The Case Management Workbook: Defining the Role of Physicians, Nurses, and Case Managers

March 30, 2011 - PRLog -- Case management has become one of the most effective means by which a continuum of care functions effectively and efficiently. A complete examination of the application of continuum of care, The Case Management Workbook: Defining the Role of Physicians, Nurses, and Case Managers defines the roles of the case management team and provides an overview of key post acute venues of care. It supplies an overview of the process, its structure, and the responsibility of each member of the team. The book discusses how managing the care of the patient in today’s healthcare environment will take a concerted effort from the entire case management team—not just a handful of case managers.

The authors demonstrate that the case management team includes many more individuals than simply those with the title of case manager. The team must consist of key clinical personnel including the nurse, the physician and the case manager, each of whom have specific roles in case management. The book also highlights the role administration plays in assuring each member of the team is on board with the hospital’s or health system’s goal in assuring the patient is at the right place at the right time in their episode of care.

In the words of the authors, case managers are … the unsung heroes of effective healthcare delivery. They push and they prod, they inform and they educate, they provide valuable information to physicians and families with a common goal—to assure the patient is provided care in the most appropriate venue correlative to the medical resources needed and provided. In their book they explore a key byproduct of an effective case management system— the realization of an effective integrated health system whereby physicians and hospitals are aligned as caretakers of future health resources.

About the Authors

Cherilyn G. Murer, JD, CRA, Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of the Murer Group, has long been an active voice in the advancement of quality, cost-effective healthcare. Ms. Murer received a juris doctor degree with honors from Northern Illinois University (NIU) and has coupled her background in law with her previous operational experience as the Director of Rehabilitation Medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago, Illinois. Ms. Murer is a sought-after lecturer and educator whose focus is on assisting her clients navigate through the complex regulatory, strategic, and financial issues facing healthcare today.

In May 2005, Ms. Murer received a gubernatorial appointment, with Senate confirmation, to a six-year term on the Northern Illinois University Board of Trustees. In 2007, Ms. Murer was elected Chairman of the Board of this state university with over 26,000 students. Ms. Murer and her husband, Michael, have provided a philanthropic gift to NIU to establish the Murer Initiative as a forum for scholarly discussion, policy analysis and cross-disciplinary integration of medicine, law, technology, and finance. In September 2007, Ms. Murer was selected by the university to present the first Annual Executive Speaker Series Presentation, "Conversation with a CEO," co-sponsored by NIU College of Engineering and College of Business. In 2002, Ms. Murer was appointed to the Northern Illinois University Law School’s prestigious Board of Visitors and was honored with its 2003 College of Law Distinguished Alumni Award. Ms. Murer holds an appointment to the faculty of the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Law in the Department of Family Medicine.

Coinciding with the firm’s 25th anniversary (February 2010), Ms. Murer was honored by both the University of Illinois at Chicago and Northern Illinois University. On February 25, 2010, she was inducted into the prestigious Chicago Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame. In April she received the 2010 Northern Illinois University Distinguished Alumni of the Year Award, the highest award given by the NIU Alumni Association to one individual each year who has achieved national, regional, or statewide prominence.

Michael A. Murer, JD, is Executive Vice President and General Counsel for the Murer Group. Mr. Murer received his juris doctor degree from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in European History at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Mr. Murer’s area of expertise includes interfacing healthcare management with the changing regulatory environment. He has written and lectured extensively in the areas of compliance, electronic medical records, e-commerce, safe harbors, fraud and abuse, the Stark Laws and the structuring of joint ventures and HIPAA. Some of his lectures include "AdvancingTechnology and the Medical Record" at the Healthcare Informatics Expo and Conference in Chicago, Illinois; "HIPAA and E-Commerce" at the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) Annual Conference in San Antonio, Texas; "HIPAA Mapping and Plotting," for the Illinois Association of Health Plans/RX 2000 Institute in Chicago, Illinois; and most recently "How to Train Your Staff on HIPAA Privacy," for Eli Research teleconference.

Mr. Murer has been a member of the Legal Work Group for Health Information Security & Privacy Collaboration (HISPC)–Illinois II since 2007. This group worked on developing a model uniform patient Electronic Health Record (EHR)/Health Information Exchange (HIE) consent form for possible use by the state-level HIE, clinicians, healthcare facilities and other providers. The Legal Work Group was also tasked with the development of a plan to disseminate the consent form and encourage its use. In July 2009, the group was absorbed by the Illinois Health Information Exchange Advisory Committee.

Lyndean Lenhoff Brick, JD, is the Senior Vice President with the Murer Group. She received her juris doctor degree from The Ohio State University College of Law. Since that time, she has been actively engaged in Healthcare Law and Management Consulting.

Ms. Brick’s practice is concentrated on healthcare law including Medicare/Medicaid regulation and reimbursement; healthcare compliance; HIPAA compliance; Certificate of Need development and review; corporate restructuring, joint ventures, acquisitions and capital formation; reimbursement review and TEFRA structuring; managed healthcare and regulation; and risk management for healthcare facilities. Ms. Brick has lectured on a variety of health-related topics including Case Management, Provider-Based Regulations; HIPAA; Compliance and CORF development. The Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) honored Ms. Brick with their Annual National Institute’s (ANI) Distinguished Speaker Award in 2002 and 2003. She is nationally recognized for her work and client representation in the field of Medicare and Medicaid rules and regulations. She is the regulatory lead counsel to a national base of clients and has served as the acting CEO of a fourteen-chain hospital system in Texas and Louisiana.

Ms. Brick also consults in the areas of strategic and long-range planning for healthcare providers and regularly advises clients in the assessment and development of joint venture opportunities in the healthcare industry. Additionally, she works on the feasibility of development for alternative sites of care such as Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs) and Independent Diagnostic Testing Facilities (IDTFs).

The Case Management Workbook: Defining the Role of Physicians, Nurses, and Case Managers
ISBN: 9781439827772, 138 pp., Paperback, $59.95

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