The Discharge Planner assists the licensed Social Worker, RN Case Manager, Physician, and/or any other member of the healthcare team in coordinating, negotiating, procuring, and facilitating the patient’s discharge plan for the achievement of quality and cost-effective outcomes. The Discharge Planner will work in collaboration with interdisciplinary systems that are both internal and external to the Midland Memorial Hospital. The Discharge Planner will participate in quality improvement and evaluation processes related to the discharge planning.

SHIFT AND SCHEDULE

Monday - Friday: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM or Friday - Sunday: 7:00 AM - 7:00 PM

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS/PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS

• Maintains a working knowledge of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security programs.
• Maintains current knowledge of local, state, and national resources.
• Assist Registered Nurse (RN) Case Manager and/or Licensed Social Worker in coordinating referrals and follow up for patients.
• Participates in daily interdisciplinary Rounds.
• Documents all actions taken and any communication with patient, family, or member of the healthcare team in regard to the facilitation of the patients discharge plans
• Seeks and provides consultation about cases presenting problems and/or experiencing significant deviations from the plan of care under the leadership of a RN Case Manager or Licensed Social Worker.
• Demonstrates critical thinking and organizational skills when making decisions
• Demonstrates well-developed interpersonal skills with patients, families, physicians, nursing colleagues, ancillary departments, the case management team, and outside resources.
• Participates actively on committees and attends meetings as required.
• Prioritizes projects appropriately and utilizes work time effectively.
• Willing to work a flexible schedule to meet the needs of the department.
• Weekend Discharge Planner: Meets with Hospitalist staff on weekends to assist in facilitation of the patients discharge by completing post hospital arrangements. Meets with each member of the case management team on Fridays and Mondays to receive or provide an update to identified group of patients’ plan of care.
• Provides Important Message from Medicare letters to Medicare recipients when needed.
• Able to navigate within the electronic health care record (EHR) to gather clinical documentation pertaining to the patient, current patient demographics, and utilize software application to securely transmit the information as need for outside referral sources for continuation of care.
• Provides accurate, timely, and complete documentation in EHR. 

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

• Elementary knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel, and designing graphs
• Basic knowledge related to the health care environment.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential responsibility satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The individual must be able to:

• Stand, walk, sit, stoop, reach, lift, see, speak and hear. Lifting is limited to 35 lbs. for clinical staff and to 50 lbs. for non-clinical staff. The individual must use an assisted-lift device or get another individual(s) to assist with the lift that is over these maximum limits.