What does a social work case manager do?
A Social Work Case Manager counsels groups or individuals in dealing with chronic illness, loss of a loved one, or substance abuse. They evaluate the needs of each individual client and maintain detailed records of their progress in the healing process.
Social work case manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real social work case manager resumes:
- Collaborate with partners including public and private agencies to achieve permanency for children.
- Facilitate resource management by making appropriate referrals to community agencies that help patients remain safe and independent in their home environment.
- Review inpatient hospital medical records using InterQual criteria to determine that patient admission meet quality and utilization standards.
- Adhere to rules and regulations pertinent to inpatient rehabilitation as defined by Medicare/Medicaid and other licensing and accrediting organizations.
- Coordinate and schedule in home physician visits and transportation arrangements for patients to receive medical services in hospitals and clinics.
- Respond to high volume telephone and walk-in inquiries regarding long-term placement, government entitlements, rehabilitation, and services provide.
- Perform concurrent review to assure appropriateness of admission, inpatient/acute care, rehabilitation/SNF status, and discharge using establish InterQual guidelines.
- Perform a variety of administrative duties design to insure a safe and secure environment for all youth entering DFCS care.
- Enroll the family in services to assist family with daily function to relieve involvement of DFCS to make the family independent.
- Maintain a system of tracing, monitoring and reporting consumers enroll in AOT program.
- Communicate with team members and complete home visits on a weekly basis or as outlined by the CFT process.
- Attend court and testify regarding therapy, explain goals of the CFT plan, and make recommendations to the court.
- Provide coordinated care to SPMI clients.
- Work with SPMI and justice-involve clients.
- Work with TANF recipients to establish long-term employment opportunities leading to self-sufficiency.
Social work case manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 38% of Social Work Case Managers are proficient in Social Work, Patients, and Social Services. They’re also known for soft skills such as Compassion, Time-management skills, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Social Work Case Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Social Work, 38%
Facilitate, identify and coordinate continuing education presentations on campus for both Social Workers and Nurse Case Managers.
- Patients, 20%
Progressed through a series of responsibilities, culminating in responsibility for the coordination of transitional services for Hospital Rehabilitation Department patients.
- Social Services, 5%
Conducted and documented a social service evaluation, including identification of Resident problems/needs and arranged assistance from appropriate social services.
- Discharge Planning, 4%
Referred clients for community and facility based services; conducted discharge planning and residential placement as required.
- Acute Care, 4%
Provide ongoing case management within an acute care setting including resource-linking and referrals to appropriate community services at discharge.
- Patient Care, 3%
Worked via an interdisciplinary team structure to provide services appropriate to inpatient care as well as coordinating supportive services following hospitalization.
Most social work case managers use their skills in "social work," "patients," and "social services" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential social work case manager responsibilities here:
Compassion. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a social work case manager to have is compassion. Their role and responsibilities require that "social and human service assistants often work with people who are in stressful and difficult situations." Social work case managers often use compassion in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "provided compassionate care and emotional support to patients and families dealing with end of life issues. "
Time-management skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling social work case manager duties is time-management skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "social and human service assistants often work with many clients." According to a social work case manager resume, here's how social work case managers can utilize time-management skills in their job responsibilities: "maintained a caseload of 35 patients, working under strict deadlines. "
Communication skills. This is an important skill for social work case managers to perform their duties. For an example of how social work case manager responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "social and human service assistants talk with clients about the challenges in their lives and assist them in getting help." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a social work case manager: "maintain accountability for third party payors communications, discharge planning, and decision-making. ".
Interpersonal skills. For certain social work case manager responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "interpersonal skills." The day-to-day duties of a social work case manager rely on this skill, as "social and human service assistants must make their clients feel comfortable discussing sensitive issues." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what social work case managers do: "assessed severity of mental illness and interpersonal, family and community needs and goals. "
Organizational skills. A commonly-found skill in social work case manager job descriptions, "organizational skills" is essential to what social work case managers do. Social work case manager responsibilities rely on this skill because "social and human service assistants must often complete lots of paperwork and work with many different clients." You can also see how social work case manager duties rely on organizational skills in this resume example: "reviewed and revised policies and procedures, quality improvement organizational process for case management / social services department. "
Problem-solving skills. Another skill commonly found on social work case manager job descriptions is "problem-solving skills." It can come up quite often in social work case manager duties, since "social and human service assistants help clients find solutions to their problems." Here's an example from a resume of how this skill fits into day-to-day social work case manager responsibilities: "maintained crisis intervention, investigations, resolutions and reporting for complete caseload. "
The three companies that hire the most social work case managers are:
- Centene37 social work case managers jobs
- Intermountain Healthcare36 social work case managers jobs
- Swedish Hospital19 social work case managers jobs
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Compare different social work case managers
Social work case manager vs. Case management specialist
In healthcare facilities, a case management specialist is in charge of ensuring that patients get quality service. Their responsibilities often include handling admission and discharge procedures, preparing and processing documents, gathering and organizing patient information, and developing strategies to optimize case management operations. There are also instances where they must address patient concerns and issues, resolving them promptly and efficiently. Furthermore, as a case management specialist, it is essential to function while adhering to the facility's policies and regulations.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, social work case manager responsibilities require skills like "acute care," "home health," "msw," and "rehabilitation." Meanwhile a typical case management specialist has skills in areas such as "care coordination," "management services," "primary care," and "team planning." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Case management specialists earn the highest salaries when working in the technology industry, with an average yearly salary of $55,377. On the other hand, social work case managers are paid more in the health care industry with an average salary of $54,462.On average, case management specialists reach lower levels of education than social work case managers. Case management specialists are 21.6% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Social work case manager vs. Case manager/program manager
Case managers focus on guiding clients in helping their needs, resolving problems, and provide support through coursing them to relevant welfare organizations and agencies. It is the case manager's job to create case studies on subjects, in this case, children, for a social worker to provide an assessment. In many situations, the case manager is a licensed social worker who focuses on providing help for children in need. A case manager is mostly seen in government agencies and welfare organizations, hospitals, and healthcare facilities.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real social work case manager resumes. While social work case manager responsibilities can utilize skills like "acute care," "patient care," "home health," and "msw," case manager/program managers use skills like "management services," "criminal justice," "money management," and "intake assessments."
On average, case manager/program managers earn a lower salary than social work case managers. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, case manager/program managers earn the most pay in the insurance industry with an average salary of $40,445. Whereas social work case managers have higher pay in the health care industry, with an average salary of $54,462.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Case manager/program managers tend to reach lower levels of education than social work case managers. In fact, they're 17.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for social work case managers in the next 3-5 years?
Virginia Schwindt
MSW Field Director/Associate Professor, Union University
Social work case manager vs. Case manager for children
A clinical social worker is an individual in social work, which provides help to individuals in need of improving their lives and their well-being. Clinical social workers must work with different individuals to help them address difficulties that they are trying to overcome. To perform counseling services, clinical social workers must take and pass the professional licensure examination. They also help disadvantaged individuals connect to resources and services that they may benefit from.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, social work case managers are more likely to have skills like "patients," "acute care," "patient care," and "psychosocial assessments." But a case manager for children is more likely to have skills like "management services," "autism," "child welfare," and "child safety."
Case managers for children earn the best pay in the professional industry, where they command an average salary of $39,229. Social work case managers earn the highest pay from the health care industry, with an average salary of $54,462.Most case managers for children achieve a lower degree level compared to social work case managers. For example, they're 21.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Social work case manager vs. Clinical social worker
Even though a few skill sets overlap between social work case managers and clinical social workers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a social work case manager might have more use for skills like "acute care," "support services," "substance abuse," and "utilization review." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of clinical social workers require skills like "behavioral health," "clinical supervision," "treatment modalities," and "individual therapy. "
In general, clinical social workers earn the most working in the education industry, with an average salary of $62,929. The highest-paying industry for a social work case manager is the health care industry.The average resume of clinical social workers showed that they earn higher levels of education compared to social work case managers. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 18.2% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.0%.Types of social work case manager
Updated January 8, 2025
