Catholic Charities is hiring a Behavioral Health Intake Specialist to work Full-time (35 hours per week) for the MCI Clinics.
- 35-hour work week
- 12+ paid holidays
- 25 PTO days a year
- flexible schedules
- comprehensive health, dental & vision coverage
- flexible spending accounts
- no cost Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
- 403B Retirement plan with employer contributions
- training and development opportunities
JOB SUMMARY: First point of contact for community members seeking behavioral health services. Primary responsibilities include but are not limited to: answering service inquiries via phone, email, or referral portal; screening for program eligibility, risk, social care needs; initial insurance verification; creating new chart in electronic record; documenting initial client information; scheduling the first appointment. Responsible for monitoring and engaging a caseload of clients waiting for initial clinical intake/pre-admission appointments, including linkage to resources to assist with basic social care needs and routine check-ins.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:
- Answer all inquiries for services and provide clear general overview of services offered including initial intake, counseling, and prescribing processes.
- Receive and process referrals/inquiries from a variety of sources, including but not limited to, telephone, email, website inquiries, faxes, and "closed-loop" referral systems.
- Conduct initial telephone screenings in a trauma-informed way to engage clients in taking the first step toward treatment. This includes but is not limited to screening for risk and immediate social care needs.
- Assess initial appropriateness for services and route clients to appropriate clinic location based on client need, preferred location, and appointment availability.
- Link callers that are not appropriate for services to alternate program or service, as needed.
- Link callers to appropriate services to address immediate or crisis needs, based on screening results.
- Inform Clinic Supervisor of COPS, Probation, High Risk, and other "Urgent" Referrals for immediate assignment and rapid intake.
- Obtain and enter insurance information into EMR (10e11).
- Verify insurance and payment information using third-party systems as needed, and notify client what their co-pay will be, if known, based on initial financial information provided.
- Schedule clients for their initial clinical intake/pre-admission appointment.
- Keep track of clients and perform follow-up outreach and engagement activities to clients that are in "referral" status until they attend their initial "Intake" appointment at the clinic and move to "Intake" status.
- Maintain familiarity with staff credentials, insurance provider criteria, and staff work locations to appropriately assign and schedule clients. Requires working very closely with clinic supervisors, senior therapists, and front office staff.
- Assist uninsured clients with linkage to appropriate resources.
- Document all activity and client information in EMR (10e11).
- May also be invited/requested to attend "tabling" and other community events to inform and engage the communities we serve.
EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree in Social Work or other human services field preferred. Other education may be considered in combination with relevant experience at the discretion of management.
EXPERIENCE: Two years of relevant experience engaging community members in services, addressing social care needs, and/or working directly in a behavioral health clinic.
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES:
- Pleasant, compassionate, and professional demeanor
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills;
- Ability to conduct risk screenings in a trauma-informed manner.
- Ability to operate multi-line phone system;
- Knowledge of and ability to learn community resources in order to link clients appropriately.
- Demonstrated agility, proficiency, initiative, ability to work independently and efficiently (effective organizational, time management skills).
- Understanding of basic insurance verification preferred.
- Bi-lingual preferred.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:
- Must be prepared to work a flexible schedule in order to meet program, department and agency needs that may require activity outside of "typical" business hours.
Catholic Charities is a non-profit organization that offers an array of programs that strive to empower individuals, children and families. Catholic Charities of Buffalo, NY, is the most comprehensive human service provider serving the eight counties of Western New York with dozens of programs at 40+ professionally staffed locations.
Catholic Charities serves more than 150,000 Western New Yorkers each year without regard to age, race, gender or religious affiliation. Catholic Charities programs include comprehensive counseling services for all ages, basic emergency assistance including operating 8 food pantries, mental health services, chemical dependency treatment, educational and job readiness services, services to older adults, marriage counseling, immigration and refugee assistance and a variety of programs that address prevention and treatment of a number of family issues.
