A Case Manager (RN) is usually a licensed vocational nurse that specializes in coordinating care between patients, physicians, hospitals and other clinical services. They are responsible for creating an individualized plan of care for each patient. This involves creating treatment goals, recommending actions that should be taken to achieve those goals, monitoring progress towards meeting those goals, and then adjusting the treatment plan as needed.
As a case manager, you are the spokesperson for your client and help to coordinate the services they need to stay independent. There is a lot of emotional work that goes into the job and you need to be able to listen effectively. A strong sense of empathy and the ability to adapt to any situation are key career skills in this position. You also need good organizational skills and you must be very detail-oriented when it comes to scheduling appointments for your clients.
A Case Manager provides assessment, evaluation and planning to patients with chronic conditions. This may include developing care plans and goals, developing discharge plans and readying patients for return to care once they leave the hospital. A Case Manager coordinates patient care with other healthcare providers to help ensure that a patient is receiving high quality, timely care from multiple sources.
Salary For RN Case Manager Overview
A nurse case manager’s salary is one of the most important factors in determining if it’s a career path you would be interested in pursuing. If you’re still deciding whether or not to pursue this as a career, knowing what other nurses earn can help you make an informed decision.
The average RN Case Manager salary is $61,010 per year. The average hourly salary for a RN Case Manager is $30.79. This estimate is based upon 3,821 salaries submitted anonymously to Indeed by RN Case Manager employees, users, and collected from past and present job advertisements on Indeed in the last 12 months. The typical tenure for a RN Case Manager is 2-4 years.
The national average wage for a Nurse Case Manager is $62,000 annually or $30 hourly. Nurse Case Managers earn more than 69% of their peers.
The top 10% of Nurse Case Managers make $91,000 annually or $46 hourly. The bottom 25% make $39,000 or less per year or $18 or less hourly.
Nurse case managers are professionals who have earned their master’s degrees and are responsible for making sure that patients receive the best care possible while they are in the hospital. They help coordinate treatment plans between doctors and nurses, monitor patient progress and keep track of paperwork throughout each patient’s stay at the hospital.
What is a Nurse Case Manager?
A case manager is a specialized Registered Nurse (RN) that works with patients and providers to determine the specific care that is required and the best options for that care. Through a collaboration with multiple specialties, case managers ensure the patient is receiving quality medical care.
Each patient’s case is looked at individually because the needs of the patients will vary depending on their underlying chronic health condition. Case Managers act as patient advocates and make sure the needs of the patient are met effectively and efficiently.
What Does A Registered Nurse Case Manager DO?
Anyone who’s ever been hospitalized or received medical services from an outpatient care clinic on an ongoing basis knows how frustrating that experience can be. The duties of a registered nurse case manager involve making that experience less frustrating by evaluating available treatment options and choosing the ones best suited to meet a particular patient’s physical and psychological needs. Nursing case managers:
• Assess client needs
• Create care plans
• Coordinate between clients, care providers, and facilities
• Make sure clients and client caregivers understand treatment options
• Communicate regularly with clients and client caregivers to ensure treatments are meeting client needs
• Serve as a liaison with appropriate human service agencies
• Serve as a liaison with insurance providers
• Review utilization of services
• Participate when appropriate in discharge planning
RNs specializing in case management understand medical resource allocation. They multitask across a wide variety of disciplines in order to help ensure their clients receive optimal treatment. Nurse case managers tend to specialize in one of four areas:
• Populations:
Some RN case managers focus on working with a particular population demographic such as children or the elderly.
• Practice setting:
Some nurse case managers specialize in working in hospital settings while others may work in hospices, long-term care facilities, or home healthcare.
• Duration:
Registered nurse case managers can also focus on treatment duration. Some case managers may concentrate on short-term rehabilitation for injuries, for example, while others concentrate on long-term treatment for chronic conditions.
• Diseases:
RN case managers can also provide management to clients affected by specific illnesses such as diabetes, cancer, AIDS, or mental illnesses.
Often, RN case managers work with patients whose needs are complex. Nurse case managers play an enormous role in helping to control the costs associated with providing treatment to such patients. They do so by eliminating treatment redundancies, reducing the utilization of expensive emergency interventions, and facilitating communication with insurance providers.
Where Does A Registered Nurse Case Manager Work?
Nearly 110,000 nurse case managers are employed in various practice settings throughout the U.S. They’re often employed by hospitals in acute care settings such as intensive care units (ICUs), neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), burn units, and trauma units. But registered nurse case managers also work in:
• Medical centers:
Medical centers employ RN case managers to do utilization review and discharge planning.
• Outpatient care centers:
In outpatient care settings, RN case managers may focus on partnering with insurance providers to ensure prompt payment of claims.
• Skilled nursing facilities:
In skilled nursing facilities and other long-term care settings, RN case managers are typically in charge of utilization review. They also help develop patient care plans and negotiate insurance coverage benefits.
• Hospices:
In hospice settings, nurse case managers play a key role in coordinating care and in making sure care plans and other documentation meet Medicare and other insurance provider requirements.
• Community care agencies:
In community care settings, RN case managers often focus on preventative health. They may conduct screenings, helm wellness programs, and engage in client education campaigns.
• Insurance providers:
Nurse case managers who work for insurance providers review the data they receive from physicians, hospital case managers and ancillary healthcare providers to make sure policy beneficiaries are receiving high-quality, medically necessary treatment.
