Healthcare Social Workers
In short: today's best AI models could do about 32% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about 50% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The conversations, in-person and hands-on work, about 46% of the time, stays with people.
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.
187,630 people do this job in the US. $67,880 a year.
Reviewed on September 30, 2026: what each task is made of, and what handing it over would ask.
A typical 40-hour week
- AI could take on0 h
- A person checks AI's work13 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet9 h
- Stays with people18 h
Healthcare Social Workers, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 0 hours, 13 hours become checking its work, 9 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 18 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Oversee Medicaid and Medicare paperwork (about 2 h, a person checks); Plan and coordinate patient care (about 2 h, a person checks); Record client progress against the plan (about 2 h, a person checks).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 46%
- 8%
- 13%
- 33%
- 0%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
What handing it over would take, now
The 32% within reach splits by what a model would need. The dates, pace and reliability follow the controls above. Estimates.
of the working time. The material can be handed to a model and the result handed back.
of the working time. The model has to be connected to the system the work lives in.
is conversation short enough by length. This site leaves conversation with people, so it is not in the total.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 22%. Today's estimate: 32%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, no reportable share went to this job's tasks in May 2026; 0 of its 17 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.019% to 0.026% (released February and March 2025); 0.023% to 0.031% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.019% | 451 of 708 | 4 of 17 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.026% | 383 of 703 | 5 of 17 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.023% | 347 of 655 | 3 of 17 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.03% | 322 of 672 | 3 of 17 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.031% | 330 of 677 | 4 of 17 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 17 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 17 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates almost none of this job's working time as physical work, so robots do not reach it.
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
What changes for the people in this job
From the task-by-task review, by the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five. It says which parts of the work stay with people and which change, not whether anyone keeps a job: that depends on decisions no data set can see.
What stays with people
46% of the working time: the conversation, in-person and hands-on parts of the tasks.
- Advocate for patients in crises, the conversation, 7%
- Collaborate on patient assessments, the in-person work, 5%
- Plan and coordinate patient care, the conversation, 4%
- Conduct social work research, the in-person work, 4%
- Counsel patients in sessions, the in-person work, 3%
- Plan discharge, the conversation, 3%
What becomes checking the machine
50% of the working time: desk work a model could do by then, in tasks where a mistake costs something or a licensed person signs. A person checks it.
- Conduct social work research, costly if wrong, 13%
- Oversee Medicaid and Medicare paperwork, costly if wrong, 5%
- Plan and coordinate patient care, severe if wrong, 4%
- Plan and run community programs, costly if wrong, 4%
- Record client progress against the plan, severe if wrong, 4%
- Advise on social policy, costly if wrong, 4%
What to learn
- Reviewing work you did not do yourself. The tasks under What becomes checking the machine, where a mistake costs something, stay a person's to check or sign: spotting what a draft gets wrong is a skill of its own.
- Briefing a model and checking its drafts. About 46% of the time is documents and data, the part models reach first: writing a clear brief, giving the right material, and checking what comes back.
- The conversations. About 46% of the time is conversation and in-person work, which this site leaves with people: listening, explaining, persuading, calming.
- Judgment where errors are severe. Some tasks are severe if wrong. Knowing when not to trust an output matters more there than speed.
- Handling protected records. Much of the work touches protected personal records: knowing what may be shared with a model, and how, is part of the job.
Your own version of this job: read it against your job description. The headline is free; the full personal report, every task with its timeline and what to learn, is $19 (a sample).
The tasks
Sorted by . 17 tasks from .
| Task | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conduct social research to advance knowledge in the social work field.Reading, analysis and writing, with some data gathered from clients.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 21% | 4.2 work days6.7 h to 3.5 work weeks | Documents 80%, in person 20% | 4%Desk part half by Apr 2028 |
| Collaborate with other professionals to evaluate patients' medical or physical condition and to assess client needs.Conversation with the care team on the unit, around the chart.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 9% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.1 h | In person 60%, documents 40% | 40%Desk part half by now |
| Utilize consultation data and social work experience to plan and coordinate client or patient care and rehabilitation, following through to ensure service efficacy.Planning care from the consultation data and calls to arrange and follow it up.Done daily by most who do it. | 9% | 1.7 h38 min to 2.5 h | Documents 50%, conversation 50% | 50%Desk part half by now |
| Plan and conduct programs to combat social problems, prevent substance abuse, or improve community health and counseling services.Planning the program on paper and running it with people in the community.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 7% | 1.7 work days3.3 h to 4.2 work days | Documents 60%, in person 40% | 19%Desk part half by Mar 2027 |
| Develop or advise on social policy and assist in community development.Written policy work and meetings with community bodies.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 7% | 1.7 work days3.3 h to 4.2 work days | Documents 60%, conversation 40% | 19%Desk part half by Mar 2027 |
| Advocate for clients or patients to resolve crises.Calls to agencies and conversations on the unit to get a crisis resolved.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 7% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Conversation 60%, in person 40% | Stays with people |
| Oversee Medicaid- and Medicare-related paperwork and recordkeeping in hospitals.Keeping the claims and records straight in the hospital systems.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 5% | 1.7 h38 min to 3.3 h | Systems 60%, documents 40% | 100%Half by now |
| Identify environmental impediments to client or patient progress through interviews and review of patient records.Interviews with the patient and a read of the record.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 1.1 h25 min to 2.1 h | Documents 50%, in person 50% | 50%Desk part half by now |
| Plan discharge from care facility to home or other care facility.Working out the plan, calls to the next facility, and talking it through with the patient.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 5% | 1.7 h38 min to 4.2 h | Documents 40%, conversation 30%, in person 30% | 40%Desk part half by now |
| Supervise and direct other workers providing services to clients or patients.Leading workers on the unit, with planning and review behind it.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 5% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | In person 60%, documents 40% | 40%Desk part half by now |
| Monitor, evaluate, and record client progress according to measurable goals described in treatment and care plan.Charting progress against the goals in the care plan and judging it.Done several times a day by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 4% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Systems 60%, documents 40% | 100%Half by now |
| 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.Talking the options through with the patient or family, then entering the referral.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 4% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | In person 70%, systems 30% | 30%Desk part half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach. Made of: how the task's time splits among five kinds of doing. Only the documents and systems parts can count as within reach, so a task that is 30% documents can be at most 30% within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers27% now, 43% by 2028
- Mental Health Counselors43% now, 43% by 2028
- Child, Family, and School Social Workers32% now, 44% by 2028
- Marriage and Family Therapists32% now, 35% by 2028
- Rehabilitation Counselors64% now, 64% by 2028
- Social and Human Service Assistants24% now, 24% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Healthcare Social Workers is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 32% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 50% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five (42% to 53% across the three paces the site shows). Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Healthcare Social Workers come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Oversee Medicaid and Medicare paperwork (100% of the task's time now); Plan and coordinate patient care (50% of the task's time now); and Record client progress against the plan (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Healthcare Social Workers stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Advocate for patients in crises; Counsel patients in sessions; and Educate clients on end-of-life options. Together such tasks are about 13% of the working time, and the people and body parts of the other tasks stay with people too.
- What should Healthcare Social Workers learn as AI takes on more of the work?
- By the job's own task-by-task review, the first things to learn are reviewing work you did not do yourself; briefing a model and checking its drafts; and the conversations. By the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five, about 46% of the working time stays with people, 50% becomes checking a model's work and 0% could be handed over with lighter checks. It says which parts of the work change, never whether anyone keeps a job.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Healthcare Social Workers?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 9%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Healthcare Social Workers?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds almost none of the working time is physical work, so robots do not reach it.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 17 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, reviewed one task at a time on September 30, 2026 for what each is made of (documents, business systems, conversation, in person, hands-on), and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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