Choose your case manager carefully
If you’re considering hiring a case manager, follow this advice from the Case Management Society of America:
• Make sure you hire someone with clinical experience. Depending on your practice’s needs, you may hire a nurse, a social worker, or a rehabilitation professional. Maureen Cadogan, CCM, CPHQ, RN, principal of Cadogan Consulting in West Covina, CA, recommends hiring someone with at least five years’ clinical practice experience.
• Make sure the case manager’s experience is related to your practice. For instance, if you serve a large geriatric population, consider hiring a social worker with experience working with the elderly. If you have an orthopedic practice with a lot of workers’ compensation cases, consider hiring a case manager experienced in workers’ comp.
• Hire only people who have case management experience, advises Sue Binder, RN, CCM, principal of Integrated Healthcare Consultants in Caldwell, NJ. Otherwise, it may take a long time for the case manager’s efforts to pay off.
• Choose a case manager with whom you and your staff can work. The case manager has to collaborate with a lot of people in your practice. There’s no time for personality conflicts.
• Hire someone who is capable of doing multiple tasks without getting stressed out.
• Look for a case manager with good computer skills. Familiarity with information technology equipment is a must in that job.
• Be sure your case manager keeps his or her skills up to date.
• Consider hiring a credentialed case manager. There are six credentials for case managers, including care manager certified (CMC), certified case manager (CCM), certified disability management specialist (CDMS), certified rehabilitation registered nurse (CRRN), continuity of care certification, advanced (A-CCC), and certified professional in health care quality (CPHQ).
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