HealthySteps Specialist

Company overview: Essen Health Care, A patient-focused medical group. Our over 250 providers serve communities in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Long Island, Staten Island, and Westchester County. Essen Health Care is patient-focused and active in serving the community. For that reason, Essen uses the latest research to provide the highest quality of care to the underserved. Our over 20-year commitment to New York City has fueled an unwavering dedication toward innovating a better healthcare delivery system; one that truly makes a difference. 

Essen Health Care offers a fully integrated healthcare delivery network, and our goal to our valued patients is to provide only the highest level of quality care by leveraging our network of divisions, including Urgent Care, Primary Care, Specialty Care, House Calls, Care Management, and Nursing Home. 

Our vision and values guide every piece of the medical process. Concerns about cost? Quality? We Care for That. Essen is a part of the community it serves, and we understand the diversity of challenges and individual needs of New York City patients better than any other practice.  

With an ever-expanding variety of services, we can better meet the needs of New York City. Our network includes a range of specializations to meet the needs of all ages, all needs, and all divisions of the communities. 

Position: HealthySteps Specialist

Job summary: The HealthySteps Specialist is an early child development expert who will join the pediatric primary care team to provide

interventions, referrals, and follow-up for families with patients ages 0-3. The HealthySteps Specialist builds strong relationships

with families and providers to increase the efficiency of the medical system and support team-based comprehensive care.

Preventive and Responsive Care

• Promotes HealthySteps within the practice to families and providers
• Conducts team-based well-child visits before, during, or following the primary care provider; visits focus on monitoring
• development, social-emotional functioning, and relational health, and providing anticipatory guidance
• Conducts consultations on a short-term basis for needs regarding development and/or behavioral concerns such as sleep, positive
• parenting, picky eating, etc.
• Maintains a family support line and responds to and tracks call requests within the designated response time
• Participates in reflective supervision meetings
• May conduct home visits and may accompany families to key medical, specialty, and community agency appointments as needed
• May facilitate parent/caregiver groups

Referrals and Community Collaborations

• Creates and maintains community resource directory/database. Provides referrals and tracks follow-up, as appropriate, to help
• families make successful connections to key resources within the community.
• Reaches out to community providers within first 6 months in position to share about HealthySteps, their role, and receive
• information to support referrals, warm handoffs, and ensure appropriate referral criteria is met.
• Participates (when appropriate) in community-wide early childhood and/or mental health meetings.

Team-Based Care

• Is an active member of the HS Implementation Team and attends regular team meetings
• Works with the front office administrative staff to ensure scheduling of the HS Specialist’s time in coordination with provider visits
• (i.e., well-child visits)
• Engages in Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) initiatives to ensure the HealthySteps model is delivered with fidelity
• Collaborates with HealthySteps implementation team to implement all eight Core Components including universal screenings,
• making positive parenting and early learning guidance information available, and adjusting workflows for optimal efficiency
• Maintains open communication with all members of the primary care team
• Works closely with pediatric primary providers around care coordination, goal setting, coaching, and education about key aspects
• of a child’s development
• Provides consultation and/or facilitates training to medical professionals and all practice staff re: early childhood development, early relational health/infant early childhood mental health, and trauma-informed practice

Caseload Tracking, Record Keeping, and Reporting

• Maintains extensive databases required to meet HealthySteps fidelity metrics including both internal and external referrals.
• Collaborates with HealthySteps Implementation Team to complete required annual site reporting to the HealthySteps National Office at ZERO TO THREE, which may include analysis of both external database files and EHR data reports.
• Documents all patient clinical activity and care coordination in EHR. Tracks caseload to ensure capacity to deliver the HS services within the risk stratified service delivery model. This includes ensuring exit criteria is met and that families and children are elevated to higher levels of care or referred to community providers if needed.

• Master’s degree in psychology, social work, counseling, early childhood education, or related field required

• Excellent oral and written communication skills

• Commitment to working with underserved populations in a community setting

• Empathic, supportive, and patient

• Strong motivational interviewing skills

• Ability to take initiative and a willingness to learn

• Ability to collect and enter data for program management, evaluation, and reporting purposes

• Interest in the use of technology to improve care quality a plus. Excel, Word, Outlook

• Salary: 65k-75k annually 

ESSEN HEALTH CARE IS PROUD TO BE AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER 

Essen Health care is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and we seek candidates who desire to work in and serve an ethnically diverse population.