Medical Assistant BHC- Temporary

Temporary Medical Assistant For Behavioral Health Consultant

Join our team as a Temporary Medical Assistant for Behavioral Health Consultant at Yakima Medical-Dental Clinic in Yakima, WA! This position is expected to last approximately 4 months.

Medical Assistants are the backbone of our care teams. They play a vital, hands-on role in ensuring every patient receives safe, compassionate, and seamless care. From preparing patients for their visit to supporting providers during clinical procedures, MAs are often the first and last point of connection in a patient's experience. Their attention to detail, clinical skills, and ability to build trust with patients make them essential to our mission. At Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic, our MAs are not only valued professionals but also crucial partners in delivering high-quality healthcare to the communities we serve. Their work strengthens every aspect of our clinic operations and directly impacts patient health and satisfaction.

Be part of a healthcare organization that believes in making a difference beyond medical care! We've transformed into a leading community health center in the Pacific Northwest with 40+ clinics across Washington and Oregon. We offer a wide range of services such as medical, dental, pharmacy, orthodontia, nutritional counseling, autism screening, and behavioral health. Our holistic model also extends assistance to shelter, energy, weatherization, HIV and AIDS counseling, home visits, and mobile medical/dental clinics.

Position Highlights:

• 1.0 FTE (40 hours per week)
• EMR system is Epic
• $21.44 -$31.58/hour DOE
• Additional pay for your bilingual skills, paid on hours worked.

What You'll Do:

• Coordinates daily patient interactions for BHC. To include warm-handoffs, scheduled visits, and returning patients.
• Collaborates with BHC to scrub clinic schedules throughout the day for potential patients, and patient wait times.
• Communicates with BHC teams regarding assignment of patients to the clinician.
• Communicates with other medical MAs, Providers and clinical staff about patients the BHC intends to service.
• Facilitates clinic flow of warm handoffs, as needed, and remains accessible for prompt response to secure chat throughout the day.
• Supports day-to-day clinical operations including setting up room, locating records, enter data in EHR, reviewing and ensuring consent forms, rooming, asking rooming questions or reviewing welcome responses.
• Confirms that essential questionnaires, i.e., SBIRT are completed for the patient.
• Supports in reviewing medical and behavioral screening questionnaire for respective patient and informs the clinician for needed review and escalations.
• Administer age-appropriate patient screeners per protocol; including but not limited to PHQ-9, GAD7, PHQ-A, PSC, Edinburg, AUDIT, DAST, and CRAFFT.
• Support BHCs with clinic resources and staff communication.
• Collect patient medical and psychological history.
• Accurately collects vital signs: height, weight, blood pressure, and pulse as needed and retakes when necessary.
• Maintain patient list / BHC messages through in-basket.
• Handle all aspects of BHC provider-patient schedule, make phone calls as needed to schedule appointments, return phone calls to patients and/or send letters to patients as instructed.
• Assist BHC with telehealth visits as scheduled.
• Perform outreach to high-risk patients.
• Facilitate interpretation services as needed. May provide direct interpretation with Level 10 on the language proficiency scale.
• Performs clinical responsibilities in alignment with The Joint Commission (TJC), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) requirements.
• Ensure clinical quality assurance for infection control and other regulatory compliance is maintained and always met in the area of service.
• Run Reports for depression in remission on a monthly basis; initiate outreach to complete follow-up screenings per protocol MA-C.
• Respond to patients' questions and concerns in person, via e-mails, and text.
• Can perform the role of a chaperone as needed.
• In the absence of BHC (PTO, etc.), MA can support medical staff with regular MA duties (see Job Description for Certified Medical Assistant #1917).
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

• Minimum of a high school diploma or GED that is accredited by a regional or national accrediting agency approved by the US Department of Education is required.
• One year's experience as a Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) and one year's experience in a behavioral health setting preferred.
• Graduation from a medical assisting training program (may be a one-year certificate/diploma program or a two-year Associate Degree program) that is accredited by either the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) or Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES). This training program must be comprised of at least 720 hours of medical assistant training, including at least 160 hours in a clinical externship.
• Must have Medical Assistant Certification or Medical Assistant Interim Certification from WA State Department of Health.
• Certifications must be maintained and remain current.
• Bilingual (English/Spanish) speaking skills required at a level 10.
• This position is eligible for Bilingual Differential Compensation when an ALTA score of 10 is achieved
• Medical knowledge to understand theories, reasons, and technical aspects of medicine.
• Strong people skills to handle different personalities, backgrounds, and personal situations.
• Strong multi-tasking ability to handle the variety and pace of work.
• Basic proficiency with a variety of computer programs including Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, Epic, and EMR.

Our Mission Statement

Together we transform our communities through compassionate, individualized care, eliminating barriers to health and well-being.

Our mission celebrates inclusivity. We are committed to equal-opportunity employment.

Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic