Case Manager Job Description, Skills, and Salary
Get to know about the duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and skills requirements of a case manager. Feel free to use our case manager job description template to produce your own. We also provide you with information about the salary you can earn as a case manager.
Who is a Case Manager?
Case management is a collaborative process that assesses, plans, implements, coordinates, monitors, and evaluates the options and services needed to meet an individual’s health, social care, educational, and employment needs, all while maximizing communication and available resources to achieve high-quality, cost-effective outcomes. Case management is defined as the planning, processing, and monitoring of a patient’s healthcare services by a coordinated group of healthcare practitioners. Case management aims to meet a patient’s needs while keeping costs low, with a case manager keeping track of the patient’s progress. A case manager may be assigned to a patient by insurance companies, hospitals, or outpatient care providers. Case management, also known as dynamic case management, is typically performed by healthcare professionals who have worked in a medical setting such as a hospital.
Case management also refers to the coordination of services for an individual who may be regarded as a case in a variety of settings, including health care, nursing, rehabilitation, social work, disability insurance, employment, and legal. Case management can refer to a variety of things, including:
Mental health case management: This is a unique way to coordinate mental health services in the community.
Case management (US health system): This is a specialized word used in the United States of America’s health care system.
Education case management: Education case managers advocate for kids with autism, Down syndrome, dyslexia, and other learning impairments to ensure they have the resources and individualized education plans (IEPs) they need to succeed in school.
Medical Case Management: Medical case management is a broad phrase that refers to the facilitation of treatment plans to ensure that disabled, ill, or injured people receive proper medical care.
Legal Case Management: A set of management practices for law firms or courts is known as legal case management.
In essence, a case manager is a specialized social worker and healthcare professional who supervises and coordinates clinical patients’ ongoing care. A case manager is a social worker or a nurse who helps with the planning, coordination, monitoring, and evaluation of medical services for a patient, with a focus on the quality of care, consistency of services, and cost-effectiveness. Case managers frequently deal with patients who have long-term or chronic illnesses to ensure that they receive the best possible treatment. A case manager, as the name implies, is a supervisory position that does not provide direct clinical treatment to patients. Instead, they seek to ensure that everyone involved in providing that care is aware of each unique situation. This aids healthcare practitioners in correctly diagnosing and treating the patient’s conditions.
Case managers are those who engage directly with clients to help them understand their alternatives in relation to the unique circumstance they are facing at the time. To fully analyze their needs and conditions, they check their records, interact with their family members, and learn about their past. On behalf of their patients, they collaborate with organizations to discover the best solutions. The preparation of a proper care plan is an important element of a case manager’s responsibilities. A competent case manager is empathic, kind, organized, and knows how to develop great relationships. Case managers are knowledgeable about the various resources accessible in the community. They are also very good at documenting, time management, and multitasking. The capacity to communicate with the patient and their families is what distinguishes a good case manager. Case managers must be able to efficiently meet client tracking standards for all of these different stakeholders while also maintaining a high level of data accuracy. Case managers are social workers who help their clients coordinate their treatment. Case managers collaborate with agencies and organizations to ensure that clients receive the care they require. Intake interviews may be conducted by a case manager to gain a better understanding of a client’s needs, and then the case manager may assist the client in connecting with essential resources. As a client receives services, the case manager may keep track of them and collaborate with other service providers as needed to meet their requirements. Case managers, unlike social workers, do not provide treatment to clients, however, they may provide minimal counseling. Case managers typically have a bachelor’s degree in an area like criminal justice, psychology, or sociology, with some having a master’s degree. A case manager is not required to have a license, though some may have one or more professional certificates.
The core principle of case management is that when a person achieves their optimal level of wellness and functional capability, everyone benefits: the people being treated, their support systems, healthcare delivery systems, and various reimbursement sources. Through advocacy, communication, education, the identification of service options, and service facilitation, case management helps clients achieve wellness and autonomy. Throughout the continuum of services, the case manager assists in identifying appropriate providers and facilities, as well as ensuring that available resources are used in a timely and cost-effective manner to maximize value for both the client and the reimbursement source.
Case Manager Job Description
Below are the case manager job description examples you can use to develop your resume or write a case manager job description for your employee. Employers can also use it to sieve out job seekers when choosing candidates for interviews.
The duties and responsibilities of a case manager include the following:
- Create and negotiate plans and agreements with the customer and other parties.
- Coordinate and deliver client-centered care that is safe, timely, effective, efficient, and equitable.
- Collaborate with organizations in order to find the greatest solutions for their patients.
- Assign cases, write service plans, assess case progress, and decide on case closure.
- Assist customers in achieving wellness and self-sufficiency.
- Facilitate numerous elements of care (case coordination, information sharing, etc).
- Assist patients in making informed decisions about their clinical status and treatment options by serving as their champions.
- Develop effective working relationships with the medical team and collaborate with them throughout the case management process.
- Make arrangements with social services, health, and government institutions for abeyances.
- Interact with patients to keep track of their development and ensure that they are satisfied.
- Keep track of case details, fill out all relevant documents correctly, and generate statistical reports.
- Encourage the use of high-quality, cost-effective interventions and results.
- Examine and resolve motivational and psychological concerns.
- Establishes and contacts the services that the client requires in accordance with the agreed-upon strategy.
- Establishes timetables, timeframes, and milestones, as well as reporting on progress.
- Follow process, rules, and regulations to maintain professional standards.
- Perform risk assessments and double-check paperwork for accuracy and completeness.
- Learn and train new hires in Problem-solving, negotiating solutions, and facilitating development skills
Qualifications
- Nursing bachelor’s degree
- In the state of practice, there is a Registered Nurse.
- A certified Case Manager with 3-5 years of clinical experience, ideally in case management or a related field, is desirable.
- 50-80% of the time, you should be able to walk and stand.
- Strong writing and verbal communication skills Proficient computer skills, including expertise with Microsoft Excel
- Excellent clinical evaluative and analytic abilities
Essential Skills
- Excellent understanding of case management concepts and principles, healthcare management, and reimbursement
- Prior familiarity with psychological elements of treatment is required.
- Communication abilities that work
- Excellent time management and organizational skills
- Professional and technical growing knowledge familiarity
- Problem-solving abilities and multi-tasking abilities
- Compassionate and capable of working in a group
- BS degree in a related healthcare sector Current license, certification, or registration Ability to successfully pay attention to details
- Skills in multitasking
- Persuasion skills that work
- It is necessary to be compassionate and tenacious.
How to Become a Case Manager
If you want to work as a case manager, you must first learn about the education, licensure, and certification requirements in your state as well as the organization where you want to work (ie, an insurance company, a hospital, a home healthcare company, etc.). In most situations, you’ll need a background in a profession like nursing or social work, but the requirements will vary based on the job you’re applying for. To become a case manager, you might take a variety of routes. This is because most case managers start out in another field before pursuing a career as a case manager. Nurses and social workers are the two most typical professions to shift into case management. Here are some common steps to becoming a case manager, whether you wish to start as a nurse, social worker, or another related profession:
- Get a degree in a relevant field.
Each of the positions that frequently lead to a career as a case manager necessitates a bachelor’s degree. An associate degree in nursing can suffice for nurses, while a bachelor’s degree boosts your chances of landing a case manager position. A bachelor’s degree in social work or a similar subject is required for a social worker. Each state has its own minimal education requirements for medical professionals, so it’s a good idea to look into the criteria for the state where you want to work.
- Obtain a relevant license or certification.
Nurses and social workers are required to have licenses or certificates from the state in which they operate, so look into your state’s and professional licensing standards. The following licenses and credentials are required for nurse and social worker positions:
Registered Nurse (RN)
Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN)
Licensed Social Worker (LSW)
Licensed Independent Social Worker (LISW)
Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW)
Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW)
- Get some hands-on experience
Most organizations want a minimum of one year of experience in a relevant field before hiring a case manager. This normally entails finding work as a nurse or a social worker, although other relevant experiences might also be beneficial. Because case managers frequently interact with insurance firms, certain insurance professionals may be able to transition into case management. For social work students and graduates interested in gaining case management experience, internships are offered in government, mental health, and healthcare provider organizations. To learn more about case management while gaining vital professional skills and experience, apply for a position as an intern, trainee, or similar position. A defined number of supervised work hours may be required for licensure or certification as a Case Manager, so check your state’s standards as you adapt your internship or training options to fulfill these demands.
- Obtain certification as a case manager.
Individuals who seek to practice Case Management in an official capacity in several states must receive a license or some type of certification. Case managers are required to be certified in most states. Following licensure, you can get a variety of certifications that may open up more work options while also giving you greater power in the eyes of the state in which you practice Case Management. There are a variety of certificates available, all of which involve passing an exam. The following are some of the most prevalent case manager licenses:
Certified Case Manager (CCM): This is the certification offered by the Commission for Case Manager Certification
Accredited Case Manager (ACM)
For social workers hoping to transition into case manager work, there are a few certifications specific to their area of expertise. These include:
Certified Social Work Case Manager (C-SWCM)
Certified Advanced Social Work Case Manager (C-ASWCM)
Where to Work as a Case Manager
Hospitals, government institutions, social service centers, law enforcement agencies, insurance firms, the health care industry, and even non-governmental organizations are typically where a case manager can work.
Case Manager Salary Scale
In the United States, a Case Manager’s annual total salary is predicted to be $49,623. This figure shows the median, which is the midpoint of the ranges calculated using our proprietary Total Pay Estimate algorithm and salaries submitted by our customers. The annual base compensation is anticipated to be $39,133. The extra salary is anticipated to be $10,490 per year. Cash bonuses, commissions, tips, and profit-sharing could all be options for further compensation. The “Most Likely Range” represents numbers that fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles of all available salary data for this position.
At the Lagos State Health Service Commission in Nigeria, the net remuneration for a Case Manager is 88K. This is the monthly average pay, which includes housing, transportation, and other benefits. Salaries for Pre Authorization Case Managers vary drastically depending on gender, skills, qualifications, experience, or location.