Per Diem Provider (Physician/ARNP/PA) - ORCA Center

Opportunity At DESC

Recognized nationally as an innovator and leader in developing solutions to homelessness, DESC is a social services organization, supportive housing operator, and licensed behavioral health treatment provider focused on meeting the needs of people experiencing long-term homelessness and living with complex behavioral health and other medical conditions. Approximately 3,000 people are actively receiving services from DESC at any given point in time. Our vision is a community where all people are shown compassion, treated with dignity, and everyone has a safe, stable, and affordable place to call home.

DESC operates five shelter/emergency housing programs, 19 permanent supportive housing facilities with over 1,750 units, several hundred additional scattered site apartments, and a range of behavioral health services including outpatient mental health and substance use disorder treatment, residential crisis stabilization, street outreach, mobile crisis response, and treatment for opioid use disorder.

Job Overview

This role will provide direct clinical care within the DESC Opioid Recovery and Care Access (ORCA) Center. The ORCA Center is open 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, including holidays. It offers four overlapping types of services, delivered by a team of prescribers, nurses, medical assistants, peer specialists and milieu specialists, with operational leadership support:

• Care to individuals in stable condition who have experienced an opioid overdose, brought to the ORCA Center by first responders or transferred from local emergency departments.
• Rapid initiation of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), including buprenorphine (sublingual and long-acting injectable) and methadone (under the "72-hour rule", or Code of Federal regulations Title 21 1306.07 (b)), for people with opioid use disorder (OUD), regardless of whether an opioid overdose has recently occurred.
• Harm reduction counseling and OUD-related physical and behavioral health services, such as hepatitis C testing and treatment and HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis.
• Follow-up care, at the ORCA Center or at times field-based, with individuals who have started MOUD to ensure support in MOUD continuation.

This is a clinical role without administrative or supervisory duties.

Primary Responsibilities

Clinical Care

• Provide evidence-based treatment for OUD, including initiation and management of buprenorphine (sublingual and long-acting injectable) and, according to DESC protocols, methadone initiation.
• Conduct harm reduction counseling and provide services related to infectious diseases such as syphilis, hepatitis C, and HIV (including PrEP).
• Manage and treat conditions commonly seen in individuals with OUD, such as skin and soft tissue infections and linkage to mental health care.
• Perform initial health assessments and follow-up visits for individuals starting or continuing MOUD.
• Educate patients on health-related topics, treatment plans, and harm reduction strategies.
• Document clinical care in accordance with DESC and regulatory standards.

Care Coordination

• Collaborate with an interdisciplinary team of clinicians, peer specialists, and social workers to provide holistic care.
• Ensure continuity of care for individuals transitioning between ORCA Center services and other health care providers.

Professional Development

• Stay updated on best practices in addiction medicine and harm reduction through continuing education.
• Participate in in-service training and case discussions to maintain high clinical standards.

Requirements

Minimum Qualifications:

• Fully licensed as a Physician, Nurse Practitioner (Family or Adult NP), or Physician Assistant in the State of Washington.
• Registration with the Drug Enforcement Agency.
• Experience or training in addiction medicine and harm reduction.
• Strong commitment to serving individuals with complex needs, including homelessness and co-occurring behavioral health conditions.
• Familiarity with trauma-informed care, harm reduction principles, and equity frameworks.
• Ability to remain open and receptive to constructive feedback.
• Strong ability to approach those with differing opinions with curiosity & active listening.
• Ability to work collaboratively in a multidisciplinary team environment.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in low-barrier buprenorphine programs or Federal Opioid Treatment Programs.
• Experience in an acute care setting (e.g., emergency department or overdose prevention center).
• Skills in addressing co-occurring mental health conditions and physical health needs.
• Proficiency with electronic health records and clinical documentation.

Physical Demands:

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 will be required to sit, communicate with other employees and clients, is required to lift and carry items weighing up to 25 pounds and to operate computer hardware systems. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus. Considerable stress may occur.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

DESC is committed to diversity in the workplace and promotes equal employment opportunities for all staff members and applicants. The Agency will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment on the basis of race, creed, color, sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, national origin, caste, marital status, or the presence of any sensory, mental or physical disability in any employment practice, unless based on a bona fide occupational qualification. Minorities and veterans are encouraged to apply.