Hidalgo Medical Services seeks CareLink coordinator for Medicaid patients

In Lordsburg, a Medicaid patient may need a primary care visit, behavioral health support, a hospital follow-up and help getting back home. Hidalgo Medical Services is looking for a CareLink care coordinator to keep those pieces from falling apart for residents who have to manage care across rural southwestern New Mexico.

The position sits inside CareLink NM, a Medicaid health home program that links primary care, behavioral health care, acute care and long-term services for people with serious mental illness or severe emotional disturbance, along with chronic physical health needs. State rules authorize the program under Section 2703 of the Affordable Care Act, and the model is meant to help people manage their care, not just show up for one appointment and leave on their own.

HMS’s posting says the coordinator will carry a caseload of 40 clients, make required monthly contacts and keep at least 80% of the caseload in monthly billable encounters. The job also includes contacting eligible patients, explaining CareLink services, completing comprehensive needs assessments, building individualized care plans, coordinating medical, behavioral health and community services, creating crisis and disaster plans, and helping patients move safely through hospital admission and discharge. The coordinator will document work in the HMS electronic health record and the state NMSTAR system.

For Hidalgo County, the role speaks to a basic access problem that shapes daily life. The county had 4,178 residents in the 2020 Census and an estimated 3,929 in July 2025, spread across 3,438.6 square miles. About 13.3% of residents lacked health insurance coverage in 2024 estimates. Grant County had 28,185 residents in the 2020 Census. Rural health researchers have long noted chronic primary care shortages across southwestern counties, and New Mexico says almost all of the state is designated as a Health Professional Shortage Area.

HMS says its Bridges to Care program offers free care coordination services funded through CareLink NM to eligible Hidalgo and Grant County residents, and patients do not have to be HMS patients to qualify. That matters in a region where residents often juggle care between clinics in Lordsburg, specialists in Silver City and services farther away, while transportation remains a barrier. HMS said its transportation program had already provided more than 750 rides and helped 547 patients since Dec. 8, 2025.

The hiring also comes from an organization that says it is the only Federally Qualified Health Center in both Hidalgo and Grant counties, serving the region since 1995. HMS says it operates 22 locations across the two counties, including 15 clinical sites, five senior centers and two administrative offices, with more than 70,000 annual visits supported by more than 46 licensed providers and 175 associates. In a county where patients can easily disappear between referrals and follow-up, the CareLink coordinator is meant to be the person who keeps the next step from becoming the missed step.