Medical Social Worker in New York

American healthcare is on the radar of social workers everywhere. The lifesaving gift of medial care is only any good to people who can access it. Too many Americans can’t.

New Yorkers face particular challenges when it comes to healthcare access and affordability. A 2019 survey published by the New York Health Foundation found that more than half of New York adults experienced burdens in healthcare affordability; three quarters were concerned they would face such problems in the future. State-wide staffing shortages reduce the availability of doctors and nurses to treat even those patients who have insurance.

As always, these problems are experienced first and worst by populations that are already struggling… the unhoused, the indigent, refugees, immigrants, and people of color.

Medical social workers spend their days generally trying to prop up the most costly and least effective healthcare system in the first world.

It’s the mission of social services is to correct those inequities, but the healthcare system in the United States is a tangled web of expensive and poorly explained options. It takes heart, education, and dedication to help people through the moments of medical crisis that can be part of any life.

These are challenges that are ripe for intervention by trained social workers.

What Does a Medical Social Worker Do in New York?

Medical social workers collaborate with medical and human services professionals to make sure their clients get the holistic treatment they need to deal with all the various factors that go with medical issues:

Financial supports
Mental health counseling
Medical diagnosis and care in line with their needs
Transportation, translation, and other practical services to access care
Support and information for families
Giving patients a voice for their individual preferences and values that is heard by providers

They may also work on the big policy end of the scale, advocating for patients rights, pushing for medical records privacy, and pushing for more options and more access to care across the country.

The role of social work in hospital settings offers a different working environment than many human services jobs. Social workers in healthcare plug into an already vast interdisciplinary care team, working with doctors, nurses, technicians, insurance and billing coordinators, and all the other various roles that make up modern medical treatment.

Alongside those other highly-trained professionals, the medical social worker role in hospitals and other healthcare settings involves:

Assessing and helping clients go through the medical intake process
Offering emotional support and guidance for individuals and families plunged into the unfamiliar and often frightening world of major healthcare issues
Advocating for the interests and needs of the patient in a resource-short environment
Providing crisis intervention to support patients and families when things take a turn for the worse
Planning and supporting patients during the transitional period of discharge and recovery

Social Workers in New York Healthcare Settings Handle Many Critical Needs

Just as the day-to-day experience of a registered nurse in a med-surg unit will be pretty different from one who works in an urgent care clinic, social workers in healthcare will have a very different set of experiences and responsibilities based on the venue where they are serving.

That gives these roles a tremendous variety. You may work as a community integration counselor in a memory care facility, directly treating individuals with Alzheimer’s and dementia and assisting they and their families with coping strategies. You might be in outreach for a community clinic, going out into the community and conducting assessments and making referrals in marginalized communities.

That variety opens up plenty of positions at the mezzo level of social work practice, handling basic referrals, requests for information, and explanations of the always complicated paperwork that goes with any kind of healthcare procedure or insurance claim.

The state of American healthcare also calls for plenty of healthcare social workers at the macro level. It was constant lobbying and persuasion that resulted in the eventual passage of the Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act: Obamacare. Those efforts brought millions more New Yorkers into the insurance system. According to a 2023 report from the state Comptroller, only around 5 percent of New Yorkers remain uninsured as of 2021, compared to more than 8 percent nationally.

Those kind of victories are long overdue but make a massive difference. It’s a role that requires perseverance as well as a detailed education in the tiniest aspects of healthcare, from hidden chargemaster price lists to what you may or may not eat or drink before an oncology appointment.

How To Get the Right Specialized MSW in New York for Roles in Medical Social Work

That kind of knowledge only comes with an advanced education in healthcare social work specializations.

While there is room in healthcare social work for both mezzo and macro providers, who don’t necessarily need to hold state LMSW (Licensed Master Social Worker) or LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker) licenses, the greatest proportion of these jobs are clinical in nature. That means earning a Master of Social Work degree is a must for most medical social workers.

The best specializations for this role will be concentrations such as:

Sickness comes to people of all ages and in many circumstances of life. So healthcare social work can overlap with geriatric, child and family, palliative care, or even forensic social work specializations.

Health-focused specializations will come with additional classes in areas like:

Urban Health Disparities and Global Health
Social Work Practice in Health Settings
Social and Behavioral Determinants of Health
Social Policy and Advocacy in Health Care
Clinical Social Work Practice in Grief, Death, and Bereavement
Wellness Paradigms for the Social Work Profession

Electives may cover other aspects of social work in healthcare settings, such as emergency department social work, primary care, or chronic disease management.

It’s also possible to get those classes through post-graduate certificate programs, such as a Post-Master’s Certificate in Healthcare Social Work or an Advanced Certificate for Social Work in Health Care.

An MSW also comes with plenty of field placements to help you absorb your lessons in the context of real-world practice. New York has a wealth of hospital, clinic, and outpatient practicum and internship sites that expose students to almost every challenge under the sun. You can end up in places like the Rockland Psychiatric Center, Maimonides Medical Center, or the Child Center of New York.

How Professional Certification Boosts Your Credentials as a New York Healthcare Social Worker

Like other specialized roles in social work, your career and opportunities can be improved through professional certifications in health care.

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) has you covered. They offer a Certified Social Worker in Health Care (C-SWHC) credential designed for MSW graduates specializing in healthcare social work. The requirements are:

Have a CSWE-accredited MSW
Have at least two years of documented, compensated, supervised post-MSW social work in settings involving medical care or disability services
Hold a current LMSW or LCSW
Conform to the NASW Code of Ethics and professional standards

You can also check out more about the process and other relevant certifications that may be useful to social workers in medical settings, such as hospice and palliative care or in substance use disorders.

Who Hires to Fill Medical Social Worker Jobs in New York?

According to 2023 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, New York has the highest employment level for healthcare social workers of any state in the nation, and the Watertown/Fort Drum metro area has the highest concentration of any city in the country. Binghamton and Rochester come in at numbers two and three.

So you are in a state that has plenty of opportunities for social workers in this specialization… and that offers generous salaries for the job.

Medical social workers can be found in and outside of formal healthcare settings. They often work directly for hospitals and clinics, particularly in areas where high-risk populations are commonly served.

Medical social worker roles in hospital settings are the most well-known, but there are also roles for social workers in community health care services, skilled nursing facilities, and in various emergency relief services.

There is as much variety in medical social work as there is in the medical field overall. A social worker role in nursing homes combines medical and geriatric skills… an oncology social worker role may work directly for private cancer treatment practices… home health social worker roles are found in government agencies managing friendly visitor programs or with non-profits that help arrange in-home care for the differently abled.

There are also big roles for medical social workers in improving the systems and supports available at the policy and regulatory level. Big wins like Obamacare came after decades of lobbying by social workers. But more improvements are needed, and advocacy organizations like the New York State Association for Rural Health are working to make things better for the people of New York every day.

The future holds even more promise for social workers with healthcare and medical expertise. New York Medicaid recently outlined plans to introduce social care networks serving all regional enrolled organizations in the state. The program aims to set a foundation for social care networks that could lead to further expansion even with private providers.

So if there was ever a time to get in on the ground floor and learn how to become a social worker in New York with healthcare specializations, this is it.