Q&A: Hiring a new case manager
Q: How can I hire the best case manager for my facility?
A: In order to find the right candidate, it's important to have a full understanding of the role your case manager will play. Not enough can be said about the critical position of the director or manager of a case management service. Perhaps a commentary on the role’s enormous accountability is that head hunters and search companies report that it is one of the most difficult jobs for which to recruit. Sometimes it can take 6–12 months to find the right person for the position.
It is best for the case management department/service to be guided by a director-level position, as that position has more clout in the health system than a manager position, and case management deserves someone who can focus exclusively on its development and operations.
The director of case management in larger health systems often has managers who report to him or her—another important aspect of the division of labor. For example, there might be a manager of social work (lead social worker) and a manager of case managers reporting to the corporate director of the case management department. Or the director may want to divide the department into functions, creating a manager of centralized UR/denial management/payer relations; a manager of unit and transition care coordinators, social work, and interdepartmental relations; and a manager of discharge planning, post-acute network, and the recovery period. The director instead may not want to divide the department into management lines, preferring to have all the professional staff report directly to him or her, which in some organizations may be up to 150 people.
Some case management directors have many responsibilities, including infectious disease, quality improvement, bed placement, translator services, etc. The more effective and respected the director, the more he or she is asked to take under his or her leadership. These various responsibilities are manageable for some people, and in some health systems there is no choice in accepting responsibility for several departments. However, because case management is a growing and ever-changing set of functions, being a director can be lonely and exhausting work.
The authority of the case management staff to provide necessary functions and, consequently, meet their goals stems from the director’s internal relationships with the executive team and with fellow directors. In addition, the director’s external relationships with post-acute providers, vendors, fellow case management directors, and others add to the credibility and effectiveness of the department.
For more information, see Case Management Models: Best Practices for Health Systems and ACOs, 2nd edition.
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