Social Worker

Social Worker

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Cincinnati, Ohio

Salary Range: $92231 - $121203 Per Year

Job Summary: The CVAMC is looking for a License Social Worker who serves as a Program Coordinator and is administratively responsible for a clinic program providing treatment to patients in a major specialty area. The Spinal Cord Injury is one of six nationally recognized VHA special disability programs. VHA facilities without SCI centers appoint SCI Program Coordinators to oversee access to care, referrals for treatment services and case management services for spinal cord injured veterans.

Major Duties:

• 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: Program Management: Administers information and analytical systems to evaluate and enhance the quality of service provided to patients. Develops and implements information systems to track service activities including visits, referrals inpatient days, patient demographics, equipment utilization and patient satisfaction. Develops, implements and evaluates clinical guidelines and protocols to establish appropriate utilization of services and program's effectiveness. Serves as point of contact for all inquiries regarding the SCI program. This may include stakeholders (e.g. veterans, families, community hospitals and nursing homes, Paralyzed Veterans of America and other Veterans Service Organizations), Spinal Cord Injury and Disorders Strategic Healthcare Group and Congressional inquiries. Establishes collaborative relationships with physicians, nurses, and other disciplines to foster their involvement in care of veterans with SCI. Identifies gaps in services and develops a plan, in consultation with SCI staff and other departments as appropriate. Identifies unmet needs of the SCI population and works collaboratively with community agencies, i.e. assisted living facilities, nursing homes, handicapped accessible housing and state's veterans' homes. Service Delivery: Functions as the Social Work member of the interdisciplinary SCI treatment team. Clinical social work services are provided to the SCI population with frequent complex and unpredictable caseload requirements. Such services include, but are not limited to psychosocial assessments, establishing realistic but achievable treatment goals. Provides individual, family and group counseling aimed at helping the veteran and his family find practical solutions to complex problems. Makes home visits independently or with members of the SCI interdisciplinary team to assess the home environment when appropriate to ensure that services are provided that will enable the veterans to live safely and independently. Performs other related duties as assigned. SUPERVISORY CONTROLS: The employee is responsible to the Chief, Social Work Service or designee but practices independently, exercising initiative and independence in day-to day activities. Supervision/consultation is of an administrative and professional nature; with the Chief of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Services providing guidelines as to the general policy and direction of the Program the incumbent coordinates. Provides cross coverage to TBI. (Traumatic Brain Injury), Coordinator and maintains accurate information on this population needs, program development priorities and staffing. The individual is Chairperson for Social Work Staff Development Program and is responsible to ensure licensure accreditation hours are provided to licensing board, coordination program agenda and ensuring relevant topics are presented as described by the needs of the service. Supervises Senior Companion Program Volunteers, assigns volunteers to patients in the community needing services and maintains active board membership with Senior Corps. Advisory Council. Customer Service: Effectively communicates with and utilizes other disciplines (e.g., nursing, medicine) to facilitate treatment planning and implementation. With few exceptions, participates effectively in team meetings, treatment planning conferences, etc. Collaborates with divergent multidisciplinary team members in a manner that enhances coordination of comprehensive patient care. Work Environment: Duties are performed in an office setting and/or on hospital wards and clinics where there is exposure to communicable diseases common of the client population. The position may require off site visits to agencies and home visits. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:30am-4:00pm or 8:00am-4:30pm Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 92939-0 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.

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 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 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 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-master's 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 program's 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 program's 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 https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. The full performance level of this vacancy is 12. Physical Requirements: The physical demands of this position involve active listening, reading, observing and evaluating verbal and nonverbal behavior, walking, speaking, documenting, and using office equipment such as computers, telephones, fax machines, and photocopy machines.

How to Apply: All applicants are encouraged to apply online. To apply for this position, you must complete the full questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on 03/09/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12899767. To begin, click Apply Online to create a USAJOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire. Click Submit My Answers to submit your application package. NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date.

Application Deadline: 2026-03-09