Social Services
Healthcare Social Workers
Provide individuals, families, and groups with the psychosocial support needed to cope with chronic, acute, or terminal illnesses. Services include advising family caregivers. Provide patients with information and counseling, and make referrals for other services. May also provide case and care management or interventions designed to promote health, prevent disease, and address barriers to access to healthcare.
Median salary
$68,090
Typical range
$45k – $101k
Job outlook
+8% (faster than average)
AI exposure
Plan a path to Healthcare Social Workers
Education
Typical entry: Master's degree
Plan my path to this →Typical progression
Junior Healthcare Social Workers
Entry / Junior
$45,030
~2 yrs to advance
Healthcare Social Workers
Established
$68,090
~3 yrs to advance
Senior Healthcare Social Workers
Senior
$84,480
Key skills
A typical day
- •Advocate for clients or patients to resolve crises.
- •Educate clients about end-of-life symptoms and options to assist them in making informed decisions.
- •Collaborate with other professionals to evaluate patients' medical or physical condition and to assess client needs.
- •Refer patient, client, or family to community resources to assist in recovery from mental or physical illness and to provide access to services such as financial assistance, legal aid, housing, job placement or education.
- •Utilize consultation data and social work experience to plan and coordinate client or patient care and rehabilitation, following through to ensure service efficacy.
Fields of study
Any field
Top colleges for Social Services
Explore all- University of Michigan18% admit · $87,000 grad pay
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill19% admit · $73,000 grad pay
- University of Chicago5% admit · $91,000 grad pay
- Columbia University4% admit · $103,000 grad pay
- University of Wisconsin–Madison49% admit · $72,000 grad pay
Reputation-based selection; stats shown are outcome data per school.