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What Does a Certified Managed Care Nurse Do?

Unlike other nurses who work mainly in hospitals, managed care nurses usually work for HMOs and health insurance companies. They work to establish wellness, disease prevention, and disease management programs.

Managed care nurses must learn about the benefits and risks behind every health care decision in order to teach their patients how to effectively take care of their health care needs. You may also help to moderate costs by helping both health care providers and consumers to change their behaviors.

Education & Training Required to Become a Certified Managed Care Nurse

Managed care nurses are typically registered nurses (RNs) with either an associate's or a bachelor's degree in nursing. The American Board of Managed Care Nursing (ABMCN) offers a voluntary certification that gives you the official title Certified Managed Care Nurse (CMCN). You need to give them an affidavit saying you have completed a certain obligatory curriculum, which is offered by several traditional and online degree programs in certified managed care nursing. Or, if you prefer, you can enroll in the American Association of Managed Care Nurses home study course. After finishing the necessary education, you then must pass the ABMCN national exam.

Typical Characteristics of a Certified Managed Care Nurse

This job can be fast-paced, so you need to be able to handle the pressure. You must also communicate with a wide variety of people, from patients to physicians to insurance agents. That can require a tremendous amount of diplomacy and people skills. Excellent problem solving abilities can certainly help you to succeed in this career path, as can a thorough understanding of both hospital and community health care resources.

High Demand for Certified Managed Care Nurses

Certified managed care nurses help lower health care costs by keeping people informed about self-care and disease prevention. In today's economy in particular, that's an essential job function. The changing laws on health care should also create more jobs in this field, since certified managed care nurses also teach health care providers how to efficiently and less expensively administer to the sick. Overall job growth for RNs should be excellent in coming years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which predicts 22 percent growth in the field between 2008 and 2018.