# 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.

- **SOC code:** 21-1022.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-21-1022-00
- **Also known as:** Clinical Social Worker, Hospice Social Worker, Medical Social Worker, Social Worker, LMSW (Licensed Master Social Worker), Nephrology Social Worker, Oncology Social Worker, Psychosocial Coordinator
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- 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.
- Investigate child abuse or neglect cases and take authorized protective action when necessary.
- 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.
- Monitor, evaluate, and record client progress according to measurable goals described in treatment and care plan.
- Identify environmental impediments to client or patient progress through interviews and review of patient records.
- Counsel clients and patients in individual and group sessions to help them overcome dependencies, recover from illness, and adjust to life.
- Plan discharge from care facility to home or other care facility.
- Organize support groups or counsel family members to assist them in understanding, dealing with, and supporting the client or patient.
- Modify treatment plans to comply with changes in clients' status.

**Emerging tasks** (O*NET):
- Conduct psychological assessment of clients.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Psychology _(knowledge)_
- Therapy and Counseling _(knowledge)_
- Sociology and Anthropology _(knowledge)_
- English Language _(knowledge)_
- Social Perceptiveness _(transferable_skill)_
- Speaking _(essential_skill)_
- Service Orientation _(transferable_skill)_
- Oral Expression _(ability)_
- Reading Comprehension _(essential_skill)_
- Active Listening _(essential_skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(essential_skill)_
- Coordination _(transferable_skill)_

**Skills in demand:**
- Psychology _(Specialized Skill)_
- English Language _(Common Skill)_
- Social Perceptiveness _(Common Skill)_
- Speech Recognition _(Specialized Skill)_
- Reading Comprehension _(Common Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(Common Skill)_
- Active Listening _(Common Skill)_
- Writing _(Common Skill)_
- Inductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Complex Problem Solving _(Common Skill)_
- Active Learning _(Common Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Microsoft Teams _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Zoom _(hot technology, in demand)_
- MEDITECH software _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Office software _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft PowerPoint _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Word _(hot technology)_
- Google Meet _(in demand)_
- Adobe PageMaker
- Automated clinical information systems
- Calendar software
- Command Systems ComServe

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 62nd percentile (Moderate) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 71st percentile (High) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 53rd percentile (Moderate) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 64th percentile (Moderate) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 1st percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** no — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** 7.7% growth (Growing fast); 18.4k annual openings; 193.2k → 208.1k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $68,090; 185,940 employed.

## How people actually use AI here

Anthropic Economic Index — measured AI conversations mapped to this occupation's tasks:

- **Automation vs augmentation:** 10% automation, 60% augmentation (usage-weighted).
- **Autonomy median:** 4.0 (higher = AI acts more independently).
- **Dominant collaboration mode:** learning.

**Tasks most handed to AI here:**
- Counsel clients and patients in individual and group sessions to help them overcome dependencies, recover from illness, and adjust to life. _(1.5% of measured AI use; learning)_
- Modify treatment plans to comply with changes in clients' status. _(1.1% of measured AI use; learning)_

**Example prompts (honest phrasings of the tasks above — starting points, not endorsed instructions):**
- Help me counsel clients and patients in individual and group sessions to help them overcome dependencies, recover from illness, and adjust to life.
- Help me modify treatment plans to comply with changes in clients' status.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS Employment Projections** (2024–2034) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **Anthropic Economic Index** (v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27)) — Anthropic. https://www.anthropic.com/economic-index
- **Microsoft “Working with AI”** (working-with-ai) — Microsoft Research. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130
- **AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE)** (Felten, Raj & Seamans) — academic. https://github.com/AIOE-Data/AIOE
- **Frey & Osborne (2013)** (frey-osborne-automation) — academic. https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/the-future-of-employment/
- **Dingel & Neiman (2020)** (dingel-neiman-workathome) — academic. https://github.com/jdingel/DingelNeiman-workathome

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_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-21-1022-00_