Case Manager / CSW

About the role

The Discharge Planner at Oceans Behavioral Hospital Greater New Orleans plays a crucial role in coordinating patient treatments and ensuring timely discharge planning. This position involves interacting with various members of the medical and clinical team to facilitate communication and ensure comprehensive treatment planning.

Responsibilities

• Coordinates with admission staff and clinical staff to meet patient treatment needs according to Joint Commission, Federal, and State regulations, Oceans’ mission, policies, and procedures, and Performance Improvement standards.
• Acts as a patient liaison to coordinate activities between physicians, therapists, and nursing staff.
• Reviews psychosocial data and other assessments to complete discharge assessments with patients, presenting to the multi-disciplinary treatment team for review and approval.
• Schedules appointments, follows up on absences, and completes continuing care plans.
• Attends treatment team meetings and communicates discharge planning activities to other team members.
• Attends status meetings to share pertinent data, communicate current status, update attendance calendars, and communicate individual patient needs to clinical and admission staff.
• Performs additional discharge planning duties as required, coordinates with staff involved in patient care, and completes paperwork for judicial commitments and state bed packets.
• Completes referral processes and necessary paperwork for all levels of care, including follow-up appointments and follow-up letters, and assists patients and families with follow-up care items.
• Conducts special retrospective studies/audits when needed by M&PS and/or other committee structures.
• Accurately conducts discharge reviews on 100% of all discharges per month, inputs discharge review information into a computer database, and completes all initial CQI+ forms and questionnaires in a timely manner.
• Performs other duties and projects as assigned.

Requirements

• Education: Associate degree with emphasis in healthcare or bachelor’s degree in social services field preferred.
• Experience: At least one year of psychiatric/chemical dependency experience with good working knowledge of psychiatric and medical treatment.

Skills / Abilities

• Excellent assertive communication and customer service skills.
• In-depth knowledge of chemical dependency and psychiatric treatment, including the discharge planning process.
• Strong writing and composition skills.
• Understanding of regulatory requirements, fiscal reimbursement, and utilization review as integral components of patient care.
• Strong patient advocacy skills.
• Ability to organize, prioritize, and manage a high-volume workload effectively.
• Skilled in analyzing and utilizing data and systems to provide individualized, cost-effective, high-quality treatment.
• Functions independently with minimal supervision while maintaining a positive work attitude.
• Interacts cooperatively and professionally with staff to achieve optimal patient outcomes.
• Competent in addressing age-, disability-, and culturally related patient needs, relating to patients in a sensitive and respectful manner.
• Basic Life Support (BLS) certification and an Oceans-approved behavioral health de-escalation program.