Intake Clinician - OP

summitbhc; Santa Teresa (NM); On-site; USD 55,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

Peak Behavioral Health is seeking an Intake Clinician to manage admissions, perform clinical intake assessments, and oversee pre-certifications to ensure proper care levels. This onsite role collaborates with nursing, medical staff, and the business office to admit patients promptly.

The candidate will have a Master’s degree in social work or related field and 1+ year in behavioral health. Strong assessment, interviewing, and communication skills are essential.

Qualifications

• Master's degree in social work, counseling, psychology, mental health or related field required.
• One or more years' experience in mental/behavioral health preferred.
• Experience in managed care pre-certification, level of care assessments and utilization preferred.
• Experience in clinical interviewing, patient assessment, referral, treatment planning and communicating with external review entities.
• Outstanding interpersonal and interviewing and assessment skills; telephone etiquette.

Responsibilities

• Facilitates intake, admission, and prior authorization process for incoming patients.
• Performs insurance benefit verifications and disseminates information to patients, families, and internal staff.
• Provides coverage for the Call Center Team, handling admissions requests and insurance pre-certifications during high volume.
• Provides accurate and ongoing assessment of patient's status in the admission and prior authorization process.
• Facilitates responses to service requests, assessment, referral, level of care designation, and follow-up activities.
• Follows EMTALA regulations to complete insurance verification and precertifications when appropriate.
• Responds to inquiries about the facility and communicates recommendations to patients or families.
• Schedules/pre-admission assessments and communicates recommendations to patients or their family.
• Collaborates with facility medical and psychiatric personnel to ensure appropriate admissions and recommendations.
• Maintains documentation involved with the admissions process.

Skills

Interpersonal skills

Interviewing

Assessment

Telephone etiquette

Education

Master's degree in social work or related field

RN license considered in some states

Job description

Intake Clinician - OP | Peak Behavioral Health | Santa Teresa, New Mexico

About the Job

Purpose Statement

The Intake Clinician is a behavioral health professional responsible for facilitating admissions, conducting clinical intake assessments, and managing the prior authorization process to ensure patients receive the most appropriate level of care. This role handles daily intake and admissions operations, which may include screening, scheduling, financial counseling, and insurance verification. Intake Clinicians are responsible for completing assessments both at the facility and off-site as needed, screening for clinical and medical appropriateness and communicating assessment results to a physician, who determines the appropriate level of care. The Intake Clinician works closely with the business office, nursing, clinical staff, and external parties to ensure patients are admitted promptly and efficiently.

Roles and Responsibilities

Essential Functions

• Facilitates intake, admission, and prior authorization process for incoming patients.
• Performs insurance benefit verifications, disseminating the information gathered to patients, their families, and appropriate internal staff.
• Provides additional coverage for the Call Center Team - e.g. answers phones, processes admission requests, completes call center duties reviewing and accepting patients, verifies insurance, and assists with insurance pre-certifications during times of high volume.
• Provides accurate and ongoing assessment of patient's status in the admission and prior authorization process.
• Facilitates the response to requests for services, including the initial response, the assessment and referral process, the designation of appropriate level of care, initiation/intake into services, and appropriate follow up activity.
• Follows EMTALA regulations to complete insurance verification and precertification's, when appropriate.
• Responds to inquiries about the facility within facility policy timeframes.
• Schedules/completes pre-admission assessments and communicates recommendations to patients or their family.
• Collaborates with other facility medical and psychiatric personnel to ensure appropriate recommendations and admissions.
• Performs ongoing assessments of physical/function, emotional, social, spiritual and financial needs of patients and implements crisis intervention and referral.
• Provides education regarding healthcare and social resource systems to empower patients and their family to access resources independently.
• Maintains all the documentation involved with the admissions process.

Education/Experience/Skill Requirements

• Master's Degree from an accredited college or university in social work, counseling, psychology, mental health or a related field required. In some states, may also be a registered nurse, in which case, an associate's or bachelor's degree in nursing is required.
• One or more years' experience in mental/behavioral health working with individuals in a clinical or observational capacity preferred.
• Experience in the managed care pre-certification process, level of care assessments and utilization preferred.
• Experience in clinical interviewing, patient assessment, referral, treatment planning, communicating with external review organizations or comparable entities, and working effectively with people of diverse backgrounds.
• Outstanding interpersonal and interviewing and assessment skills. Skill in telephone etiquette and paging procedures.

Licenses/Designations/Certifications

• Current licensure, as required for the area of clinical specialty, i.e., current RN license, LCSW, LPC or other clinical counseling or therapy license, as designated by the state in which the facility operates.
• CPR and de-escalation and restraint certification required (training available upon hire and offered by facility).
• First aid may be required based on state or facility requirements.

Work Location

This position is onsite and is not a remote position.

Supervisory Requirements

This position is an Individual Contributor.

Why Peak Behavioral Health?

Peak Behavioral Health offers a comprehensive benefit plan and a competitive salary commensurate with experience and qualifications.

Peak Behavioral Health is an EOE.

Veterans and military spouses are highly encouraged to apply. Summit BHC is dedicated to serving Veterans with specialized programming at our treatment centers across the country. We recognize and value the unique strengths of the military community in supporting our mission to serve those who have served.