{"id":40802298177,"date":"2026-09-30T15:29:58","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T19:29:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/?p=40802298177"},"modified":"2026-10-01T09:03:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T13:03:31","slug":"dsw-student-publishes-on-barriers-to-social-work-integration-in-health-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/dsw-student-publishes-on-barriers-to-social-work-integration-in-health-care\/","title":{"rendered":"DSW Student Publishes on Barriers to Social Work Integration in Health Care"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lauren Parks-McGill \u201916M, MSW, LSW, APHSW-C, a Doctor of Social Work (DSW) student, published \u201cIdentifying Barriers to Social Work Integration: Palliative Care Billing as an Illustrative Example<\/a>,\u201d in the Coalition for Social Work and Health Commentary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parks-McGill co-authored the publication with Jen Hirsch, MSW, LMSW-Clinical, APHSW-C; LaCinda Jones, MSW, MJ, LISW-S, PMP; Alyssa McFadden, MSW, LSW, LPMT, MT-BC; Stephanie DePiano, MSW, LCSW, APHSW-C; Kathryn Matarese, MSW, MBA, LSW, APHSW-C; and Akane Kumagai, MSW, LCSW. The authors examine the financial and systemic challenges of integrating social workers into outpatient medical settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have always believed that social workers belong in the rooms we haven’t historically been invited into \u2026 This publication marks the beginning of a much deeper conversation, and I am immensely proud to share it. I owe so much of this foundation to Monmouth University; earning my master’s and now pursuing my doctorate here has not only deepened my love for this profession but has forged me into the fierce advocate I am today,\u201d Parks-McGill said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using palliative care as an example, they explore why social workers have historically billed only mental health codes rather than medical codes, even though their responsibilities extend to patients\u2019 social needs and adjustment to illnesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authors also identify six barriers to integration and billing: productivity expectations, equity concerns, referral sources and process, documentation, and training, lack of administrative support, and team relationship dynamics. They recommend adjusting workflows and job expectations and creating document templates to help social workers navigate technology and infrastructure hurdles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLauren has been a standout student in both Monmouth\u2019s Master of Social Work and Doctor of Social Work programs, and it\u2019s been wonderful watching her become a leader in the field. Her research reflects her passion and enthusiasm for learning and making a difference, and her scholarship is helping social work take an important step forward as a profession,\u201d said Anne Deepak, Ph.D., professor and interim director of the DSW program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Coalition for Social Work and Health<\/a> is a national convening body aligning leaders across practice, research, policy, and education to strengthen health care systems through social work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monmouth University\u2019s DSW program<\/a> offers a convenient, collaborative learning experience for working professionals through online, synchronous courses. The program includes an annual one-week summer residency on campus, as students build professional portfolios, expand their professional networks, and develop projects that apply their learning to real-world challenges in social work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Using palliative care as an example, the authors explore why social workers have historically billed only mental health codes rather than medical codes, even though their responsibilities extend to patients\u2019 social needs and adjustment to illnesses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2249,"featured_media":40802298180,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[215,423],"tags":[7685,4291,1523],"person":[7704,7691,7698,7694,7697,7688,7701],"audience":[14,386,17,11,8,50,1961,131,128,47],"school":[233,89,98],"program":[],"class_list":["post-40802298177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-experiential-education","category-faculty-perspectives","tag-coalition-for-social-work-and-health-commentary","tag-school-of-social-work","tag-social-work","person-akane-kumagai","person-alyssa-mcfadden","person-jen-hirsch","person-kathryn-matarese","person-lacinda-jones","person-lauren-parks-mcgill","person-stephanie-depiano","audience-alumni","audience-community","audience-community-member","audience-current-student","audience-faculty","audience-graduate-student","audience-parent","audience-prospective-graduate-student","audience-prospective-undergraduate-student","audience-undergraduate-student","school-graduate-school","school-school-of-social-work","school-social-work"],"squareimage":{"id":40802298198,"rendered":"\"DSW","original":{"url":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/09\/Lauren-Parks-McGill_sq.jpg","width":1086,"height":1086}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40802298177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2249"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40802298177"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40802298177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40802298282,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40802298177\/revisions\/40802298282"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40802298180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40802298177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40802298177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40802298177"},{"taxonomy":"person","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/person?post=40802298177"},{"taxonomy":"audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/audience?post=40802298177"},{"taxonomy":"school","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/school?post=40802298177"},{"taxonomy":"program","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program?post=40802298177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}