Case Manager - Care Coordination - Full Time 8 hours Days (Union, Non-Exempt)

Keck Medicine of USC; Arcadia (CA); On-site; USD 63,369 - 104,697; Full time

Job summary

University of Southern California Arcadia Hospital is seeking a Case Manager to support physicians and the multidisciplinary team in patient care, aiming to improve clinical outcomes and satisfaction while controlling costs. The role coordinates utilization management, care facilitation, and discharge planning for a designated caseload, ensuring timely care and accurate documentation for payers.

Key functions include pre-certification, collaboration across the continuum, and effective

Qualifications

• Associate’s Degree Nursing is required.
• Ability to work independently and exercise sound judgment.
• Knowledge of discharge planning, utilization management, and case management.
• Excellent interpersonal communication and negotiation skills.
• Strong organizational and time-management skills.
• Current RN license in CA; BLS certification.

Responsibilities

• Actively participates in clinical performance improvement activities.
• Applies approved InterQual criteria to monitor admissions and stays.
• Assist in compilation of physician profile data related to LOS and cost.
• Assist in collection and reporting of financial indicators including case mix and readmission rates.
• Collaborates with multidisciplinary team in discharge planning across the continuum.
• Coordinate care progression and communicate with payers and care team.

Skills

Independent work

Judgment

Interpersonal communication

Negotiation skills

Time management

Data management

Education

Associate’s Degree Nursing

Job description

The purpose of the Case Manager position is to support the physician and interdisciplinary team in the provision of patient care, with the underlying objective of enhancing the quality of clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction while managing the cost of care and providing timely and accurate information to payers. The role integrates and coordinates utilization management, care facilitation, and discharge planning functions. The Case Manager is accountable for a designated patient caseload and plans effectively in order to meet patient needs, manage the length of stay, and promote efficient utilization of resources. Specific functions within this role include facilitation of pre‑certification and payer authorization processes, collaborative management of patient care across the continuum, removing barriers to timely care delivery and reimbursement, applying process improvement methodologies in evaluating outcomes of care support, coaching clinical documentation efforts, serving as a clinical resource for coders, ensuring that documentation accurately reflects severity of illness and intensity of service, and coordinating communication with physicians.

Job Accountabilities

• Actively participates in clinical performance improvement activities.
• Applies approved InterQual criteria to monitor appropriateness of admissions and continued stays and documents findings based on department standards.
• Assists in the compilation of physician profile data regarding LOS, resource utilization, denied days, cost, case mix index, patient satisfaction, and quality indicators.
• Assists in the collection and reporting of financial indicators including case mix, LOS, cost per case, excess days, resource utilization, readmission rates, denials, and appeals.
• Collaborates and communicates with multidisciplinary team in all phases of discharge planning process, including initial patient assessment, planning, implementation, interdisciplinary collaboration, teaching, and ongoing evaluation.
• Collaborates with medical staff, nursing staff, and ancillary staff to eliminate barriers to efficient delivery of care in the appropriate setting.
• Collaborates with the physician and all members of the multidisciplinary team to facilitate care for designated caseload, monitors the patient’s progress, and intervenes as necessary to ensure that the plan of care and services provided are patient‑focused, high quality, efficient, and cost effective.
• Facilitates timely completion and reporting of diagnostic testing, completion of treatment plan and discharge plan, modification of plan of care as necessary, communication to third‑party payers and other relevant information to the care team, assignment of appropriate levels of care, and completion of all required documentation in Affinity GUI screens and patient records.
• Collaborates/communicates with external case managers.
• Collects delay in service data and data for specific performance and/or outcome indicators as determined by the director.
• Communicates with Financial Counselor to facilitate covered day reimbursement certification for assigned patients.
• Discusses payer criteria and issues on a case‑by‑case basis with clinical staff and follows up to resolve problems with payers as needed.
• Completes utilization management for assigned patients.
• Coordinates/facilitates patient care progression throughout the continuum.
• Documents relevant discharge planning information in the Affinity GUI System according to department standards.
• Ensures that all elements critical to the plan of care have been communicated to the patient/family and members of the health care team and are documented as necessary to ensure continuity of care.
• Ensures/maintains plan consensus from patient/family, physician, and payer.
• Facilitates transfer to other facilities.
• Identifies at‑risk populations using approved screening tool and follows established reporting procedures.
• Initiates and facilitates referrals to the Home Health Liaison for home health care, hospice, and medical equipment and supplies.
• Issues Notices of Non‑coverage per hospital policy.
• Manages all aspects of discharge planning for assigned patients.
• Meets directly with patient/family to assess needs and develop an individualized plan in collaboration with the physician.
• Monitors all transfer DRG’s.
• Monitors length of stay (LOS) and ancillary resource use on an ongoing basis, taking actions to achieve continuous improvement in both areas.
• Performs 100 % UR Review on all Medicare One‑Day admissions.
• Proactively identifies and resolves delays and obstacles to discharge.
• Refers appropriate cases for social work intervention based on department criteria.
• Refers cases and issues to physician advisor in compliance with department procedures and follows up as indicated.
• Seeks consultation from appropriate disciplines/departments as required to expedite care and facilitate discharge.
• Uses data to drive decisions and plan/implement performance improvement strategies related for assigned patients, including fiscal, clinical, and patient satisfaction data.
• Uses quality screens to identify potential issues and forwards information to the PI department.
• Utilizes advanced conflict resolution skills as necessary to ensure timely resolution of issues.
• Works collaboratively and maintains active communication with physicians, nursing, and other members of the multidisciplinary care team to effect timely, appropriate patient management.

Pay Transparency

The hourly rate range for this position is $46.00–$76.07. When extending an offer of employment, the University of Southern California Arcadia Hospital considers factors such as scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate’s work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer equity, federal, State, and local laws, contractual stipulations, grant funding, as well as external market and organizational considerations.

Qualifications

Minimum Education: Associate’s Degree Nursing. Minimum Skills: Ability to work independently and exercise sound judgment in interactions with physicians, payers, and patients and their families. Current working knowledge of discharge planning, utilization management, case management, performance improvement, and managed care reimbursement. Excellent interpersonal communication and negotiation skills. Strong organizational and time‑management skills, as evidenced by a capacity to prioritize multiple tasks and role components. Understanding of pre‑acute and post‑acute venues of care and post‑acute community resources. Strong analytical, data management, and PC skills. Required Certifications: Registered Nurse – RN (CA Board), Basic Life Support (BLS). Preferred Experience: 3 years clinical experience in Utilization Review and Discharge Planning in an Acute Hospital strongly preferred.