Remote Medical Social Worker

Job Overview

Virelia Health connects Medical Social Workers with opportunities across virtual medical social work, psychosocial assessment, and remote care coordination.

We are seeking qualified Medical Social Workers (MSW/LMSW/LCSW) for remote opportunities supporting health systems, hospitals, managed care organizations, home health agencies, telehealth companies, and healthcare organizations.

A Remote Medical Social Worker provides virtual psychosocial assessment, care coordination, and community resource navigation for patients and families. Working within their social work licensure scope, the medical social worker conducts psychosocial assessments, supports patients and families through illness and care transitions, coordinates community resources and social services, and supports patients in achieving health and well-being goals through secure telehealth platforms.

This position is well-suited to an experienced medical social worker with psychosocial assessment knowledge, care coordination experience, and social work licensure who wants to work in a virtual setting — providing meaningful medical social work with schedule flexibility and without the demands of a facility-based environment.

The specific medical social work focus, patient population, and scope of responsibilities will depend on the employer and assignment.

This opportunity may be suitable for professionals searching for remote medical social worker jobs, work-from-home medical social worker jobs, virtual social worker jobs, telehealth social worker jobs, remote medical social work jobs, or virtual LMSW/LCSW jobs roles.

What You'll Do

As a Remote Medical Social Worker, you may provide medical social work across a range of virtual social work encounters.

• Conduct psychosocial assessments — completing psychosocial assessments for new and returning patients.
• Support patients and families — supporting patients and families through illness, diagnosis, and care transitions.
• Conduct care coordination — coordinating care across providers, care teams, and community services.
• Support community resource navigation — connecting patients with community resources and social services.
• Support discharge planning — supporting discharge planning and post-discharge care coordination.
• Support crisis intervention — providing crisis assessment and intervention within social work scope.
• Support social determinants of health — assessing and addressing social determinants of health (SDOH).
• Support behavioral health referrals — supporting behavioral health referrals and coordination.
• Support advance care planning — supporting advance care planning discussions with patients and families.
• Support end-of-life care — supporting patients and families through end-of-life care and grief.
• Support patient advocacy — advocating for patients and families within the healthcare system.
• Support patient education — providing education on healthcare resources, benefits, and social services.
• Support medical social work documentation — documenting medical social work accurately in the case management system and EHR.
• Coordinate with providers, nurses, and care teams as needed.
• Support medical social work quality — maintaining medical social work quality and effectiveness.
• Support patient engagement — supporting patient engagement and care plan participation.
• Participate in medical social work quality improvement and program improvement.
• Maintain current knowledge of medical social work, care coordination, and evidence-based social work practice.
• Protect patient data and maintain HIPAA compliance across all virtual medical social work.

Virtual Medical Social Worker Focus

Virtual medical social work is a growing area of healthcare — driven by increased demand for social work services, expanded telehealth coverage for medical social work, and the recognition that medical social workers improve patient outcomes through psychosocial assessment and care coordination. Virtual medical social workers extend social work reach, support patients in their communities, and improve patient outcomes across organizations.

Depending on the program, virtual medical social work may focus on:

The medical social worker's role is to provide medical social work within their social work licensure scope — including psychosocial assessment, care coordination, community resource navigation, discharge planning, crisis intervention, documentation, and medical social work quality. Clinical decisions, medical diagnosis, and clinical management recommendations remain with the supervising clinical team; the medical social worker provides medical social work within their social work licensure scope and coordinates with providers, nurses, and care teams.

This structure keeps the role focused on psychosocial assessment, care coordination, community resource navigation, documentation, and medical social work quality.

Care Coordination & Community Resource Navigation Support

Effective virtual medical social work depends on strong psychosocial assessment skills and care coordination expertise — the medical social worker's clinical skills and patient-centered approach determine how to help patients and families achieve health and well-being goals through effective medical social work.

Depending on the program and clinical focus, you may support virtual medical social work by:

• Conducting psychosocial assessments — psychosocial assessments and re-assessments.
• Supporting patients and families — through illness, diagnosis, and care transitions.
• Conducting care coordination — care across providers, care teams, and community services.
• Supporting community resource navigation — community resources and social services.
• Supporting discharge planning — discharge planning and post-discharge care.
• Supporting crisis intervention — crisis assessment and intervention.
• Supporting social determinants of health — SDOH assessment and intervention.
• Supporting behavioral health referrals — behavioral health referrals and coordination.
• Supporting advance care planning — advance care planning discussions.
• Supporting end-of-life care — end-of-life care and grief support.
• Supporting patient advocacy — patient and family advocacy.
• Supporting medical social work quality improvement and program improvement.

Clinical expertise, patient-centered support skills, and clear communication are essential — medical social workers are the social work professionals who help patients and families achieve health and well-being goals through effective medical social work.

Virtual Medical Social Worker Workflow

A Remote Medical Social Worker may follow a structured workflow across each virtual medical social work encounter.

Depending on the employer's protocols, you may:

Required Qualifications

• Master of Social Work (MSW) degree and active state social work licensure (LMSW, LCSW, LICSW) required.
• Previous experience as a medical social worker in hospital, outpatient, home health, or telehealth settings.
• Strong psychosocial assessment knowledge, care coordination experience, and community resource navigation skills.
• Comfortable with telehealth platforms, case management systems, and EHR systems.
• Strong communication, patient empathy, documentation, and time-management skills.
• Ability to work independently in a remote environment.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and HIPAA compliance.
• Reliable internet and a private workspace suitable for confidential medical social work.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience or certification in any of the following may be beneficial:

Skills & Competencies

Medical Social Work Skills

Communication & Engagement

Digital Health & Technology

A Typical Day

A typical day may begin by reviewing social work referrals, scheduled psychosocial assessments, and follow-up needs — checking virtual medical social work priorities and patient caseload.

You'll conduct psychosocial assessments — completing psychosocial assessments for new and returning patients, including psychosocial history, support systems, and social determinants of health.

You'll provide care coordination and community resource navigation — coordinating care across providers, care teams, and community services, and connecting patients with resources and social services.

Between counseling sessions, you'll support discharge planning, crisis intervention, and behavioral health referrals, and document medical social work accurately in the case management system and EHR.

Throughout the day, you'll coordinate with providers, nurses, and care teams, and support medical social work compliance with social work licensure scope, state licensure, and evidence-based social work guidelines.

The role combines psychosocial assessment, care coordination, community resource navigation, documentation, and medical social work quality.

Unlike behavioral health therapy roles, which focus on therapy and counseling, medical social worker roles focus specifically on psychosocial assessment and care coordination — you're the social work professional who helps patients and families achieve health and well-being goals through effective medical social work.

Remote Work Environment

This position is designed for remote virtual medical social work delivery.

Depending on the employer, you may work with:

Candidates should have a stable internet connection suitable for video-based medical social work, a private workspace suitable for confidential medical social work, and comfort with multiple telehealth, case management, and EHR systems.

Certification & Eligibility

Remote medical social worker roles are currently in highest demand in states with large healthcare systems, managed care organizations, home health programs, and healthcare IT investment:

Top-demand states: California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, Colorado.

Strong secondary markets: Connecticut, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin.

Medical social workers must hold a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree and active state social work licensure (LMSW, LCSW, or LICSW). Additional case management certifications (CCM, ACM) are preferred. Requirements vary by employer and state. Always confirm the specific certification and licensure requirements with the employer before applying.

Want to know which states accept remote healthcare roles? Read our remote healthcare licensure guide.

Compensation & Benefits

This position offers $28–$48 per hour, based on experience, geographic location, social work licensure, and assignment requirements. Remote medical social worker roles typically offer scheduled weekday work and structured medical social work cycles.

Benefits are assignment-specific and may vary depending on whether the opportunity is full-time, part-time, contract, or direct hire. Depending on the employer, benefits may include:

Why Consider Remote Medical Social Worker Work?

Virtual medical social work is expanding rapidly — driven by increased demand for social work services, expanded telehealth coverage for medical social work, and the recognition that medical social workers improve patient outcomes through psychosocial assessment and care coordination.

Many medical social workers find remote medical social work roles appealing because they offer:

• Meaningful clinical impact — you're helping patients and families achieve health and well-being goals through effective medical social work.
• Predictable work schedule — structured weekday work without facility floor assignments or physical demands.
• Medical social work career pathway — experience translates into social work leadership, care coordination program management, and clinical social work leadership roles.
• No facility pressures — no unit staffing concerns, no physical demands, no rotating floor coverage.
• Growing employer demand — health systems, hospitals, managed care organizations, home health agencies, telehealth companies, and healthcare organizations are all hiring remote medical social workers.

It may be particularly suitable for medical social workers with psychosocial assessment knowledge, care coordination experience, and social work licensure who want to practice in a structured virtual setting with predictable schedules.