Behavioral Health Case Manager (O-5 Billet) Non-Supervisory Job in Washington, DC

Vacancy No. IHSC-BHCM-O5-NS-2025 Department Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Salary $1.00 to $150,000.00 Grade 5 to 5
Perm/Temp Permanent FT/PT Full-time
Open Date 9/16/2025 Close Date 9/26/2025
Job Link Apply Online Who may apply Public
Locations:
Washington, DC


Summary

The Behavioral Health Case Manager is a non-supervisory role within. The incumbent coordinates behavioral health services for individuals in ICE custody, including care coordination and monitoring high-risk individuals. Responsibilities include compliance reviews, consultations, and facilitating care transitions. Requires advanced clinical credentials and travel.

This position is only open to current USPHS officers.
USPHS Call to Active Duty (CAD) candidates are not eligible for this position.

This job is open to

Clarification from the agency

Applicants must be a current USPHS Commissioned Corps Officer. USPHS Call to Active Duty (CAD) candidates are not eligible for this position. Civilians are not eligible for this position.

Duties

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

  1. Incumbent coordinates behavioral health services within the assigned area of responsibility for individuals in ICE custody. Behavioral health services include and are not limited to the following: case coordination/management, monitoring high risk individuals, independent behavioral health reviews, behavioral health consultation services, and health record reviews. Incumbent utilizes federal regulations, agency policies, agency procedures, local accreditation standards, national accreditation standards, and evidence-based treatment standards. Program functions require incumbent to communicate with individuals within and outside the department and requires extensive and basic collaboration to meet program goals. The incumbent independently performs a variety of functions which include fact-finding, analyzing data, developing reports, and resolving complex problems. Incumbent may serve as the primary contact for leading services as assigned.
  2. Maintains awareness of program operational issues. Briefs and advises supervisory chain on program activities. Communicates program activities to agency leadership and stakeholders. Communication may require different formats (e.g., reports, oral reports, support materials), reoccurring frequency, and multiple communications based on stakeholder (e.g., custody and health staff).
  3. Work in conjunction with local ICE/Office of Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) providing written evaluation reports on the mental health status of individuals placed on SMI (Serious Mental Illness List).
  4. Work with Managed Care Coordinators to absorb Accessibility to Healthcare Services component for serious mental illness (SMI) patients.
  5. Facilitate appropriate placement for patients who require a higher level of care and transfer to an IGSA or IHSC-staffed facility with increased BH resources.
  6. Review and adjudicate requests for outside mental health services for detainees in ICE custody and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
  7. Conduct routine and ad hoc site visits to ICE designated facilities within the Field Office Director's Area of Responsibility (AOR).
  8. Provide orientation and guidance to the respective custody and medical staff members of facilities in which ICE detainees are held regarding IHSC policies and procedures.
  9. Collaborate with other BHCMs and the RBHC to provide coverage and support as needed (e.g., annual leave, TDY assignments, illness)
  10. Assist with the evaluation of compliance with the medical portion of the ICE NDS and PBNDS at local and county detention facilities within the incumbent's AOR and submits findings to RBHC for review and approval.
  11. Investigate complaints related to detainee behavioral health care and provides reports as assigned by IHSC Taskings or IHSC leadership.
  12. Ensure appropriate plan for continuity of care is established prior to release and removal of ICE detainees with complex health care needs to address urgent or emergent issues related to detainee health care, provide updates to the Field Office and IHSC Headquarters on detainees in the hospital, and respond to other significant event notifications as needed.
  13. Travel required - 25%. TDY as needed to provide clinical care support at IHSC- staffed detention facilities with critical staffing needs.
  14. Follows the supervisory chain of command.
  15. Perform other duties and responsibilities as assigned. 16. Utilization review/management for inpatient behavioral health hospitalization for IHSC.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

  • You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position.
  • You must successfully pass a background investigation.
  • You must successfully pass a drug screen.
  • Males born after 12/31/59 must certify registration with Selective Service.
  • Requirements by Closing Date: Unless otherwise noted, you must meet all requirements by the closing date of the announcement.
  • Service Remaining Requirement Agreement: Upon appointment to this position, officers will be required to serve an 18 to 24-month commitment to IHSC.
  • ASSIGNMENT PAY AGREEMENT: You must not have a current Assignment Pay Agreement. However, if you have a current Assignment Pay Agreement, it must be fulfilled within 90 days of your application submission.
  • Applicants must be a current USPHS Commissioned Corps Officer. USPHS Call to Active Duty (CAD) candidates are not eligible for this position. Civilians are not eligible for this position.
  • PHS officers must participate in IHSC TDY On-Call Schedule (ITOS.) ITOS is either an entire month or two 16-day periods a year where, depending on the needs of the agency, the officer is required to be available to serve.

Qualifications

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:
  1. Sitting and/or standing for extended periods of time [6-8 Hours].
  2. Performing repeated bending motion.
  3. Average manual dexterity for computer operation.
  4. Phone use for extended periods of time.

Education

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES:

  • Clinical Social Workers require successful completion of a master's degree in Social Work (MSW) from a graduate program in social work accredited by Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). Licensed Clinical Social Workers must hold a current, active, valid, and unrestricted clinical license to practice clinical social work independently offered by a U.S. State, the District of Columbia, Commonwealth, territory, or jurisdiction is required. The clinical social worker license must be maintained in a permanent, full, independent, and unrestricted status during the term of employment. The clinical social worker license must be the highest clinical license of clinical social work designated by the licensing board where it was received. This position requires clinical privileging by IHSC
-or-
  • Clinical Psychologists require successful completion of a PhD or PsyD in Clinical Psychology from an accredited graduate program. A graduate program in Clinical Psychology accredited by the American Psychological Association is preferred. Psychologists must hold a full, current, and unrestricted licensed by a State or Territory at the Doctoral level for psychologists. The Clinical Psychologist license must be maintained in a permanent, full, independent, and unrestricted status during the term of employment. This position requires clinical privileging by IHSC.
  1. Minimum of three years' experience as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker or Clinical Psychologist, at the independent level as recognized in the state licensed, whereby clinical supervision is not required.
  2. Maintains BLS for Healthcare Providers® certification through the American Heart Association®.
  3. Knowledge of the case management process commensurate with training and education at the master's level.
  4. Knowledge of a diverse set of group and individual therapeutic modalities (examples include, but are not limited to art, music, drama, creative-writing, life skills, etc.).
  5. Ability to utilize telephonic interpreter/translation services to complete assigned duties if not fluent in a language the patient understands.
  6. Ability to navigate in an electronic work environment including electronic health records, web-based training, and communications.
  7. Knowledge of regulations (HIPAA/Privacy Act) regarding the confidentiality of patient medical records and information as well as Personally Identifiable Information (PII).
  8. Strong knowledge and experience with differential diagnosis of common mental health and/or substance use disorders, screening and assessment, treatment planning for common mental health and/or substance use disorders, and suicide prevention and intervention strategies
  9. Ability to work with patients or their providers to coordinate care telephonically, via tele-psych videoconferencing, and/or in-person.
  10. Knowledge of evidence-based counseling techniques, psychosocial treatments, and brief behavioral interventions for common mental health disorders, when appropriate (e.g., CBT, DBT, ACT, motivational interviewing, problem-solving treatment, behavioral activation, etc.).
  11. Knowledge of transgender population healthcare services
  12. Ability to plan and organize own workload and travel schedule utilizing the IHSC travel policies.
  13. Computer literate on Microsoft Office applications.
  14. Knowledge of ICE National Detention Standards (NDS), and Performance-Based National Detention Standards (PBNDS) and Family Residential Standards (FRS) and maintain proficiency in detention healthcare standards.
  15. Must obtain National Association of Social Work (NASW) Board Certification in Case Management or Case Manager Certification (CCM) credential through the Commission for Case Manager Certification within 18 months of hire (Clinical Psychologist will need to earn the CCM only).
  16. Experience in a detention/correctional or residential healthcare setting preferred.
  17. Verbal and written proficiency in English (required) and Spanish (preferred).

Additional information

This is a U.S. Public Health Service position within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), ICE Health Service Corps (IHSC), Division, Clinical Services. This is a non- supervisory position.

Incumbent serves as a behavioral health case manager for IHSC Headquarters. The program is a national IHSC program affecting all IHSC staff. The incumbent operates within the Behavioral Health Unit, which serves as the national mental health authority for IHSC. The incumbent provides case management, care coordination, and monitoring on high-risk individuals in ICE custody pursuant to the IHSC National Policies and Procedures.

In Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, the ICE Health Service Corps (IHSC) administered and managed a health care system that provided direct care to over 88,000 detainees housed at 21 designated facilities throughout the nation, to include medical, dental, mental health care, and public health services. Oversaw health care for over 169,000 detainees housed in 150 non-IHSC-staffed facilities, totaling over 53,000 beds. In FY 2021, there were a total of 205,242 individuals in ICE custody, with an average length of stay of 37 days. IHSC also directly supports ICE field office directors on medical issues within their area of responsibility. IHSC executed a budget that approached $316M in FY 2021.

SUPERVISORY CONTROLS:
The Behavioral Health Case Manager works under the general supervision of the IHSC Regional Behavioral Health Clinical Consultant within their area of responsibility. The incumbent plans and organizes his/her own work, determines the sequence of assignments, selects, and develops methods, and seeks assistance from experts only rarely. Assignments are usually long-term, recurring, or broadly defined. Work is reviewed for feasibility, compatibility with other work, and effectiveness in meeting requirements or expected results.

Incumbent reports to the Regional Behavioral Health Consultant.

Assignments are usually of a long-term, recurring or broadly defined nature. Officer plans, and organizes own work, determines sequence of assignments, selects, and develops methods and seeks assistance from experts only rarely. Work is reviewed for attainment of objectives. Guidelines may be applicable to some but not all parts of assignment and may contain some inconsistencies and be partially unconfirmed. Selection and adaptation from available possibilities involving a moderate amount of modification and innovation is required. The officer uses judgment in interpreting and adapting guidelines such as PHS policies, regulations, precedents, and work direction for application to specific cases.

The officer analyzes results and recommends changes in guidelines and program policies. Innovations and modifications to accepted procedures must be approved and clearly documented. The officer keeps the supervisor informed of the status on projects and consults with him/her on any significant problems encountered.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

Benefits

A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

Review our benefits

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

We will review your resume and supporting documentation to ensure you meet the minimum qualification requirements. You may be selected for an interview at the hiring authority's discretion. You will be notified of selection or non-selection.

Required Documents

To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package. Please note that if you do not provide all required information, as specified in this announcement, you may not be considered for this position.A complete application includes:

U. S. Public Health Service Officers

  1. Cover Letter/Letter of Interest.
  2. Degrees. (Place under "Diploma/GED")
  3. Professional license. (If applicable)
  4. Additional professional certificates. (If applicable)
  5. Three professional references. (i.e., name, title and contact information)
  6. Official USPHS Promotion CV - e.g., relevant experience, education, training. (Place under "USPHS Promotion CV")
    • You may provide a civilian resume in addition to the USPHS Promotion CV to capture all relevant work experience.
  7. A copy of your Certificate of Investigation (located in your eOPF).
  8. *Three most recent Commissioned Officer Effectiveness Reports (COER). (Place under "Performance Appraisal")
  9. For current IHSC PHS officers, IHSC Recruiting requires applicants to provide a copy of your current Service Remaining Requirements Agreement.
  10. Indicate if you have an Assignment Pay (AP) Agreement and the date of the end of your AP Agreement. If you do not, please submit a memo attesting to no AP in the Assignment Pay (AP) Agreement section in the documents section of application.

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.

How to Apply

To apply for this position, you must submit the required documentation outlined under the REQUIRED DOCUMENTS section below.

The complete initial Application must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 09/26/2025.

PLEASE NOTE: If your materials are not received by the closing date, your application will be evaluated solely on the information available and you may not receive full consideration or may not be considered eligible. Also, if you do not provide a valid email address, you may not be notified of the outcome of your application.

To begin the process, click the Apply Online button to create an account or log into your existing USAJOBS account. Follow the prompts to complete the occupational questionnaire. Please ensure you click the Submit My Answers button at the end of the process.

Note: To check the status of your application or return to a previous or incomplete application, log into your USAJOBS account, select Application Status, and click on the more information link under the application status for this position.

Applications and supporting documentation will not be accepted by mail or email. If you need further assistance, contact the Human Resources Office representative listed on this announcement at least one day prior to the closing date for further instructions.

Agency contact information

IHSC Recruiting
Address
ERO-DRO-IHSC Public Health Service
500 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20536
US

Next steps

Once you submit your application, we will assess your experience and training, identify the best-qualified applicants, and refer those applications to the hiring manager for further consideration and interviews. We will notify you by email after each of these steps has been completed. Your status will also be updated on USAJOBS throughout the process. To check your status, log on to your USAJOBS account, click on "Application Status," and then click "More Information." We expect to make a job offer within 60 days after the deadline for applications. If you are selected, we will conduct a suitability/security background investigation. View more information on applying for federal employment.


Note: We cannot accept applications on behalf of Federal Agencies. Application instructions are listed within the Job Description.


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