Social Worker - Cedar Rapids or Cedar Falls

Landmark Health, part of the Optum and UnitedHealth Group family of businesses, was created to transform how healthcare is delivered to the most medically vulnerable members in our community. Our medical group provides home-based medical care to chronically ill patients, many of whom are ill-equipped to navigate our overwhelming healthcare system.

Objective

The primary role of the Social Worker (SW) is to assess the psychosocial needs of members and provide solution-focused care coordination to address issues that impede their ability to adhere to their medical care plan.  The SW is an active member of the Interdisciplinary care team (IDT). Social work services will be provided in home, telephonically and/ or video.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Facilitating serious illness / goals of care discussion with the patient and family
• Conducting an assessment of the patient’s and family’s strengths and needs; this may be done in the home, telephonically and or video
• Developing collaborative care plan goals with the patient and family and/ or caregivers and IDT members
• Connecting patient and/ or patient’s family/ caregiver to appropriate community resources and supports
• Providing solution focused case management
• Providing brief therapeutic interventions to patient and family
• Utilizing motivational interviewing (MI) and other psychotherapeutic techniques to elicit behavior change
• Promoting patient and family self-management strategies
• Enhancing connectivity between patients and members of the interdisciplinary team
• Navigating community resources and developing community partnerships to improve access to care and ease of systems navigation

COMPETENCY:

• Problem Solving - Identifies and resolves problems in a timely manner; gathers and analyzes information skillfully; develops alternative solutions; works well in group problem solving situations; uses reason even when dealing with emotional topics
• Technical Skills - Assesses own strengths and weaknesses; pursues training and development opportunities; strives to continuously build knowledge and skills; shares expertise with others
• Customer Service - Manages difficult or emotional customer situations; responds promptly to customer needs; solicits customer feedback to improve service; responds to requests for service and assistance; meets commitments
• Interpersonal Skills - Focuses on solving conflict; maintains confidentiality; listens to others; keeps emotions under control and overcomes resistance when necessary; remains open to new ideas
• Oral Communication - Speaks clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations; listens and seeks clarification; responds openly to questions.  Must be able to deal with frequent change, delays, or unexpected events
• Attendance/Punctuality - Is consistently at work and on time; ensures work responsibilities are covered when absent; arrives at meetings and appointments on time
• Dependability - Follows instructions, responds to management direction; takes responsibility for own actions; keeps commitments; commits to long hours of work when necessary to reach goals; completes tasks on time or notifies appropriate person with an alternate plan
• Initiative - Volunteers readily; undertakes self-development activities; seeks increased responsibilities; takes independent actions and calculated risks; looks for and takes advantage of opportunities; asks for and offers help when needed; generates suggestions for improving work and workflow

You’ll be rewarded and recognized for your performance in an environment that will challenge you and give you clear direction on what it takes to succeed in your role as well as provide development for other roles you may be interested in.

Required Qualifications:

• Master’s Degree (MSW) in Social Work
• Ability to meet all state certification and licensing requirements
• 3+ years of social work experience (internship not included)
• 2+ years of social work experience in a healthcare setting
• Demonstrated excellent communication skills and knowledge of accessing community resources
• Access to reliable transportation; if you are driving a vehicle, you must comply with all the terms of the Landmark Motor Vehicle Safety Policy
• Full COVID-19 vaccination is an essential job function of this role. Candidates located in states that mandate COVID-19 booster doses must also comply with those state requirements. UnitedHealth Group will adhere to all federal, state and local regulations as well as all client requirements and will obtain necessary proof of vaccination, and boosters when applicable, prior to employment to ensure compliance. Candidates must be able to perform all essential job functions with or without reasonable accommodation

Preferred Qualifications:

• Palliative and/or hospice care experience
• Experience in delivering homecare or field case management

Physical Demands:

• Regular requirement to sit; use hands to touch, handle or feel
• Regular requirement to talk and listen
• Occasional requirement to stand; walk and reach with hands and arms
• Occasional requirement to lift and/or move up to 10 pounds
• Vision abilities include close vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus
• Ability to travel frequently by plane or car

Work Environment:

• Initial high frequency visits to patient residences followed by as needed visits during market implementations
• Will require regular travel to patient residences and non-home-based market offices
• Noise level is usually moderate

To protect the health and safety of our workforce, patients and communities we serve, UnitedHealth Group and its affiliate companies require all employees to disclose COVID-19 vaccination status prior to beginning employment. In addition, some roles and locations require full COVID-19 vaccination, including boosters, as an essential job function. UnitedHealth Group adheres to all federal, state and local COVID-19 vaccination regulations as well as all client COVID-19 vaccination requirements and will obtain the necessary information from candidates prior to employment to ensure compliance. Candidates must be able to perform all essential job functions with or without reasonable accommodation. Failure to meet the vaccination requirement may result in rescission of an employment offer or termination of employment

Careers with Optum. Here's the idea. We built an entire organization around one giant objective; make health care work better for everyone. So when it comes to how we use the world's large accumulation of health-related information, or guide health and lifestyle choices or manage pharmacy benefits for millions, our first goal is to leap beyond the status quo and uncover new ways to serve. Optum, part of the UnitedHealth Group family of businesses, brings together some of the greatest minds and most advanced ideas on where health care has to go in order to reach its fullest potential. For you, that means working on high performance teams against sophisticated challenges that matter. Optum, incredible ideas in one incredible company and a singular opportunity to do your life's best work.(sm)

Diversity creates a healthier atmosphere: UnitedHealth Group is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected.

UnitedHealth Group is a drug-free workplace. Candidates are required to pass a drug test before beginning employment.