Provider (Physician/NP/PA) - Day Shift, ORCA POD

Title: Provider, ORCA Patient Outreach Division (POD)

Schedule: Monday–Friday, business hours (typically 9am–5pm with 30 minute lunch); some flexibility required for outreach events, field engagement, and collaboration with community partners.

Insurance Benefits: Medical (no premiums/payroll deductions for employee coverage), Dental, Life, Long-term Disability

Other Benefits: Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Flexible Spending Account (FSA), ORCA card subsidy, Paid Time Off (255 hours per year), Retirement Plan

Union Representation: This position is a part of a union and is represented by SEIU Healthcare 1199NW

Supervised by: ORCA Provider Supervisor

A cover letter is required as part of your application to be considered for this role.

About DESC:

DESC (Downtown Emergency Service Center) is a nonprofit organization working to help people with the complex needs of homelessness, substance use disorders, and serious mental illness achieve their highest potential for health and well-being through comprehensive services, treatment, and housing. Our vision is a community where no person is abandoned, ignored, or experiencing homelessness.

As the region's leading provider of services to multiply disabled adults who have experienced chronic homelessness, DESC serves almost 3,000 people each day. Our integrated service model is designed to help people secure and maintain appropriate, safe and affordable housing. DESC is recognized nationally and regionally as an innovator in developing solutions to homelessness.

About the Opioid Recovery & Care Access (ORCA) program

DESC’s ORCA program provides compassionate, low-barrier, and evidence-based care to individuals who are recovering from opioid overdose and those seeking treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD). The ORCA Center, our brick-and-mortar location, provides post-overdose subacute stabilization services and provides walk-in access to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD). The ORCA Patient Outreach Division (POD) delivers field-based MOUD care – meeting people where they literally are in the community.

ORCA Center

The ORCA Center is open 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, including holidays. It is staffed by a multidisciplinary team, including providers, nurses, medical assistants, peers, and milieu specialists. The ORCA Center offers four overlapping types of services:

• Care to individuals in stable condition who have experienced an opioid overdose, brought to the ORCA Center by first responders or transferred from local emergency departments.
• Rapid initiation of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), including buprenorphine (sublingual and long-acting injectable) and methadone (under the “72-hour rule”, or CFR Title 21 §1306.07 (b)), for people with OUD, regardless of whether an opioid overdose has recently occurred.
• Harm reduction counseling and OUD-related physical and behavioral health services.
• Follow-up care for individuals who have started MOUD to ensure support in MOUD continuation.

ORCA POD

ORCA POD is ORCA’s field-based care team, bringing MOUD induction, stabilization, and maintenance services as well as education and other supports directly to patients in the community. ORCA POD operates during business hours (Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.). ORCA POD is a multidisciplinary team, including providers, nurses, and peers, operating across several geographic areas throughout the greater Seattle region including:

• Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) sites
• Emergency shelters
• Encampments or unsanctioned sites
• High-need geographic zones identified in collaboration with DESC and community partners
• Areas without easy access to low-barrier MOUD services

JOB OVERVIEW:

The POD Provider delivers flexible, trauma-informed clinical care in the field and supports rapid initiation and continuation of medications for OUD (MOUD). This role works closely with DESC’s Mobile Integrated Health (MIH) partners at the Seattle Fire Department (SFD) to coordinate targeted outreach, create pop-up MOUD access points, and conduct follow-up with individuals after overdose or acute events.

The POD Provider may also support the DESC ORCA Center, which operates 24/7 offering rapid MOUD access and post-overdose care. This is a clinical, non-supervisory position.

MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Field-Based Clinical Care and Community Engagement:

• Provide evidence-based MOUD treatment (buprenorphine, including LAI formulations; methadone under the 72-hour rule) in a variety of community settings.
• Provide telemedicine care to patients and remote consultation for nurses in the field. 
• Deliver low-barrier clinical assessments, MOUD initiations, acute follow-up, and ongoing management for individuals engaged in outreach.
• Conduct harm reduction counseling, including safer-use strategies and overdose prevention planning.
• Manage common conditions such as skin and soft tissue infections and connect individuals to primary care or mental health services as needed.
• Participate in Seattle Fire Department Mobile Integrated Health joint outreach operations, pop-up MOUD access points, and targeted “hot spot” engagement based on real-time overdose and EMS data.
• Support field-based follow-up after overdose, SFD encounters, or ORCA Center visits to ensure MOUD continuation and reduce treatment drop-off.

Care Coordination & Multidisciplinary Collaboration

• Work closely with POD nurses and peers to deliver holistic, relationship-centered care.
• Coordinate care and warm handoffs with the ORCA Center, DESC outpatient clinics, community MOUD programs, hospitals, and outreach partners.
• Establish and maintain strong partnerships with SFD MIH, PSH and shelter staff, and other community organizations to expand access to low-barrier addiction care.
• Ensure continuity for individuals transitioning between field engagement, ORCA Center care, and community providers.

Documentation & Clinical Practice Standards

• Complete timely documentation meeting DESC, regulatory, and payer requirements.
• Utilize electronic health records effectively and maintain accurate clinical and outreach notes.

Professional Development & Team Culture

• Participate in ongoing training on addiction medicine, harm reduction, trauma-informed practice, race and social equity frameworks, and emerging best practices.
• Join case reviews, interdisciplinary meetings, and POD team huddles.
• Engage in reflective practice, welcome feedback, and support a culture of curiosity, collaboration, and equity.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Fully licensed as a Physician, Nurse Practitioner (Family or Adult NP), or Physician Assistant in the State of Washington.
• If physician, board certification, or ability to obtain within 12 months of hire, in emergency medicine, family medicine, or internal medicine.
• Current registration with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
• Experience or training in addiction medicine, harm reduction, or caring for individuals with OUD.
• Proficiency with clinical documentation and electronic health records.
• Desire to serve people with complex needs who are or have been experiencing homelessness and are living with serious and persistent mental illness, substance use disorder, and other complex medical conditions.
• Able to work effectively with clients displaying a wide range of challenging behaviors .
• Adaptable to changing priorities, processes, or workflows as the program grows and evolves.
• Able to give and receive constructive feedback.
• Familiar with trauma-informed care, harm reduction, and equity and social justice principles.
• Possess cultural humility and able to work effectively with individuals of diverse backgrounds and identities.
• Willing to travel across the greater Seattle area.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Doctoral degree.
• Experience in low-barrier buprenorphine programs or Opioid Treatment Programs.
• Background in acute settings (e.g., ED, EMS, crisis response).
• Training or experience in caring for co-occurring mental health conditions.
• Experience with field-based medical outreach.
• Bilingual in Spanish/English
• Ability to drive an agency or personal vehicle to conduct agency related business, which requires a current Washington State driver's license and insurable driving record.

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 will be required to sit, communicate with other employees and clients, is required to lift and carry items weighing up to 25 pounds and to operate computer hardware systems. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus. Considerable stress may occur.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER:

DESC is committed to diversity in the workplace and promotes equal employment opportunities for all staff members and applicants. The Agency will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment on the basis of race, creed, color, sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, national origin, caste, marital status, or the presence of any sensory, mental or physical disability in any employment practice, unless based on a bona fide occupational qualification. Minorities and veterans are encouraged to apply.