Case Managing/Managed Care

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

OKAY---here goes the venting. I got a voicemail from one of the case managers....she hollered at me because a patient who had been discharged to home, on a whim mind you, didn't get his CPM at home. She said WE said he could take one of ours...she ranted for a few minutes and told me it just wasn't acceptable. HELLO...the doctor's office called our rehab department and said THEY would arrange for a CPM to be delivered to the man's house from the company we usually use. So I'm wondering why it's my fault it didn't happen. I called the case manager back and left a message on HER voicemail tell her if she wanted to scream at someone, she should scream at the person from the doc's office. Then the doc calls me....I told her the same thing..it was HER office staff who said they would order the CPM. She told me the case manager told her that she told me that the man would be taking one of MY CPM's home. Zowie!! I told the doc that I was not obligated to take orders from a case manager. I also told her that she needed to straighten out her staff.

Sorry to vent, but I am really tired of managed care case managers treating us like dirt.

[dian57]

What sounds like basic miscommunication turned into 4 people becoming upset. What I'm hearing is frustration on all ends.

Do you have a discharge planner who could have made sure the CPM was being delivered to the home and who was providing it?

I've never had anything good come from yelling. As soon as you raise your voice, you've lost credibility. There is a decent way to approach questions and problems and it sounds like the case manager had a bad case of "kick the dog" syndrome.

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

arf arf...our social service department usually sets up all discharges which they did in this case...then we found out the doc called it in as well....leave it to the MD's to screw up something this easy. This doc thinks if she writes a script for something the insurance company HAS to pay for it.

That case manager never did call me back. I think she might be afraid to....