Office Assistant- FFAST

By joining the San Diego Center for Children, you will empower children and families through transformative mental health care and educational services. Our vision is to inspire a world where children and families live joyful, healthy lives. We serve over 1,000 people every day - are you ready to make an impact?

Join us - and work with purpose!

POSITION BENEFITS

• Team-oriented, multidisciplinary approach
• Ongoing, high-level learning and development opportunities
• Culturally diverse environment
• Joint Commission Accredited Organization
• Comprehensive Health Insurance (medical, dental, vision, pet)
• Retirement savings plan: 403(b) - with employer match up to 3%
• Generous paid time off (vacation, sick leave, holidays)
• Wellness programs
• EAP - Employee Assistance Program
• Tuition reimbursement or assistance for continuing education
• Employee discounts
• Employee recognition program
• Opportunities for career advancement
• May be eligible for state or federal loan forgiveness programs for work with underserved populations

SUMMARY

Foster Family Stabilization and Treatment (FFAST) is a program of the San Diego Center for Children. It provides mental health services to youth in the foster care system through its two site locations, Mission Valley and Escondido. The Office Assistant supports creating a welcoming, culturally respectful, and trauma-informed atmosphere, providing general program information to consumers and the community, maintaining medical records, coordinating psychiatry appointments, executing various administrative functions (e.g. data entry, running reports, etc.), and providing support to youth (e.g. encouragement, engagement, regulation, motivation) for the purpose of supporting program operations and youth served. The Office Assistant also assists in QA functions, and monitors the environment for safety hazards, maintenance and supply needs. This Office Assistant position reports primarily to the Escondido location to support the administrative needs of the site. As assigned, the Office Assistant will also support program-based needs by providing collaboration and assistance to the administrative functions at the Mission Valley site.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES (Other Duties May Be Assigned)

Administrative Functions:

• Receives referrals, logs in referral and Access Times Logs, provides referral to QA/Intake Supervisor for assignment, sends referral receipts to referral source, and provides referral and intake packet to assigned Therapist.
• Responds to phone calls and email messages in a timely and customer-service oriented fashion (within 1 business day) and promptly communicates any new/notable information received to the appropriate staff.
• Performs data entry and maintains office equipment and orders office supplies for department.
• Schedules psychiatry appointments and informs all related parties of upcoming appointments, and tracks JV-220s.
• Assists with administrative functions related to new hires, including pre-onboarding and onboarding.
• Serves as the on-site Safety Officer and Safety Committee representative, overseeing emergency drills and ensuring safety of work environment.
• Acts as custodian of documents and records and appropriately always ensures their confidentiality/privacy.
• Functions as a liaison between office and partners at the San Pasqual Academy campus to support communication and collaboration.

Medical Record/Billing Support:

• Supports youth information tracking and provides reports as directed.
• Determines youth Medi-Cal eligibility at intake and monthly through the State Medi-Cal database and SmartCare and/or verifies other health care coverage (OHC) and completes CMS-1500 to bill OHC if applicable.
• Ensures all financial data is complete, up to date, and entered per contractual and regulatory requirements.
• Supports needs of the program related to documentation tracking and reviews, making necessary SmartCare (Electronic Health Record) corrections, and provides administrative support as needed to accurately maintain treatment documentation and information.
• Assembles and maintains current and discharged medical records per applicable regulations and requirements.

Outcomes Data Collection/Maintenance Support:

• Assists in the administration and collection of outcomes, including biannual Youth Services Survey for youth and caregivers.

Direct Services:

As needed, the Office Assistant provides direct services to youth who reside at the San Pasqual Academy campus. Direct services components include and are not limited to:

• Provide coaching, mentoring, advocacy, and psycho-education to support youth with skill building, emotional regulation and engagement.
• Documents services per applicable regulations and requirements (e.g., EPSDT, PWB) in SmartCare.
• Utilizes supervision, consultation, and training to provide high quality services in an effective manner.

Other:

• Attends all applicable internal and external meetings and committees
• Fulfills all contractual and organizational training requirements.
• Other duties as assigned to meet program needs.

Work Location & Availability :

• The primary workplace location is in Escondido at the San Pasqual Academy campus on Monday's from 8:30a-5p and Tuesday-Thursday from 10:30a-7:00p.
• Secondary workplace location is in Mission Valley, on occasional Monday's, as assigned, from 8:30a-5p.
• Travel between both workplace locations, and additional locations, may be required as needed. Mileage reimbursement available.
• Full-time position, up to approximately 32 hours per week.

LANGUAGE SKILLS

Ability to read, analyze, and interpret medical records, journals, reports, and legal documents; Ability to respond to common inquiries or complaints from customers, regulatory agencies, or members of the business community; Ability to effectively present information to management and public groups; Ability to produce clear, concise, and clinically appropriate records.

REASONING ABILITY

Ability to read, analyze, and interpret medical records, journals, reports, and legal documents; Ability to respond to common inquiries or complaints from customers, regulatory agencies, or members of the business community; Ability to effectively present information to management and public groups.

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 is regularly required to stand, use hands to finger, handle, or feel, reach with hands and arms, stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl, and talk and hear. The employee frequently is required to run, walk, sit and drive a vehicle. The employee must be able to move and/or lift a student when clinically necessary, and must be able to follow a student that AWOLs in a walking or running pace. Applying SPA restraint techniques can involve lifting the student, holding the student down in a standing, sitting or ground level manner, as well separating clients who are acting in an unsafe manner to ensure the safety for the clients and staff. Due to the emotional instability of the clients the employee may be subjected to kicking, hitting, punching, biting, hair pulling, etc. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of the job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally exposed to outside weather conditions. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.

DIVERSITY STATEMENT

The San Diego Center for Children is committed to:

• Actively recruiting, retaining, and supporting diverse staff at all levels of the organization
• Ensuring that diverse perspectives are included in the development and implementation of policies, practices and services, and that individuals feel empowered to advance our mission within an atmosphere of trust, safety, and respect
• Encourage and provide access to professional development in order to deliver equitable and culturally informed services to the population we serve

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

• Valid California Driver's License, acceptable driving record, reliable transportation, and vehicle insurance
• Must have an Associate Degree, or equivalent from a two-year college or technical school, or one year of related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience
• Proficient computer skills (e.g., Microsoft applications)
• Experience working with medical records

PREFERRED REQUIREMENTS:

• Experience with/training in San Diego County's MIS, SmartCare Electronic Health Record, DocuSign, and experience working with diverse populations.
• Bilingual (English/Spanish)
• Knowledge of foster care population, trauma informed care