Telephonic CM vs Field CM for Workers. Comp.

[divagirl]

Hello fellow nurses:

I have recently been interviewing for a Workers Comp. CM positon although they have two positions available at this time. Field and in office telephonic. I applied for telephonic office positon but then was told about the Field position and to apply for it, appeared to be a hard to fill position. I dont have any workers comp experience so basically when they ask me which I prefer I pretty much say I am open to both. The position is quite a distance(1hr) but I just want to get my foot in the door somewhere and go from there.Plus I figured, correct me if Im wrong that since I dont have any experience I would have a beter chance getting the field positon then Telephonic because it was possibly the less desirable and does require a 50% of travel. I feel that once a got the position if I wanted to change at least I already have my foot in the door. Is there a catch?

[jackofallrn]

Divagirl ... I'm new to the site but let me take a stab at this. The catch may be if they have no one to replace you for the field position. Having said that, I started in CM as a FCM and I loved it. The autonomy, the coordination of my own schedule, lunch with my kids at their school, etc. There are major things to consider however. Alienation of working from home, driving in high traffic areas (I'm in CA), time mngmt, filling out tedious travel logs, etc. I now work for a MPN doing case management in an office, I LOVE IT!!. If i did'nt live in CA I would go back to FCM.

Hope this helped a little.

[ggabri07, BSN, RN]

hello, i have a very unique situation. i worked as a claims case manager for an insurance company...went to nursing school & got promoted to a telephone nurse case manger once i passed the boards. the company i work for offers really good training that will help you with in your role as a telephonic or a field cm. (i must say that my case manager background helped significantly). the new telephonic & fields in my company feel that training helped them a lot being that they never had any experience in the field.

as a field ncm you do have more autonomy. i shadowed a field nurse 4x and it was a great experience. i would rather do that then telephonic. i also think that it is great to be out on the road. you get to see a wide array of cases and see some pretty interesting case.

as a telephonic, obviously everything is done over the phone. you also work closely with your claims partners to bring the file to a resolution. you are the go to person when there is a question about causality, doctor's treatment plans, appropriateness of medication, etc.

we are now in may...what did you decide to do?

[Rntr]

I would love to do the "field" CM.... I have traveled in the OR for 10yr and enjoy being out... who did you go to work for? THanks