Social Work Manager

Description

The Social Work Manager leads the daily delivery of social work services for High Desert PACE participants and their caregivers. This working supervisor coaches staff, monitors caseloads and documentation, supports complex cases, and collaborates with the interdisciplinary team (IDT) to address psychosocial needs that affect health, safety, independence, and quality of life. The position maintains an assigned caseload sized to allow effective supervision and timely participant care.

Requirements

Staff Supervision and Department Operations

• Assign caseloads and coverage based on participant acuity, staff competencies, required assessments, and service needs; escalate staffing gaps to the Program Director.
• Provide regular individual supervision, case consultation, team meetings, onboarding, and competency evaluation. Coach staff in participant advocacy, professional boundaries, communication, and conflict resolution.
• Participate in hiring, performance reviews, corrective action, and staff development with the Program Director and Human Resources.
• Track overdue assessments, open referrals, urgent concerns, and follow up tasks. Maintain coverage during absences and coordinate handoffs for after-hour needs.

Participant Assessment and Care Planning

• Complete and oversee psychosocial assessments, reassessments, and documentation within required time frames, including semiannual and change in status reassessments.
• Assess participant strengths, goals, caregiver support, cognition and mood within scope, social isolation, housing stability, financial barriers, and safety risks.
• Develop measurable social work goals and interventions with participants, caregivers, and the IDT; monitor results and recommend care plan revisions.

IDT Collaboration and Service Requests

• Attend IDT meetings and provide clear psychosocial findings, participant preferences, risk information, and recommendations. Ensure assigned social workers communicate changes promptly.
• Help participants and representatives communicate service determination requests (SDRs). Ensure staff recognize and route requests through the approved process, support required assessments, and document recommendations and follow up.
• Present options for housing, relocation, home modifications, caregiver support, and other social needs based on individual assessment. Coordinate approved services and explore community resources without delaying necessary PACE care.
• Work through IDT decisions and authorized operational processes; do not independently promise benefits, authorize expenditures outside delegated authority, or substitute supervisory judgment for required IDT review.

Complex Case Management and Caregiver Support

• Provide supportive counseling, crisis intervention, caregiver education, and family meetings within professional scope. Coordinate behavioral health referrals and treatment access.
• Coordinate with nursing, primary care, rehabilitation, home care, transportation, and community partners during hospital discharge, placement, transitions, and changes in living arrangements.
• Assist with access to public benefits, housing resources, legal aid, advance care planning, and authorized representative documentation; refer legal and financial decisions to qualified resources.
• Address caregiver strain, grief, dementia related needs, family disagreement, and barriers to participation using culturally responsive and trauma informed approaches.

Participant Safety and Rights

• Identify and respond to suspected abuse, neglect, exploitation, self-neglect, and behavioral health emergencies. Make required mandated reports and coordinate immediate safety actions under applicable law and program procedures.
• Protect participant rights, confidentiality, informed choice, and access to language assistance. Receive concerns respectfully and route grievances and appeals promptly through designated channels.
• Maintain professional boundaries regarding gifts, personal funds, transportation, and assistance outside approved workflows. Escalate unresolved safety and ethical concerns.

Quality and Regulatory Readiness

• Audit social work records for timely assessments, care plan linkage, follow through, and complete documentation. Address findings through coaching and corrective action.
• Partner with Quality and Compliance on quality improvement, incident review, audit preparation, policies, staff education, and monitoring of applicable CMS, DHCS, and California requirements.

Required Qualifications

• Master of Social Work from an accredited school of social work.
• At least three years of social work experience in health care, aging services, or long-term care, including at least one year working with frail or elderly adults. These experience thresholds propose employer standards for this supervisory position.
• Current California license or registration when required for the assigned functions; practice only within legally authorized scope. Complete required screening, orientation, and position specific competencies before independent work.
• Ability to manage complex cases, supervise staff, document accurately in an electronic health record, and communicate effectively with participants, caregivers, and an interdisciplinary team.
• Ability to travel to participant homes, hospitals, and community settings. If driving is an assigned duty, maintain a valid driver license and required insurance.

Preferred Qualifications

• Active California Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) license; PACE experience; experience with dementia, behavioral health, caregiver support, and community resources.
• Experience with quality improvement and regulatory audits; bilingual English and Spanish skills or other languages used by the participant population.
• At least one year of supervisory, lead, or documented staff mentoring experience.

Skills & Abilities

• Strong organizational skills demonstrated by the ability to effectively and efficiently prioritize and process multiple tasks.
• Clear understanding of interdisciplinary team care planning and decision-making processes; proven effective team contributor.
• Basic computer skills; familiar with electronic communication, word processing and data entry.
• Demonstrates necessary skills and knowledge as outlined in attached position-specific Competency Assessment Profile.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including superior composition, typing and proofreading skills
• Ability to interpret a variety of instructions in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form
• Knowledgeable about and experience with counseling theories and techniques
• Knowledgeable about and experience with community resources for individuals and families
• Ability to establish and maintain good interpersonal relationships
• Ability to successfully manage multiple tasks simultaneously
• Excellent planning and organizational ability
• Ability to work as part of a team as well as independently
• Ability to work with highly confidential information in a professional and ethical manner
• Interpersonal skills include: Initiative and resourcefulness. 
• Use of discretion, tact, patience and good judgment. 
• Empathetic and compassionate attitude in caring for the elderly

Working Conditions

The working conditions and physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• May be required to perform home visits to private homes of High Desert PACE participants; 
• Reaches toward &/or over participants to assist them & moves &/or picks up items
• Moves throughout the PACE Center to meet with participants & staff
• Positions self at participant-level to communicate
• Operates a motor vehicle for transport to home visits