Working as a nursing case manager
Nursing case management professionals in the health care industry tailor care to meet the needs of individual patients, particularly those who receive benefits from one or more social agencies in a given community.
Case management professionals act as a liaison between these patients and agencies to coordinate, implement and maintain specific and comprehensive healthcare plans that are both effective and cost-efficient for clients.
Typically a primary social agency assigns a nursing case manager to a patient to coordinate services and more efficiently manage the network of health care professionals who work together to provide treatment.
After nursing case managers assess a patient's health care needs, they work closely with his or her physician to maintain and adapt the plan as needed. Case managers spend a good part of their workdays doing utilization reviews and spend about 25% of their time performing discharge planning.
Nursing case managers have the flexibility to work independently as consultants, or for hospitals, physicians, specialists, rehabilitation agencies, insurance companies, workman's compensation providers, home health agencies, long term care facilities, private corporations or government agencies.
Nursing case managers at the top end of the salary spectrum can make more than $75,000 annually. The demand for case managers continues to rise due to the increase in elderly patient population and patients covered by managed care plans.
