Position Summary: 

This position is a joint position between Humboldt Park Health and The West Side Health Equity Collaborative (WSHEC) an initiative on Chicago’s west side that uses a comprehensive network of community-based partners and medical providers to screen community members with chronic illness for social determinants of health and provide a suite of comprehensive services to resolve identified issues.  Based in the Emergency Department, the HPH/WSHEC Behavioral Health Department (BH) Navigator will screen HPH patients in the BH.  The BH Navigator will serve as a bridge between the patient, the medical system, and community-based organizations by building trusting relationship with community members served by the program.  The BH Navigator will also help in identifying barriers to accessing quality care, work with individuals to overcome these barriers, provide relevant referrals

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Patient Identification

1. Assist with identification of patients with SUD or co-occurring mental health disorders in the emergency department (ED) and, where feasible, within inpatient units by monitoring patient tracking systems to screen for eligible patients and checking in with clinicians and nursing staff to receive referrals of eligible patients.
2. Establish a positive relationship with patients struggling with drug use or co-occurring mental health disorders. If required by the hospital, to allow for billing, this may include initial patient assessments and brief interventions using standardized tools.
3. Make navigator contact information widely available to people who use drugs, patients with co-occurring mental health disorders, and clinicians; respond to calls or texts directly from patients and providers.
4. Advocate for a culture of low threshold access to MAT for patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) that includes signage or materials inviting patients to seek help for substance use in prominent areas of the ED and hospital.

Patient Engagement in Treatment

1. Facilitate initiation of MAT with hospital clinicians.
2. Use motivational interviewing techniques to communicate with patients in a respectful, culturally appropriate, non-judgmental manner.
3. Maintain up-to-date information about the effects of various substances, withdrawal symptoms, and treatment options to effectively educate and counsel patients.
4. Promote harm-reduction strategies based on patients’ goals, preferences, and life circumstances.
5. Engage patients with co-occurring mental health disorders and help them access treatment.

Follow-Up Care Navigation

1. Help patients overcome barriers to filling prescriptions for MAT (e.g., insurance status, copay expense, cost differences between formulations, etc.)
2. Schedule appointments at MAT-capable clinics for ongoing treatment and address access barriers by assisting with transportation, retrieving medical records, providing cell phones, or other supports as determined by patient needs and community resources.
3. Establish a relationship with patients and communicate via telephone, text, and/or email to remind patients of appointments, help navigate obstacles to follow-up treatment, and provide encouragement.
4. Work with hospital staff to set up a robust system for ensuring patient referral and follow-up outside of the navigator’s regular hours.
5. Develop expertise in insurance benefits and exclusions related to treatment.
6. Provide patients referrals to other services, such as mental health services, shelter, primary care, social services, and residential treatment facilities.
7. Assist out-of-county patients to access MAT and other services in their home county.

Documentation

1. Enter encounter data into the electronic medical record or other data collection system as determined by hospital protocols.
2. If required for program reporting, aggregate monthly or quarterly counts of targeted metrics, such as number of patients served, buprenorphine administrations, prescriptions, referrals to care, etc.

Culture Change

1. Advocate for a harm-reduction approach to patients who use drugs within the hospital and community to reinforce evidence-based, non-judgmental approaches so that patients who use drugs get the same care as patients who do not use drugs.

Promote the use of non-stigmatizing language by hospital staff when referring to people who use drugs.

Community Outreach

1. Develop connections with a comprehensive array of community service providers to address the needs of people with SUD or co-occurring mental health disorders.
2. Conduct outreach and build trust in settings where people are at high risk of SUD such as jails, syringe distribution locations, homeless shelters, and SUD treatment programs.

QUALIFICATIONS

Nonjudgmental, energetic, positive, harm-reduction approach to assisting patients with SUD.

Interest/proficiency in working with individuals recently released from incarceration, homeless individuals, and other marginalized populations.

Understanding of SUD as a medical condition and MAT as an effective, evidence-based treatment.

Understanding that abstinence-based behavioral programs that discourage MAT are not evidence-based.

Ability to communicate with patients clearly, respectfully, and in a culturally appropriate manner.

Ability to communicate in languages spoken in the local community is a plus.

Preference for applicants with connections to and reflecting the diversity of the local community.

Respect for patient confidentiality and privacy.

Ability to use a computer and to learn to use electronic health records.

There is no specific degree, certification, or training requirement, but candidates should plan to obtain certification as a community health worker.