A Clinical Manager in a VNA (Visiting Nurse Association/Home Health Agency) is responsible for overseeing the clinical staff, patient care, documentation, compliance, and day-to-day clinical operations of the agency or a clinical team.
Responsibilities include:
Clinical supervision: Supervise RNs, LPNs, PT/PTAs, OT/COTAs, SLPs, MSWs, and HHAs/CNAs as applicable. Provide coaching, answer clinical questions, address performance concerns, and ensure staff follow agency policies.
Patient oversight:
Review new admissions/SOCs, ensure patients meet home-health eligibility requirements, monitor changes in condition, hospitalizations, falls, wounds, medication issues, and other high-risk situations.
Plan of Care management:
Ensure the POC is complete, individualized, updated, physician/provider orders are obtained, frequencies are appropriate, and recertifications/discharges are completed timely.
OASIS/QA
Review OASIS assessments for accuracy and consistency with the clinical record, monitor documentation quality, correct discrepancies, and educate clinicians on OASIS requirements.
Case conferences:
Conduct or participate in interdisciplinary case conferences, review difficult/high-risk patients, coordinate disciplines, and ensure goals and discharge planning are being addressed.
Scheduling and productivity:
Monitor caseloads, missed visits, declined visits, open visits, staff productivity, weekend/holiday coverage, and make sure ordered frequencies are met.
Review visit notes, orders, medication profiles, care plans, wound documentation, hospitalization documentation, discharge summaries, and other clinical records for completeness and timeliness.
Hospitalization reduction:
Track ER visits and rehospitalizations, identify patients at high risk for hospitalization, perform follow-up/root-cause reviews, and implement interventions.
Quality improvement:
Participate in QAPI/PIPs, track quality measures and HHCAHPS results, identify trends, develop corrective action plans, and monitor whether improvements are sustained.
Staff education:
Provide education on OASIS, documentation, wound care, medication reconciliation, infection prevention, fall prevention, hospitalization prevention, and regulatory changes.
Survey readiness:
Maintain charts and clinical processes in a survey-ready state, conduct mock audits, respond to deficiencies, and help develop and monitor Plans of Correction.
Communication:
Coordinate with physicians/providers, hospitals, referral sources, patients/families, field clinicians, intake, scheduling, QA, billing, and agency leadership.