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Social Worker Program Coordinator

Veterans Health Administration

Job Location:

Wilkes Barre, PA - USA

Yearly Salary: USD 89508 - 89508

Posted: 6 October 2026 (2 days ago)

Application Deadline: 5 January 2027

Vacancies: 1 Vacancy

Job Summary

Summary

This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP) a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific eligibility requirements per VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Program Approval award amount (up to $200000) & eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after review of the EDRP application. Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply.

Duties

VA Careers - Social Work: of program coordination skills to develop and monitor administrative and clinical plans for assigned programs within medical center catchment. Emergency and Contingency program operations will be routinely reviewed with regular staff education.

Completion and monitor of Facility VISN or Central Office Implementation dashboards or reports.

Monitoring and oversight of daily operations in assigned programs including reporting updates with team assignment for panel management. - Monitoring reporting and development of corrective action plans associated with directive policy metric or data trends to include access clinic utilization and productivity trends in coordination with Section Chiefs.

Participation in clinic grid and stop code creation in coordination with MH/BMS Administrative Officer and Group Practice Management.

Coordination with Community Care Services with strong focus on access and wait time parameters.

Coordinator serve as service level patient advocates.

Reporting and assisting with resolution of any patient safety issues.

Participation with the facility response team for disruptive behavior management team with expectation of being PMDB training.

Skills in independent organization of work setting priorities meeting multiple deadlines and ongoing evaluation/performance improvement for assigned areas.

Direct patient care services to include crisis urgent and routine evaluations of mental health conditions. Competency in Suicide Prevention Clinical care standards and Mental Health Procedure Requirements for psychiatry crisis. Timely and through documentation with Electronic Health Record.

Collaboration with multiple disciplines across service lines to develop standard of work uniformity to meet patient care expectations.

Coordination with Health Administration Services with strong coordination with Eligibly for Limited Episode of Care and Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program tracking.

Coordination with Local Recovery and Evidence Base Care coordinators for continued implementation of episode of care model.

Coordination with specialty mental health services to support referrals for care transfer or episode of care.

Coordination with Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) and Primary Care Mental Health Integration services for referral management and discharge from BHIP/COMPACT services.

Participation in assigned committees peer reviews work group action teams and special projects as assigned.

Participation in On-Call service rotation.

Other duties as assigned based on service or facility needs.

Performs other duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: 8:00am to 4:30pm Monday thru Friday
Telework: May be available.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive.Contact the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

Conditions of employment

You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
Subject to background/security investigation.
Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements ( Effective May 7 2025 drivers licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
Must pass pre-employment physical examination.
Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
Complete all application requirements detailed in the Required Documents section of this announcement.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position you will be required to serve a 1 or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public determining if your employment advances the public interest we may consider:

your performance and conduct;
the needs and interests of the agency;
whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your trial period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification in writing that your continued employment advances the public interest.

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.
Education. Have a masters 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 masters degree in 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 masters degree level.
English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. 7403(f).

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-masters 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 the candidate 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.

ALL INTERNAL EMPLOYEES MUST SUBMIT A RECENT SF-50 FOR CONSIDERATION!

Preferred Experience: none

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard please visit full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-12 level.

Physical Requirements: The work requires sitting bending stooping and walking consistent with the delivery of services in the office hospital and community. The position may entail lifting of no more than 25 pounds on an occasional basis. Whenever possible carts and dollies will be utilized as an alternative to carrying out responsibilities operation of a motor vehicle with a valid drivers license is required. The social worker must meet the requirements to use a government vehicle in accordance with VHA directive 2008-020. It will be necessary for the social worker to travel throughout the Wilkes-Barre VAMC catchment area where they conduct interviews with Veterans family members representatives of community health welfare and law enforcement agencies

Education

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges universities schools or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information visit:

Additional information

Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.

During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status.

VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply. The health-related positions in VA are covered by Title 38 and are not covered by the Schedule A excepted appointment authority.

If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicants criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations Security and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government passionate about the ideals of our American republic and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

Review our benefits

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

Required Experience:

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