Community Health Advocate

Flexible Schedule

Hybrid Schedule

You will be eligible for a $500 retention bonus at the successful completion of 6 months of employment. 

JOB PURPOSE

The Care Coordination Program (CCP) at HCAM, is an outreach program that provides short-term care coordination services to Baltimore City Residents. The Care Coordination Program assists Medicaid/HealthChoice eligible beneficiaries in accessing, using, and maximizing their Medicaid benefits. The CCP multidisciplinary team educates clients about health benefits, link residents to primary care and specialty services, work to improve birth outcomes in Baltimore City with innovative prenatal outreach strategies and strive to protect our city’s most vulnerable populations by providing access to health services and community resources.

Annually more than 500 Medicaid/Medicaid-eligible pregnant women become disengaged and/or never engage with the healthcare system increasing their likelihood of poor pregnancy and birth outcomes. Several of the unable to locate pregnant women have multiple medical and psychosocial risks such BMI >30, hypertension, untreated sexually transmitted infection, substance use disorder, history of infant loss, preterm birth, or low birth weight baby, are chronic tobacco users, and have complex social determinants of health limiting timely access to prenatal care.

The Community Health Advocate (CHA) will use trauma-informed strategies to outreach pregnant and postpartum women who are unable to be located through traditional outreach methods or who refuse to engage with care coordinators at time of first outreach attempt.  The CHA will be embedded in Judy P. Hoyer Center Early Learning Hubs, known as “Judy Centers,” to locate pregnant women and reconnect them to HCAM’s Care Coordination Program and to connect them to the rich services for parents, children and families offered by the Judy Center. The CHA will have access to tools and strategies to build trust with the highest-risk, hard to reach pregnant women in the targeted region and to connect them to quality client services.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES: 

• Work collaboratively with Judy Center staff creating a referral system between the Judy Center and HCAM to ensure that pregnant women are re-connected and referred to HCAM for prenatal services.
•  Partner with Judy Center staff and host/cohost community events to gain higher visibility and knowledge regarding the work of HCAM and the Judy Centers
• Complete face-to-face outreach with clients in the community or client homes as needed to locate pregnant and postpartum women and infants for connection to prenatal services.  
• Provide linkage and coordination to OB, MCO, pediatric or primary care, postpartum care, dental care, specialty care, as well as linkage to the Maryland Medical Care Programs as needed.
• Assessment, triage and referral of pregnant and postpartum women and infants to Baltimore City Home Visiting Programs for long-term case management services.
• Aid with the removal of barriers to accessing healthcare including through referral to Medical Assistance Transportation and other support services.
• Documentation of all outreach activities according to standard operating procedures in the electronic medical record, eClinicalWorks database.
• Participation in local/state meetings, conferences, community meetings
• Participate in professional development opportunities that build effectiveness in areas of client engagement and intervention, motivational interviewing, trauma-informed outreach strategies.
• Participate in city-wide initiatives/groups/committees as applicable.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s Degree in a health-related area preferred.
• Certification in Community Health Work is a bonus.
• At least two years of experience providing home/community outreach to the maternal and child health population in Baltimore City.
• Demonstrated knowledge in the following areas: Community Outreach and Medicaid System Navigation.
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience working with HealthChoice Medicaid recipients and Managed Care Organizations.
• Bilingual in Spanish is a bonus

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS and ABILITIES:

• Strong computer literacy skills, specifically with MS Word, Excel, Outlook and SharePoint (365).

• Organizational skills with the ability to meet a demanding workload.
• Excellent oral and written interpersonal and communication skills required.
• Organizational and Problem-solving skills
• Proven ability to work efficiently and meet deadlines.
• Strong knowledge of community resources
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team to achieve project success in outreaching clients identified for care coordination. 

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

The 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.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk, hear and respond to customers and employees. The employee frequently is required to stand; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; climb or balance; and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee is occasionally required to walk 3 blocks or more and sit for prolonged periods of time. The employee must regularly lift and/or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 15 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.

SAFETY & HEALTH RESPONSIBILITIES

HCAM is committed to providing and maintaining a safe, secure and healthy work environment for all employees, clients served, volunteers and visitors. As part of this commitment, HCAM has developed safety, security and occupational health policies, practices, and standards.

With this understanding, all employees are required to: Adhere to all local, state and federal safety and environmental codes, ordinances, standards and laws; adhere to all HCAM and local safety plans, policies, practices and standards; be aware of and follow all safety rules of your work site; report any unsafe conditions or accidents to your supervisor; practice standard precautions (formerly universal precautions) at all times, and; participate in mandatory or available safety training.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is exposed to both indoor and outdoor conditions. The employee will be subject to noise.

 Our Culture – Health Care Access Maryland

HCAM is dedicated to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion in our commitment to support our employees and the Marylanders we serve.

HCAM's DEI Vision Statement: “To be regarded as a leader in equitable access to health care through policy and practices, and a workplace whose culture promotes diversity, values its team, and fosters inclusion.”