What do HH RN Case Managers do?

nursearoo · Jan 8, 2014

Well, I can answer that.....I do this very job.....it's basically mostly paperwork, doing POT's, clarifying MD orders, calling staff nurses, HHA's etc into the office & "counseling" them.....basically a write up they have to sign & get put on "probation", you go out & do 60 day & 30 day case management supervisory visits on your patients,you also go out to "assess need for services" and determine if the person (potential pt) is eligible for services i.e HHA's PDN, SNV's..etc...then if they are you "open the case"...make POT/485, go back out & have all paperwork signed by the pt or family depending on age/medical condition etc.......sometimes if you have patients that cannot be without a caregiver & no nurses are available to cover a shift ( if private duty) you are the one to go cover the shift ....again THAT depends on YOUR particular agency & it's policies.....you also do OASIS paperwork for all pt's over 18 yrs old.......you also hunt down people who don't turn in their paperwork in the timeframe ..i.e every xxxx day after the prior work week. You also have to deal with complaints from patients & their families that you MUST address no matter how stupid the complaint is....and there are some real doozies...you literally sit there & say..."really???????"........and you can be on call if that is part of your job......my company has a rotation so every person in the office has on call duty, usually 1 week during closed hours....so whatever calls come in...call offs...goes to a scheduler....clinical issues go to whatever case manager is on call...& if they can't answer the question or figure out a solution they then call that specific pt's case manager..... and sometimes in a crisis situation you would even have to go out to the pt's home physically...however that doesn't happen except usualy on very rare occasions..........it can be very stressful but it can also be a great job as well.....I am lucky & work with wonderful people..... I used to do case management before as well ...I was a field nurse & would do supervisory visits on my non PDN shift days....so I got a little of both.....it is a lot of driving unless you live where pt's aren't too far away.....if you live in a rural area you could spend a whole day doing only a couple of visits...it's just that the driving distance is what eats up most of the time........my place now luckily has CM's usually overseeing pt's closer to where they live themselves.....some are far no matter who lives where.........Getting out on the road also can be a nice break to split up your day.......sometimes you'll be out all day doing visits and not even make it to the office....other times you may go to the office 1/2 the day & leave to go out on visits later........it's not bad if you have a very organized & well running office where everyone works together...... :-)

shefrn1 · Jan 8, 2014

I'm m just per diem right now but our case managers work different..they basically are the person who coordinates ALL of the care for their patient....they know the "full picture" and are the go to person for questions....they are field nurses and are not based in they office..all of our paperwork is electronic..but their paperwork is no different than anyone else.....their one requirement is that they see their case management patients at least once a week...and other visits can be done by whomever is available.....they do not take call....we have specific call nurses...we also have OASIS nurses who just go out and open cases....the case managers will open cases if the oasis nurse schedule is full..

lawandaluxnurse, ADN, BSN · Jan 9, 2014

It depends on what kind of case manager you are, if you are working in home health skilled nursing you are doing woundcare, iv's, teaching etc. and sometimes you are the CNA, it all depends on the patient needs, staffing and your agency.

cathrn64 · Jan 13, 2014

It depends on the type/steup of the agency. At the agency I work for, almost all of the RN's are case managers. I am responsible for my patient visits, coordinating the therapy visits. All of the therapist on the case (PT, OT, ST) are supposed to keep me informed of their POC's and I am the main contact with the patient, their Dr offices, etc. If I go on vacation, am sick or too full, than another nurse may see my patient. I am than responsible for telling the other nurse what needs to be done etc.

Joybelle517 · Jan 25, 2014

I am a CM but I'm in the field following up and keeping track of all my pts. The only problem I have is the communication between the nurses seeing my pts who draw labs and the doctors receiving the labs. I'm not in the office so I have no idea who is getting labs done (unless I'm the one who put in the order and/or plotted it on the schedule) and whether or not the MD gave new orders as they fax them to the office. Some of the MDs here you cannot contact directly and several of them won't even get back to you on the same day. I can only follow up on what I'm aware of, but this is a constant problem that I'd love to be able to solve!

LogCabinMom · Jan 28, 2014

I'm an RN Case Manager and I coordinate all the care for a caseload of patients, also visit them in their home and perform care/assessmenrs, educate HHAs on what to do for a pt, do Oasis assessments, etc etc etc. I work 4 days a week, about 9-10 hr days, have a caseload of about 25 pts, and I just started 4 mths ago.