What Will a Rehabilitation Case Manager in Michigan Do For You?
Case management is a rapidly growing profession in the United States. This is due to the fact that our healthcare system is getting increasingly complex. There is a lot of care that goes into a person’s rehabilitation in case of severe injuries or traumatic accidents. This includes research, hospital visit(s), coordination between care providers, insurance applications, paperwork, and the list is endless. Doing all of this can take a toll on the patient’s loved ones, especially when they have other responsibilities. This is why more and more people are turning to rehabilitation case managers for getting help navigating the healthcare system in times of need. So let us find out what rehabilitation case managers in Michigan do for you.
The Association of Rehabilitation Nurses defines case management as the process of assessing, planning, organizing, coordinating, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating the services and resources needed to respond to an individual's healthcare needs. A case manager has wide-ranging functions that can be divided into four broad categories. These are:
Data Intake
The first step of the job of a case manager is to gather all data necessary to understand a client’s situation and needs. The data includes demographic information as well as medical information such as health insurance coverage, health history, prior service history, socioeconomic status, self-care capability, and other information useful to curate a plan of action for the patient’s care. Another part of this step is to collect referral information, personal history, and the patient’s learning needs after obtaining authorizations to contact the patient and their family.
Assessment of data and planning
The next step is crucial as it involves creating an effective plan for the client’s care based on an assessment of their specific data. Here is where the expertise of a case manager comes in as they set patient-centered goals, identify key problems, and develop a comprehensive plan for treatment and care. This includes outlining specific actions to achieve these goals and developing timelines for the same.
Implementation
This is the most important part of the case manager’s duties as they implement the plan and take action to achieve the individual’s goals. It involves a plethora of tasks that they perform. Some of them are:
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Directing the client to the appropriate care options and access to healthcare providers
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Coordinating access to appropriate government and community programs and resources
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Evaluating the patient's and their family's use of medical equipment, supplies, medications, and other healthcare services
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Providing professional advice to the individual and family based on their needs
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Planning and implementing the return to the individual's community when appropriate
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Assisting the individual and their family in making plans for reentry to home or residential living (semi-independent living) and providing home care services.
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Coordinating regularly between the patient, their family and healthcare teams and providers
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Projecting costs and assisting with financing options such as insurance.
Assessment
The last step of the functions of rehabilitation case managers in Michigan is to evaluate the efficacy of the plan and to make sure that the client’s specific needs are being met by the case manager by establishing effective metrics to monitor the progress.
For more information on case management services, contact Bridge Rehabilitation Centre.