Hospital brings social work into case management fold.

To prepare for a wave of managed care penetration and to reduce duplication of work, 240-bed Jefferson Memorial Hospital in Crystal City, MO, integrated its social work and utilization review departments. The resulting case management services department features seven case coordinators and three social workers who often work out individual responsibilities for a given case among themselves. The newly hired case coordinators received extensive training in utilization review and discharge planning. The training curriculum involved trips to home health, hospice, a rehabilitation hospital, and a larger case management department.