What is a hospital case manager?
Miscellaneous
These nurses and social workers are a vital part of your healthcare team
If you or a loved one have never had to stay in the hospital, you may be unaware of a very important member of our healthcare team – the case manager.
At St. Joseph’s/Candler, our case managers are registered nurses or certified social workers who work directly with patients and families, as well as the multi-disciplinary care team, with one goal in mind: getting you safely discharged when it’s time.
“We do all we can to ensure patients have a safe transition whether that’s back home or to rehabilitation or a long-term care facility,” says Laurie Frazee, manager of clinical care coordination for St. Joseph’s Hospital. “We try to make it as safe as possible by ensuring patients have all the resources they need to prevent them from returning to the hospital.”
The case manager can help the patient and family in many ways including:
- Setting up home health services
- Assisting with medication authorization and making sure they have insurance coverage
- Making referrals for acute rehab, long-term acute care or outpatient therapy
- Confirming the patient has any necessary equipment needed at home
- And so much more
They also work directly with physicians, nurses, therapists, pharmacists and dietitians to get a complete understanding of each patient and their needs. This helps them develop a discharge plan for the patient.
“We are very proactive in what we do,” Frazee says. “The earlier we can catch a need, the quicker we can get to overcoming any barriers to addressing that need.”
Each inpatient unit at both St. Joseph’s Hospital and Candler Hospital has a dedicated case manager, Frazee says. This includes the emergency department, all critical care units, subacute and rehab, Mother-Baby and med-surg floors.
They do daily rounding on their unit and try to see each patient. If for any reason you are in the hospital and have not seen a case manager, Frazee encourages you to ask someone about speaking to one.
“If you get admitted to the hospital and have questions about medications or needing assistance at home, make sure that you ask to see a case manager,” Frazee says. “We are huge patient advocates. Our case managers are really advocating to make sure that patients get what they need to discharge with very little burden.”
“I absolutely believe the role of the case manager shows St. Joseph’s/Candler is living our mission and values. It shows we are concerned about the patient even after they are discharged.”