Role of the Social Worker in Health Care Case Management

Social Work Health Care Case Management is a way of providing the needs and services of a client as well as to his or her family. The person who does this is called a social worker. A social worker has got various roles that include advocates, evaluates, monitors, coordinates, and arranges where appropriate. In order for the social worker to execute duties efficiently, he or she should undergo training and education. The social worker should meet the following conditions so as to be a qualified social worker.
� Should be a graduate from a Masters program recognized by Council on the Social Work Education.
� Should maintain the current professional national social work certification or the state social work certification.
� Should complete the 2 years of master’s degree in order to gain work experience associated with the social needs of the population he or she is serving.
� Should practice according to the federal regulations, laws, and statutes as well as with applicable state.
� Should adhere to the NASW Social Work Code of Ethics.   and Should have education and training, as well as Certification in Health Care Case Management
ShAfter the social worker has completed the training, her/she will generally perform the following as a Certified Case Manager the following duties.
Broker
The worker takes part in the process of making the referrals in order to link a person or family to the required resources. They not only provide information but they also follow up you in order to make sure that you have achieved the required resources. This requires one to know eligibility requirements, resources, location and the fees of the services.

Advocate
This is also another role of the social worker in health care case management. They fight for the rights of other people and work in order to obtain the required resources by convincing the others about the legitimate rights and needs for the members of the society. They are particularly concerned with those who are vulnerable or are not able to speak up for themselves. Advocacy may occur in the county, local, national or even state level. Some of the social workers do participate in international human rights as well as advocacy for those who are in need.

Case Manager
They are still involved in assisting and locating services to their clients so that clients can access the services.  Health Care Case management is very important for the complex situations as well as to those who are elderly or homeless, who have mental or chronic physical health issues, who are disabled, the victims of violence or domestic crimes and the vulnerable children.

Educator
This is still another role of the social worker in health care case management. Social workers are mostly involved in educating other people about the resources as well as how to develop certain skills like budgeting, prevention of violence, the meaning of the medical diagnosis, effective communication, caring and disciplining children.

Facilitator
In this duty, social workers participate in gathering together the groups of people due to a variety of reasons including policy change, political organization, self advocacy, and community development. Social workers take part as task group leaders and group therapists.

Organizer
Social workers are still involved in many various levels of the community organization as well as actions such as policy specialists, researching, union organization and economic development.

Manager
Since social workers are experts in a wide range of applications, they are therefore suited to work as supervisors and managers in
nearly every setting. They are capable of influencing policy change or development and advocate for the underprivileged people.

Clinical services
They provide services that include information and referral, representative payee services, housing maintenance and location, public benefits assistance, ongoing therapy, casework to secure shelter, food, clothing and any other emergency assistance, care coordination and case management and finally crisis intervention.

Clinical and support groups
Clinical staff and social workers facilitate a variety of groups for promoting overall psychological and physical wellness. Group topics include stress reduction, art, writing, acupuncture, life skills, women’s and men’s peer support and many others.

Case conferences
Social workers participate and organize routine clinical case conferences that involve nurses, doctors, counselors and other providers who are involved in the client area in order to find better ways of assisting people.

Generally, social workers have got very many roles in order to help the community and therefore they are very important people in our communities and the above is just a sample of their roles.  If you are interested in learning more about health care case management, then please review the program