How to Prepare to Start Your Care Management Practice with Bernadette Cooper
CareCraft welcomes Bernadette Cooper, a seasoned leader in care management with over two decades of experience. Bernadette's career spans notable roles at Compass Point Healthcare System, Optum, Village MD, and Alliance Health, showcasing her expertise in care leadership across various settings. She shares her current work building VB Layman supporting care managers to start their own practices.
Key Points:
Bernadette's Journey and Expertise: How she defines a "master care manager" and why individuals need to carve their own career paths.
Transition to Entrepreneurship: Having left Alliance Health, Bernadette now focuses on offering online courses to empower care managers to build successful businesses. Her aim is to bridge the gap between clinical expertise and business acumen, enabling professionals to create sustainable ventures beyond corporate constraints.
Navigating the Transition Period: Bernadette shares strategies for managing the transition from employment to entrepreneurship, including starting part-time, leveraging referrals, and gradually expanding one's client base. She highlights the supportive environment fostered within her network, aimed at empowering care managers to thrive independently.
Future Vision and Community Growth: She envisions her community becoming the go-to resource for independent care managers nationwide, providing support, education, and opportunities for professional growth.
Through Bernadette's insights and experiences, listeners gain valuable perspectives on navigating the complexities of care management and embarking on the journey towards entrepreneurship.
Episode Link: Spotify
Resources Mentioned:
Transcript
[00:00:04] Ariadne: Hi, welcome to the Care Craft podcast. I'm here today with Bernadette Cooper, who brings over two decades of exceptional leadership experience in care management.
[00:00:14] She was formerly the director of case Management Quality Assurance at Compass Point Healthcare System, where she expertly oversaw care leadership across 42 skilled nursing facilities, and managed over 200 monthly active managed care cases. She transitioned to roles at Optum and Village MD, where Bernadette excelled at both as both manager and senior manager, leading a care management team of over 20 director boards.
[00:00:39] And then her tenure at Alliance Health as director of Medicaid community care management has further showcased her ability to overcome challenges. Clinical behavioral health and long term services. So I'm so happy that we can have Bernadette here with us today to learn about your experiences, but also hear about what you're working on today.
[00:00:58] Thank you so much.
[00:01:01] Bernadette: Wow, thank you. I appreciate it. That was a long list.
[00:01:06] Ariadne: you've had a successful career and and are continuing to have a successful career. One question that I like to ask people at the top of our conversation is there's so many different titles out there for this type of work.
[00:01:21] There's care management, case management, care coordination, care coaches, et cetera. What do you like to, to use, to refer to yourself and the work that you do? different titles.
[00:01:34] Bernadette: I, I really do think that after you've done a lot, in a lot of spaces, like I have, you become a master at your craft. And I certainly wish that I mean, master care manager is certainly what I like to refer myself to.
[00:01:48] And for others who have done practically everything in care management, and the last step is just building your own business because that's you mastering your craft. So I definitely wish that we had some career trajectory to encompass all of that. But since we don't, you just have to create it yourself.
[00:02:09] Ariadne: Yeah, that makes total sense. Can tell our listeners what you are working on today because you have you know, left Alliance Health and are doing your own thing.
[00:02:18] Bernadette: Yeah, the wonderful thing that I'm doing now is offering online courses to take the craft that, you know, is care management and elevate it to a business, how to get your own caseload.
[00:02:32] And a lot of nurses and professionals know their expertise, but not everyone knows how to build a successful or sustainable business where you're more than yourself and providing for your patients. Doing it by yourself is certainly rewarding, but it's definitely hard to go on vacation. So I'm building a network of care managers across the country where they can build their own business.
[00:03:00] They can build their own courses. They can also build their own network to have a sustainable business that they can leave corporate America.
[00:03:10] Ariadne: That's awesome. And what made you decide to make this transition?
[00:03:16] Bernadette: Well, I do have my MBA, and I think I was more so a business person with a nursing degree rather than a nursing degree with a business degree mindset. So with that, it was always a juggle between the two. Pretty much my whole career, because if I was in corporate America, I also ran a business on the side. And now I just want to put, you know, both feet in, ride the wave and do the business. I would love to teach care managers how to make It a sustainable business because anyone can do it.
[00:03:47] But however, success has different metrics for different people. I want one sustainable that fits your family life fits your opportunity to go back and get education and still keep that passion alive.
[00:04:01] Ariadne: That's incredible. And right now you've been offering two courses, right? One that's more focused on education for the families and what they might need to know and and caring for their family members.
[00:04:15] And the other that really focus on those nurses and care managers that are thinking of transitioning out. Right? So maybe we can just start on the piece for the care manager specifically, like, can you tell me more about the gaps that you frequently see individuals have that they, they need to strengthen before going out on their own?
[00:04:39] Bernadette: That's a great question. One, I see that the business aspect. Once you put yourself out there, a lot of things are going to be thrown at you, and you need someone to kind of help you guide the best way to success. Certainly, there's more than one way, but to kind of prepare you what's around the bend, to give you some aspect of what the budget is going to be, to hold your hand in those moments when you're full of doubt, you're scared wondering if, you know, leaving that two week paycheck was the right decision. And taking ownership of how you want to lead your life is so powerful that the journey is definitely better when it's shared. And that's part of what the Master Care Manager community offers other people who are joining this journey with you.
[00:05:27] And discovering for your particular expertise in your area or your landscape in your part of the country may look very similar or very different and be able to help others get to a place of where they're constantly growing or they're constantly learning about how to be a better business person, as well as a better.
[00:05:49] Instructor or person to offer that education as well as meeting the demands of their family. So that trifecta alone is not easy. But if someone was to write a blue book, I'd be like, Hey, let me see what I can do to write my own blue book and make some edits for the kind of area I live in.
[00:06:09] Ariadne: Is there like a self reflection that you advise for individuals that they do to see like to understand if this path is like good for them as an individual and their family, like, what does that look like? What are the kind of the things that you would advise them to make sure they have in place before trying to do this.
[00:06:33] Bernadette: One of the things that my course does, and of course, I wanted to say the master care management course addresses all these issues if I can, but the course is not about care management one on one. It is helping you build an assessment of yourself to see where your gaps are. To see where you might have some blind spots and how to make that your advantage instead of your disadvantage.
[00:07:00] So that course kind of gets everyone on a foundation of, this is what you need to do to succeed as a business owner. And there has to be some level of comfort knowing that everybody knows what a discharge plan is. Everybody knows how to follow up on it. And there, There's some consistency across the board so if there are any areas in the course that you're have or noticing that you're having a knowledge gap on, it is definitely encouraging you to get that part of that education before you go out and launch or to have, you know, a business partner or a referral source that can add that for you. But if you look at the whole picture, It's definitely giving you some insight on where you can show up on some education.
[00:07:46] Ariadne: Yeah building a business takes time especially when you're getting started and, you know, working to build a brand and get referrals and build up your portfolio of clients. What is your advice as far as like how much time and potentially money should individuals think about budgeting to really get a practice set up.
[00:08:11] Bernadette: It depends. If you want to be the solo person, you can purchase the course and go out and try it yourself. And once or twice, get into a leadership webinar. If you really want to make this a business, there is a significant amount of investment that you have to consider because the reward will be great.
[00:08:32] And what I mean by that is. VB Layman offers the marketing part. They offer the opportunity for a large scale marketing where you can become part of that community where you locally support and market your own business with the financial backing of a big company. That investment has a great amount of time.
[00:08:55] I know when I first started it took more than 40 hours. Because you know, I didn't, I was building the playbook, but part of what I've learned is to make it easier for the next person. So it won't take over 60 hours a week. You can get down to 30 hours a week. But I will say this, if you're going to start your own business, you have to have the ability to leave that full time job and focus on yourself.
[00:09:24] And if your job does not leave room for that. It's it's going to sit on the shelf. Yeah. So people that have made up their mind. I'm jumping in those 30 hours of part time. Part time is going to take at least 25 hours a week until you start getting clients.
[00:09:46] Ariadne: I think it's like very hard to like split your focus in multiple places. What is Advice for individuals, you know, is it to go down to part time as you get your first couple of clients or, or how does, I guess, how does that like first client kind of finding occur?
[00:10:03] Because that's always, you know, a sticking point for a lot of people.
[00:10:07] Bernadette: I'm a referral magnet, which means as leads come in, I will be passing them off to people who are willing to be available for that time. Part time, meaning that if your name is on the list for that day, you will have the majority of patients coming for me virtual.
[00:10:23] Your face to face patients will probably be by word of mouth or from the advertising that you actually can do an on site visit. And depending on how we structure, whether you are a part time entry level, or you're graduating to a full time business associate that determines how much and where your referrals or your caseloads will be, you know, offering the opportunity for you to say, Hey, I could do this full time, you know, because some people just want to touch, touch the water, make sure it's real, which I encourage, but we are going to be the number one network for all geriatric or care managers, independent care managers in the country.
[00:11:08] Now that is a big taking, but with care managers and nurses and social workers. We are great at what we do when we have time to do it. I'm creating the space for that.
[00:11:22] Ariadne: And how many people are in your network today?
[00:11:27] Bernadette: Today we're still at less than 10. But the energy and the enthusiasm and the weekly webinars, excuse me, the weekly zoom calls are so encouraging.
[00:11:39] It is something that I look forward to, the energy that they bring and the expertise offers mentoring, it offers leadership development, but it also empowers you to, to live that life you've always wanted. Because you will gradually look at your work life different. Yeah. And that is exciting to see that.
[00:12:06] Ariadne: From, like, a services standpoint, like, how do you normally recommend that they position themselves and the value that they're bringing to a family that might be in the market for services?
[00:12:18] Bernadette: Now that this is that's a good question because this is what I'm encouraging everyone to do and that is to go to the local hospital when I worked in the hospital here every single day, there was someone that needed some type of help and getting connected through their care management department at the hospital.
[00:12:36] You know, and getting connected with the local urgent cares and senior citizens. I mean, urgent care and emergency rooms. You'd be amazed at how people just call and ask a question and then we'll keep you in mind to forge your information to people at church to people at the gas station. To different community groups.
[00:12:58] That's your organic growth that you'll have just by going to your, your local places. But you go to the and let them know that's available, even though they have policies and procedures in place. I'm good care managers say, hey, this is the person that can help you.
[00:13:17] This is where you can get this problem solved. And families will be forever grateful.
[00:13:22] Ariadne: Yeah and you know, another topic that comes up frequently in talking with independent care managers is really the pricing aspect of it, right?
[00:13:31] Like it's very, it can feel very icky, you know, to to set a particular price or. You know, a request a particular price. What is your advice on that topic?
[00:13:44] Bernadette: I'm glad you reminded me of that because you said, what are one of the things you need to know before you just jump into this and that is what your worth is and that is by comparison of your geographic area.
[00:13:57] If I'm in a metropolitan area, I charge metropolitan prices. If I'm going to make a rural visit, how do I calculate that in my cost? Well, this is how I do it. Number one, I have price transparency. Number two, I compare it to what others are charging. And number three, I look at is this long term or short term.
[00:14:18] You got to know how to price yourself. And you've got to stand on it because if they can get you at a cheaper rate, the first thing they're going to do is tell other people what they got you for. Oh, I didn't pay for that. I paid, paid this and then they will come to you expecting the same payment. And as a business owner, this is where you ride it.
[00:14:39] You know, it's kind of icky or sticky for some of us to say, Hey, you know, that's a lot of money. Well, you're worth a lot of money. And we keep reminding you what's your worth. That's why the big hospitals and insurance hired you and you still deserve that when you break out on your own. So I really want people to understand being a master care manager means you're at the top of your game and you deserve the respect and the financial responsibility that comes with it.
[00:15:06] Ariadne: Yeah, that's well said. Maybe shifting gears a little bit like I did want to talk about the work that you're doing to really educate families and how, you know, they should think about navigating you know, the health care, especially with aging parents or others in the family.
[00:15:24] Can you tell us more about, you know, the course that you launched in that area and what your rationale was and then kind of like how how you've been engaging families with it.
[00:15:34] Bernadette: Well, selling to the families is much harder. In the beginning they don't see really a need for you or geriatric care manager when there's not a fire.
[00:15:46] There's not a whole lot of prevention that the family is willing to do before the crisis. Now when they, when they are in crisis. That's when they think you're golden. And of course we are but they're asking for someone in their area. They're asking, can I have one of you in my particular area? My parent lives there and, and I live over here.
[00:16:07] And then they begin to ask a lot of questions. Why is it this way? You know, do I have to do it? And can I just send you down there to advocate for me? All are legitimate questions, but teaching them the course. At some point during that venture is it is rewarding because they come back speaking your language much better.
[00:16:31] They're able to articulate what they desire and what they don't want to happen. And it also, it also embraces them to understand that there's going to be an end of life conversation at some point on this journey. And hospice does not always mean the doctors writing you a death sentence. And that is so refreshing to know that families can trust you in that space and be able to process their grieving, their disappointments, their frustrations, so they can have a clearer view of what's demanded of them. It's a lot going on and I will say the families that I get are already in crisis. They got that phone call in the middle of the night.
[00:17:20] Come see mom. And when I talk to them, they become caregiver moments and I post a little bit of that on my TikTok or on my social media sites on the caregiver moment because when you begin to sound like them, you need to know there's a safe place outside of different social media sites, but there's a safe place where you can learn and you can also share and to help others.
[00:17:49] Because once your journey is over and that journey, meaning once your, your family member expires then really the grieving that's in and sometimes in order to process that grief, helping others, help you understand better, help you grieve better. And that's the kind of space that I wanted to create with the P2P parents to parent parenting to parents course that I created that offers that.
[00:18:17] Ariadne: What does that course structure look like? Like someone would sign up and there's a set period of time and then it rolls into kind of the monthly Zoom calls that you were describing?
[00:18:28] Bernadette: Well, they sign up and we go with them through the course on what module they are. Now, we don't have a lot of modules. We have some tools that you can use, but we don't have a lot of modules. I've signed up for online classes and it's one of 48, one of 15, one, one of 50 modules. I, I just want to quit on day one.
[00:18:52] So we have 15 modules and anything outside of the course, we supplement with notebooks. We supplement with Things that you can write and feel intangible and explore those options and they're constantly updated when the need comes, meaning that we get feedback from our families. If the majority of families are saying, I'm not ready to discuss that, get me at the end of the course, it's flexible to move it toward the end of the course, and they will start their weekly meeting.
[00:19:24] They will start the zoom calls weekly in the beginning, and then they will get to monthly as they feel the need to, but weekly to keep them engaged weekly to make sure they know how to utilize the online course. It's not just selling you a bunch of words. Because health care is continuous. And it also focused on them.
[00:19:47] You know, if you don't take care of the caregiver, you can't take care of anyone else.
[00:19:51] Ariadne: Yeah, that's very true. And how long do families normally stay with you in this program?
[00:19:59] Bernadette: The eight people that we have in the program looks forward to talking to our nine care managers every week.
[00:20:10] Ariadne: They get a very individualized support, I see.
[00:20:13] Bernadette: They do, they do. They get that individualized support and they are loving it. They're absolutely loving it. So they're like, I know you want to expand the business, but right now I'm good. There are some other professional Facebook groups that they're a part of.
[00:20:28] They'll bring some of those problems, concerns, because they want to know what, what happens when they get there. So they are in that program, and they're very entrenched with the care managers, but it gives them something to look forward to.
[00:20:45] Ariadne: That's awesome. Well transitioning to kind of last questions, what do you think is the future direction of this industry? Like, where do you think independent care management will go from here?
[00:20:58] Bernadette: I'm making the bet that it's going to be more in demand, because This is the, you know, I've been doing this for a long time and the way healthcare is now is so different, so fractured. And I don't know how we got here, but we're here.
[00:21:16] And families, I think people, patients are always going to want an option to, I'll pay it myself. I just need help. I I'll put the money up because to get that insurance to pay or to get insurance or a part of it, they're not going to want to go through that headache. If they have the resources to pay for it themselves in a way that gets them back to their lives, and I think it's going to grow tremendously.
[00:21:46] I think outside of the Medicare, Medicare, excuse me, Medicaid insurance system, people are going to want options and I'm positioning all of our care managers now to be in a place where they're That they're an option and people say they won't pay for that. You'd be surprised what people will pay for mainly because this is the third visit. Symptoms aren't getting better. This is the 4th specialist, and they don't know how to articulate exactly what they need. And with the shortage of clinicians and physicians, they get processed, like a checklist. This is the 5th specialist, and they don't know how to articulate exactly what they need.
[00:22:24] And with the shortage of clinicians and physicians, they get processed, like a checklist. We got to have someone on the outside that's protecting the patient. So, I think it's going to grow. I think it's going to grow tremendously. You got to be ready. You got to be ready for these changes.
[00:22:42] Ariadne: Yeah, you got to be ready.
[00:22:43] For any listeners that would like to get in touch with you, like, what is the best way to learn more about what you're working on?
[00:22:50] Bernadette: Oh, I would love to say my, the webpage is definitely a good place vblayman.Com. B as in Victor B as in boy layman because part of what we do is break it down into layman's terms. L. A. Y. M. A. N. Healthcare dot com and it will give you access to All the things that we're diving into, we're launching our healthcare virtual assistant for care coordination in the month of April. We have the care managers and the parents all lined up on the web page coming out next week. But that is 1 place where you can find me because I'm definitely there
[00:23:32] Ariadne: okay, well, thank you so much for joining us today, Bernadette. It was lovely talking with you.
[00:23:38] Bernadette: Oh, this was so much fun.