Medical case manager vs nurse case manager

The differences between medical case managers and nurse case managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a medical case manager, becoming a nurse case manager takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a nurse case manager has an average salary of $68,461, which is higher than the $42,432 average annual salary of a medical case manager.

The top three skills for a medical case manager include patients, rehabilitation and care coordination. The most important skills for a nurse case manager are care management, discharge planning, and patients.

Medical case manager vs nurse case manager overview

	Medical Case Manager	Nurse Case Manager
Yearly salary	$42,432	$68,461
Hourly rate	$20.40	$32.91
Growth rate	28%	6%
Number of jobs	85,820	83,480
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 57%	Bachelor's Degree, 46%
Average age	47	44
Years of experience	6	2

What does a medical case manager do?

The primary role of a Medical Case Manager is to monitor the patients treatment plan to ensure that physicians are doing their jobs properly. They are also responsible for improving the quality of patient services, increasing revenue, analyzing the information gathered by investigations, and reporting recommendations.

What does a nurse case manager do?

A nurse case manager's role focuses on providing advice and medication to patients in an outpatient clinic or hospital. Typically, their responsibilities revolve around conducting extensive assessments, discussing essential matters to patients and families, devising efficient health care plans, coordinating with health care experts to share patients' progress, determining the needed care, and performing follow-up services. There are also instances when a nurse case manager must adjust medication or treatment as needed, refer patients to programs that will support them on their financial and other needs, and implement policies and regulations.

Medical case manager vs nurse case manager salary

Medical case managers and nurse case managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Medical Case Manager	Nurse Case Manager
Average salary	$42,432	$68,461
Salary range	Between $26,000 And $67,000	Between $48,000 And $97,000
Highest paying City	Walnut Creek, CA	San Mateo, CA
Highest paying state	California	Hawaii
Best paying company	AIG	CNA Insurance
Best paying industry	Insurance	Government

Differences between medical case manager and nurse case manager education

There are a few differences between a medical case manager and a nurse case manager in terms of educational background:

	Medical Case Manager	Nurse Case Manager
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 57%	Bachelor's Degree, 46%
Most common major	Nursing	Nursing
Most common college	University of Michigan - Ann Arbor	Duke University

Medical case manager vs nurse case manager demographics

Here are the differences between medical case managers' and nurse case managers' demographics:

	Medical Case Manager	Nurse Case Manager
Average age	47	44
Gender ratio	Male, 19.8% Female, 80.2%	Male, 9.6% Female, 90.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 11.9% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 14.5% Asian, 8.0% White, 60.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 11.7% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 9.1% Asian, 8.9% White, 65.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage	12%	9%

Differences between medical case manager and nurse case manager duties and responsibilities

Medical case manager example responsibilities.

Provide clients support with basic ADL's (shopping, payee services, budgets, managing and attending appointments).
Facilitate rehabilitation plans with TPA/Provider/Treatment team to provide professional case management services to catastrophically injure patients after auto injury.
Collaborate with inpatient medical team and case management department to promote effective discharge planning and utilization management of hospitalize patients.
Coordinate medical management and vocational rehabilitation.
Attend weekly DHS case conferences to ensure client compliance and progress with obtaining and securing permanent housing.
Report, maintain, and update case data, goal attainment, and outcomes into the HMIS system.

Nurse case manager example responsibilities.

Develop and manage plan of care for symptom management for patients/families in home, ALF, and SNF arena.
Maintain communication with commercial insurance payers, manage Medicare and Medicaid sources and conduct daily clinical updates to insurance companies.
Coordinate surgery schedules with doctor, hospital, medical equipment representative and patients.
General assessment and care/case management of Medicare patients including wind care, diabetes, cardiac complications, respiratory treatments.
Deliver independent private duty nursing to pediatric patients in need of holistic care, including oxygen-dependent, ventilator-dependent, tracheostomy patients.
Interview and assess patients, documenting findings and input into EMR system.

Medical case manager vs nurse case manager skills

Common medical case manager skills

Patients, 18%
Rehabilitation, 8%
Care Coordination, 7%
Social Work, 6%
Home Health, 6%
Customer Service, 6%

Common nurse case manager skills

Care Management, 25%
Discharge Planning, 17%
Patients, 11%
Home Health, 8%
Rehabilitation, 3%
Medical Care, 3%

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Medical Case Manager
Medical Case Manager vs Nurse Case Manager

Updated January 8, 2025

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