If you're having trouble viewing this email, you may see it online.



This week's insight...
Irene Zolotorofe
Administrative Director of Clinical Operations at Bon Secours Health System

May 23, 2012
Vol. I, No. 2

What is the Function of a Virtual Case Manager?


Irene Zolotorofe
Irene Zolotorofe,
Administrative Director of
Clinical Operations at
Bon Secours Health System
"The virtual case manager helps in a few ways; one is they back up the nurse navigators that are embedded in practices. One of the problems that we saw initially when we were getting a nurse navigator program up and running in a practice was that the physicians tended to, once they knew the capability of the nurse navigators, pull the nurse navigator into the practice more. The would look to the navigator for help teaching and dealing with issues that didn't always have to be managed by the nurse navigator. The virtual case manager can back up the nurse navigator in these instances.

The virtual case managers can also help with complex patients that need more time, such as helping the nurse navigator with processes such as sending multiple referrals and finding medication assistance programs.

Lastly, the virtual case manager also is available when the nurse navigator is on vacation.

With some of our bigger practices we have an embedded case manager, but we need a virtual case manager to back up the practice. This is due to the volume we're seeing in a practice where they're going to the hospital more frequently just by the sheer volume of the practice."

Irene Zolotorofe presented during Recruiting, Training and Case Load Management Strategies for Embedded Case Managers, a 45-minute webinar, during which she shared the process that Bon Secours has established for recruiting, selecting and placing an embedded case manager in their practices, along with details on case load management, tools used by case managers and benchmarks for measuring effectiveness.


Download new market research: Case Management in 2012.


Read related blog post: Focus on Progress Engages Behavioral Health Clients Telephonically.


Take this month's e-survey: Patient-Centered Medical Homes in 2012.


Interested in all open surveys? Review them here.


Listen to audio interviews with leading healthcare industry experts on healthcare trends, quality improvement, pay-for-performance, health coaching, disease management and wellness and health promotion on the HealthSounds Podcasts Web site.

Please pass this along to any of your colleagues, or, better yet, have them sign up to receive their own copy at http://www.hin.com/freenews2.html where you can also learn about our other complimentary news services.

Join our Community: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn YouTube

© 2012 Healthcare Talking Points by the Healthcare Intelligence Network.
Editor: Jessica Papay, jpapay@hin.com;
Publisher: Melanie Matthews, mmatthews@hin.com
Editorial Offices: 800 State Highway 71, Suite 2, Sea Girt, NJ 08750, (888) 446-3530,
Fax (732) 449-4463; e-mail info@hin.com, Web site www.hin.com.