Recovery Specialist - Substance Use Disorders, Full Time, 2nd shift

Company: St. Luke's University Health Network
Location: Sellersville
Posted on: January 19, 2023

Job Description:

St. Luke's is proud of the skills, experience and compassion of its employees. The employees of St. Luke's are our most valuable asset! Individually and together, our employees are dedicated to satisfying the mission of our organization which is an unwavering commitment to excellence as we care for the sick and injured; educate physicians, nurses and other health care providers; and improve access to care in the communities we serve, regardless of a patient's ability to pay for health care.
The Recovery Specialist (RS) has experience with behavioral health services and is willing to use and share his or her lived experience and first-hand knowledge to hospital patients and their family members. The RS functions as an independent substance use consultant and liaison to local hospital emergency rooms and general medical staff to provide expertise around the recovery process, symptom management, and the persistence required by clients/families to have a recovery oriented and satisfying life. The RS engages with persons served to create warm hand offs between acute inpatient treatment and other levels of care classified as complex chronic care management and creates rapid access to drug and alcohol or mental health services to improve adherence to treatment recommendations. The RS works to identify engagement needs and helps to work with individuals through stages of change. The RS helps the patient and family identify opportunities from a strength-based approach about enhancing life domain needs. The RS works closely with the St. Luke's Psychiatric Consultation Service and the Crisis Services Department.

JOB DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Engage in brief relationship building and active listening with clients receiving treatment in emergency room and medical inpatient settings who have a substance use disorder.
• Coordinate warm handoff to admissions department for cases referred from primary care providers or other medical partners.
• Substance use screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment and/or other applicable community resources and services. Interactions can include in person face-to-face, telephonic and telehealth interventions.
• Utilize best practices such as motivational interviewing, and stages of change to assist individuals in healthcare decision making related to substance use disorder.
• Provide supportive (peer-based) coaching and encouragement to clients contemplating or actively seeking help with substance use treatment and recovery. Ensuring that all interactions are strength-based, recovery oriented and understanding of multiple pathways and definitions of recovery.
• Provide education to enable clients to identify their relapse symptoms or relapse triggers as well as their protective factors to avoid relapse.
• Outreach, engage, and provide education to family members, other natural supports, and other professionals regarding substance use disorders and available programs/resources.
• Assist in after-care planning for individuals discharging from medical setting and help ensure that behavioral health needs are included in care plan.
• Engage in team-based care and work cooperatively with other medical professionals and county-wide personnel involved in the B-Cares program.
• Engage in trainings and education sessions regarding the warm handoff process to medical professionals, and other stakeholders to ensure that mutual benefit of program is well understood, to ensure program utilization.
• Serve as a direct care navigator and liaison to St. Luke's Penn Foundation's community-based and site-based programs in addition to general community programs and resources. This includes knowledge of the different case management services at St. Luke's Penn Foundation and appropriate referral criteria for each.
• Coordinate with Open Access Staff to make seamless connections to outpatient treatment or county funding assessments for individuals requiring assessments.
• Give and take shift report from prior and next shift to ensure coordinate of care is ensured for each patient at the end of shift.
• Travel from/between different hospital sites to provide intervention for individuals served. This includes the occasional covering shifts from another hospital site based on program need.
• Conduct follow up calls and log into electronic health record to ensure that weekly follow-up for each patient is completed.
• Conduct appropriate documentation, including to document each service-related contact in case note according to program standards. As well as logging each interaction into tracking spreadsheet(s). Updating outcomes of cases as appropriate and write narrative outcomes for success stories.
• Use ASAM or similar criteria to determine most appropriate treatment level based on clinical presentation of the patient. Coordinate with insurance company to complete pre-certification as appropriate.
• In depth understanding of funding sources, insurance, financial limitations of funding sources. This includes Medicaid, Medicare and County Funding.
• Verifying benefits, copays/deductibles using systems such as Availity, Navinet and Promise. Knowledge of, and ability to inform commercially funded them on the financial costs of their treatment.
• Build in depth understanding of MAT options, including methadone, naltrexone, and buprenorphine and ability to objectivity counsel patients on MAT.
• Coordinate safe transportation (ex: UBER) for patients to have door-to-door treatment placement.
• Be in possession of the Rapid Access Phone (RAP) and triage calls to the appropriate person.
• Provide support as needed to Open Access Staff and/or Admissions Intake Staff.
  
  PHYSICAL AND SENSORY REQUIREMENTS:
  
  Sitting for up to 2 hours per day, 1 hour at a time. Standing for up to 10 hour per day, 8 hours at a time. Walk for 6 hours per day, 10 minutes at a time. Consistently lift, carry, and push objects up to 10 lbs. Occasionally lift, carry, and push objects up to 75 lbs. Transport patients weighing up to 250 lbs. via wheelchair, bed and/or stretcher. Frequently stoop and bend. Frequently reach above shoulder level. Must be able to perceive attributes of an object through touch. Must be able to hear as it relates to normal conversation, and high and low frequencies. Must be able to see as it relates to general, near, far, color, and peripheral vision.
  
  EDUCATION:
  
  Must be a Certified Recovery Specialist (CRS) or Certified Family Recovery Specialist (CFRS), or eligible to earn the CRS or CFRS certification within 1 year of hire or a Bachelor's degree.
  
  TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE:
  
  • Understanding of principles of mental illness and recovery.
  • Understanding of healthcare privacy laws, including HIPAA, and 42 CFR. Ensuring that documentation/releases of information are completed for coordination of care when appropriate. Understanding of informed consent, and voluntary participation in invention and treatment.
  • Understanding of Pennsylvania mental health laws and ability to triage patients who are exhibiting emergent mental health symptoms to a crisis center.
  • Understanding of drug and alcohol acuity (emergent, urgent, routine) and the requirements for screening and treatment placement.
  • Understanding of specialty programs/program enhancements such as Buprenorphine Induction, Naloxone Pilot Program, Family Connect, etc.
    
    WORK SCHEDULE:
    
    • Monday through Friday 4:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.
      
      Please complete your application using your full legal name and current home address. Be sure to include employment history for the past seven (7) years, including your present employer. Additionally, you are encouraged to upload a current resume, including all work history, education, and/or certifications and licenses, if applicable. It is highly recommended that you create a profile at the conclusion of submitting your first application. Thank you for your interest in St. Luke's!!
      
      St. Luke's University Health Network is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Keywords: St. Luke's University Health Network, Bethlehem , Recovery Specialist - Substance Use Disorders, Full Time, 2nd shift, Other , Sellersville, Pennsylvania