in special projects as assigned.
