Social Work: Strength-Based Practice in Hospital Case Management

Bonnie Geld, MSW
Shawna Grossman Kates, MSW, MBA, LSW, CMAC

Social workers and case managers work to identify resources to meet primary social welfare needs; at their core, they demonstrate key skills of assessing, brokering, engaging, partnering, risk managing, and problem solving. However, many case management managers and directors need help understanding the social work done in their departments as well as pinpointing what support or mentoring social workers need. Case management directors don’t always know how to align social workers and RN case managers to maximize care coordination, discharge planning, and other case management functions for patients. To make matters worse, there is a lack of resources for managing social work programs and the activities that are shared between case managers and social workers.

Social Work: Strength-Based Practice in Hospital Case Management aims to raise awareness about the importance of social workers in hospital case management departments. Social work is often misunderstood within the context of the overall healthcare setting as its definition, roles, and expectations vary from one facility to another.

This book brings together the elements of the social work profession so that organizations can recognize the ways social workers can contribute to goals in quality and revenue. It offers practical solutions for capitalizing on the strengths of social work and demonstrating measurable outcomes. It also offers suggestions for developing and supporting essential synergies between social work and multidisciplinary teams.

Table of Contents

1. Clinical Social Work in Healthcare: Time to Shine
2. Components of Hospital Social Work
3. Special Populations
4. Capitalizing on Social Work Skills and Strengths in Case Management
5. Social Work Models: The Constant Pendulum
6. Professional Development
7. The Value of Social Work Practice
8. Tying Outcomes to Practice
9. Partnerships: Establishing Key Roles Within and Outside the Organization
10. Leadership and Breaking the Social Work Glass Ceiling in Healthcare
11. Extending the Reach of Social Work in Primary Care
12. Afterword: Our Time to Shine

Who should read this book?

• Case managers
• Case management directors and managers
• Social workers
• Nurse directors and managers
• Care management directors and managers
• Nurses

About the Authors

Bonnie Geld, MSW, vice president of The Center for Case Management in Wellesley, Massachusetts, brings more than 20 years’ experience in the area of case management with a focus on process improvement, team building, and successfully integrating the social work and registered nurse (RN) roles. Geld was a director of care management in Minneapolis, and has developed and implemented successful care management programs in other states, both in large adult systems in Oklahoma and children’s health systems in Texas. She has launched a variety of educational programs and workshops on promoting team interventions, rapid cycle assessments, and integrated care planning.

Shawna Grossman Kates, MSW, MBA, LSW, CMAC, has had long-standing career in healthcare in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey, with an emphasis in executive leadership, including oversight for care management, utilization, social work, discharge planning, family services, child life, language services, and patient advocacy. As a current Director of Case Management in New Jersey, Kates' expertise lies in the development of patient care delivery models, revenue cycle and financial recovery, patient-centered care, and care coordination and transition, with a focus on enhancing and distinguishing the role of social work. Also a consultant for The Center for Case Management, Kates offers short-term, rapid program leadership and implementation of case management processes and achieving evidence- based outcomes.

Contributors:
Matt Boettcher, LMSW-AP, LCSW, MSW
Linda Brandeis, ACSW, LICSW
Eleni Carr, MBA, LICSW
Scott Ferguson, MSW, LCSW, ACM
Jeanette Foster, MSW, LISW-S
Theresa E. Jenner, MSW, LICSW
Jill Karnes, MS, MSW, LISW-S
Dara Kates Katz, LCSW, ACSW
Evelyn Mascareñas, ASW
Lori McCullough, MSW, LISW-S, C-ASWCM
Renee Michelsen, MSS, LCSW
Lawrence C. Pellegrini, MSW, MPA, and PhD candidate
Nancy Shendell-Falik, RN, MA
Roy Sittig, MD, SFHM
June Stark, RN, BSN, Med
Vicki Weiner, MSW, MA, LCSW, CCM

Published: December 2015

Page count: 202
Dimensions: 8.5x11
ISBN: 978-1-55645-728-9