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Patient Advocate - Social Worker

Required Qualifications (as evidenced by an attached resume):

Master’s Degree (foreign equivalent or higher) from a college or university program accredited by an agency recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) in Social Work or a related field. Must have or obtain a license to practice as a Master Social Worker or license to practice as a Clinical Social Worker in New York State within one year of hire. Three (3) years of full-time administrative and/or clinical experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

One (1) or more years of full-time experience in a healthcare setting.

Brief Description of Duties:

Provide social services, individually or in groups, to patients and clients and their families with complex emotional or social problems, and to assume basic consultation, supervision, teaching, research, program development and/or administrative responsibilities in this assignment. Create awareness of medical transportation options for patient travel to/from dental appointments and assist patients with transportation processes. Work with families of minors and dependent adults regarding legal informed consent documentation and patient procedures. Assist with identifying language translation needs and aid with interpretation services during appointments. Continue to research community resources for patient and family needs for local assistance, and offer to patients, staff, and students. Knowledge of how to listen, speak, and intervene in patient psychosocial situations. Responsible for providing efficient and effective clinical operational support to enhance the delivery of oral health care services within the School of Dental Medicine by applying for government/agency assistance to include oral health care where applicable. Provide patient advocacy services for students, residents, staff, and faculty to include but not limited to management of patient concerns and sentinel events, behavior management, and communication issues between the patient and providers. Provide education to students, residents, staff, and faculty regarding social services, patient needs, difficult conversations, behavior management, and communications.

Duties:

Care Coordination and Case Management:

+ Develops working relationships with patient(s) and/or family (e.g., engagement, collaboration, advocacy, problem solving, etc.). Uses a social work body of knowledge & understanding of human behavior to remedy case related issues. Establishes rapport with patients and/or families.

+ Complies with required standards for medical/legal reporting situations. Adheres to mandatory reporting requirements for cases of suspected child or dependent adult abuse. Complies with procedures for other medical/legal situations (e.g., domestic violence, advance directives, etc.).

+ Advocates for patients and/or family, to help them cope with demands and stresses of treatment.

+ Communicates with patients and families regarding patient status and progress. Follow through with plans.

+ Assists patients in the application process for New York Medicaid and other social services and understand how coverage impacts patient care.

+ Identifies and navigates language translation services according to the School of Dental Medicine’s policies. Updates foreign language translation service information housed in AxiUm and in clinics. Provides instructions and handouts on how to use services.

+ Answers questions and provides training on how to use foreign language interpretation services.

+ Educates providers and staff on the importance of using translation services and necessity of communication, specifically informed consent for dental care.

+ Receives, schedules, and confirms American Sign Language interpreters for all clinics.

+ Responsible for collecting and interpreting legal guardianship paperwork. Gather, interpret, and communicate legal guardianship and consenting rights information from the State Department Social Services for minors and dependent adults and communicate information with staff and providers for efficient processing.

+ Provides transportation resource information to referring community health center dental providers.

+ Gathers psycho-social histories, interprets functioning and needs, and makes resource recommendations to aid with costs or barriers to treatment plan. Coordinates connection to resources and application processes for appropriate resources. Offers follow-up assistance to patients and families. Answers questions related to resource recommendations.

+ Follows HIPAA regulations; treats all information received as confidential. Follows up on patient cases to ensures HIPAA is followed, especially in cases of abuse and neglect.

+ Educates faculty, staff, and students on the importance of monitoring and enforcing HIPAA.

+ Receives and triage referrals from outside agencies for minors, dependent adults, and care facilities, including coordinating internal and external programs for veteran assistance.

+ Documents patient interactions in patient management software, AxiUm. Reads chart history to interpret and understand patient needs. Contacts providers with questions or updated information for upcoming appointments.

Education and Training:

+ Teaches providers how to effectively communicate with their patients and discuss sensitive issues that arise in the dental appointment.

+ Educates providers and staff on using translation services and necessity of communication, specifically informed consent for dental care. Receives and schedules American Sign Language interpreters for all clinics.

+ Educates dental students, staff, residents, faculty, and referring agencies on how to diagnose and treat (communicate) related to common areas of concern related to social and psychological well-being in the dental setting.

+ Uses PowerPoint to create and present educational seminars to students, residents, staff and faculty for competency and growth. Creates Case based learning scenarios for education.

+ Prepares and gives presentations for outside meetings as appropriate. Offers feedback for presentations given to faculty and staff related to social barriers and enablers.

+ Provides training to new managers and coordinators on social work interventions, how to deal with difficult patients, service animals, transportation resources, office of the patient experience etc.

Internal and External Collaboration and Communications:

+ Communicates via various methods (phone, email, letters) with patients, parents of patients, caseworkers, etc. to help increase compliance with keeping appointments and following through with treatment.

+ Collaborates with Clinic Administration to assess patient care needs and problem solve necessary interventions. Implements interventions. Trains staff on interventions.

+ Works collaboratively with SDM clinics and departments, referring outside dental offices, community health care centers, and other outside agencies.

+ Provides information, consultation and professional support to interdisciplinary team members.

+ Provides information to team members regarding psychosocial issues and their impact. Identifies people in environmental issues for team members. Acts as a resource for the team.

+ Assists team members in dealing with patient care and work related challenges.

+ Advocates for the social work role with health care team members.

+ Negotiates and mediates among team members. Uses body of social work knowledge & understanding of human behavior to remedy team-related issues and help team members evaluate and enhance team functioning.

+ Identifies and communicates opportunities for service/program development.

+ Participates in the development of multidisciplinary tools to facilitate achievement of desired outcomes.

+ Welcomes the richness of talent from a diverse workforce and recognizes that diversity brings stimulation, challenge, and energy that contribute to a productive and effective workplace.

+ Provides feedback to management to maintain goals and service excellence protocol. Implement changes and improvements in workflow to maintain service excellence.

Urgent Conflict Resolution:

+ Responds to patient concerns in the Clinic in real time.

+ Respond to and de-escalate situations where the patient displays inappropriate behavior in the waiting area or treatment bays to reduce legal consequences, negative social media, and promote continued care/revenue for the Clinic.

+ Provides requested guidance on de-escalation of disturbances to staff when Director of Clinical Operations, Assistant Dean for Clinic Operations, and/or Associate Dean for Clinic Operations is off site/in meetings.

**Other duties or projects** as assigned as appropriate to rank and departmental mission.

Special Notes:

This is a full-time appointment. FLSA Exempt position, not eligible for the overtime provisions of the FLSA. Minimum salary threshold must be met to maintain FLSA exemption.

In addition to the employee's base salary, this position is eligible for $4000 UUP annual location pay, paid biweekly.

**Essential Position:** This has been designated as an essential position based on the duties of the job and the functions performed. Positions that are designated as such may be required to report to work/remain at work even if classes are canceled, and the campus is working on limited operations in an emergency.

For this position, we are unable to sponsor candidates for work visas.

Resume/CV and cover letter should be included with the online application.

_Stony Brook University is committed to excellence in diversity and the creation of an inclusive learning, and working environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, pregnancy, familial status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status and all other protected classes under federal or state laws._

If you need a disability-related accommodation, please call the university Office of Equity and Access (OEA) at (631) 632-6280 or visit OEA (https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/oea/) .

_In accordance with the Title II Crime Awareness and Security Act_ a _copy of our crime statistics can be viewed_ here (https://www.stonybrook.edu/police/) _._

Visit our WHY WORK HERE (https://www.stonybrook.edu/jobs/working-here/) page to learn about the **total rewards** we offer.

The starting salary range (or hiring range) to be offered for this position is noted below, it represents SBU’s good faith and reasonable estimate of the range of possible compensation at the time of posting.

**Job Number:** 2503791

**Official Job Title:** : Senior Staff Assistant

**Job Field** : Administrative & Professional (non-Clinical)

**Primary Location** : US-NY-Stony Brook

**Department/Hiring Area:** : Dental Care Center

**Schedule** : Full-time

**Shift** : Day Shift **Shift Hours:** : 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. :

**Posting Start Date** : Oct 8, 2025

**Posting End Date** : Oct 22, 2025, 8:59:00 PM

**Salary:** : $70,000 - $80,000

**Appointment Type:** : Term

**Salary Grade:** : SL3

**SBU Area:** : Stony Brook University

**Req ID:** 2503791