Hospital Discharge Planner
A hospital discharge planner is the nurse, social worker, or case manager responsible for arranging post-acute services before a patient leaves the hospital. For home health agencies, discharge planners are the gatekeepers of hospital referral volume: they assemble the referral, present agency options to the patient, and decide who gets the first call.
Definition
A hospital discharge planner is the nurse, social worker, or case manager responsible for arranging post-acute services before a patient leaves the hospital. For home health agencies, discharge planners are the gatekeepers of hospital referral volume: they assemble the referral, present agency options to the patient, and decide who gets the first call.
Why it matters
Hospital Discharge Planner is part of the Post-Acute Care vocabulary used across home health operations, documentation, and revenue cycle. Understanding it helps clinicians, QA leads, and administrators stay aligned on care quality and compliance.
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