What’s the Harm of Posting My Case Management Exam Passage and Other Accomplishments Online? You have studied long and hard for that case management credentialing exam, and the day has finally arrived! You take the exam, finish, hit submit, and eagerly wait for your computer to show that glorious “PASS” symbol! You are elated when […]
Author Archives: Ellen Fink-Samnick DBH, MSW, LCSW, ACSW, CCM, CCTP, CRP, FCM
Do I Have to be a Nurse to be a Case Manager: Correcting the Misinformation
The question often looms: do I have to be a nurse to be a case manager? This is an especially common query in The Case Manager’s Community, and particularly across hospital- and health plan-based case managers. The short answer to this question is NO. However, as is typical within our case management profession, there is NO short or easy answer.
As a Case Manager, My Boss Says I Don’t Need to be Licensed in Every State that My Patients Are In… Is This Correct? (UPDATED 6/24/2024)
The short answer is: NO! The industry standard for professional case managers is that they should be licensed in every state that their patients are in. However, case managers across practice settings are put in an ethical and legal “hot seat” with respect to this issue. Employer mandates don’t sync with professional requirements. This leaves […]
To Report or Not to Report? Mandatory Reporting and Duty to Warn for Case Managers
Mandatory Reporting
Mandatory reporting refers to case managers and other practitioners informing formal state authorities about their suspicions for potential child or adult abuse, neglect, and exploitation. That word “potential” is an important one as it is up to those formal state authorities and agencies to define the actions and not the case manager. I’ve had countless colleagues in leadership roles for these agencies remind me of that fact!
As a Case Manager, Must I be Licensed in Every State that My Patients Are? My boss says NO, BUT….
The industry standard for professional case managers is that they should be licensed in every state where their patients are. However, case managers and other practitioners are chronically put in that ethical and legal “hot seat”, and asked to juggle employer mandates with professional requirements. The workforce is constantly set up for sanction by being told things like, “Case management is coaching” and does not involve assessment. The inaccuracies of this statement couldn’t be farther from the truth!
AMA Discharge and Case Management Responsibility
AMA Discharge and Case Management Responsibility: An Ethical and Compliance Quandary
A patient is admitted to the hospital and the physician and treatment team recommendation is clear: the patient would benefit from being discharged to a skilled nursing facility (SNF). However, the patient adamantly refuses and only wishes to go home. Does the physician have the right to request that the patient leave the hospital against medical advice or AMA?
The Ethical Conundrum of Healthcare Ethics Committees
The Ethical Conundrum of Healthcare Ethics Committees – Ethics committees have been a condition of Joint Commission accreditation since 1992, yet there is massive variation in their implementation and use. They should not replace the dialogues of interprofessional team members with patients, families, or each other.
To Post or Not to Post?
The discharge planning process always moved quickly, but today it’s on steroids! Case managers face intense pressure to quickly transition patients to that next level of care, or home. Whether you case manage for a hospital, an MCO, or a community-based agency, you need information when you need it! That means you need a space to ask questions that provide responses “in the moment” and that is often not the workplace! Social media has become the fastest way for case managers and other healthcare professionals to quickly get information on what resource to use, and when!
More and more new case managers are entering the workforce than ever before, and their onboarding happens at warp speed. They commonly ping “friends” or tag “connections for discharge planning and other resources, from treatment and provider recommendations to specific home health agencies and skilled nursing homes. Complex patient circumstances become an opportunity for colleagues to weigh in on the management of everything from addiction and family dynamics to those “tough to place” patients, prescription drug access, and other psychosocial circumstances. After all, there’s no harm in asking for this information, right? WRONG!
Seeking Social Media Recommendations: The Ethical Quandary for Case Management
Case managers and other healthcare professional who are Seeking Social Media Recommendations, become an Ethical Quandary for Case Management as they commonly ping “friends” or tag “connections” for resource info from treatment and provider recommendations to specific home health agencies and skilled nursing homes. Complex patient circumstances become group chats. After all, there’s no harm in seeking consultation or recommendations, right? Read how unintentional posts become ethical and legal missteps, and how to best manage them.