Rachel Dewald Email and Phone Number

Manager of the Care Management Department at Piedmont Athens Regional. Management of 45-50 direct reports including: social workers, care manager RNs, and support staff. Management of 3-4 MSW Interns. Responsible for yearly performance appraisals and ongoing monitoring and evaluation of staff productivity, performance and compliance in relation to departmental policies, procedures, standards and expectations. Extensive experience with management, supervision of staff, developing and monitoring of departmental goals, objectives, initiatives, & quality/outcome metrics in alignment with program and organizational goals, program development, compliance, quality improvement, daily department operations, case management, transition planning, supportive counseling, and crisis intervention. Oversight of complex legal, ethical, and dynamic rich cases with close collaboration with risk management, corporate compliance, administration, physicians, nursing, and multidisciplinary team members to advocate for patient self-determination/rights and to promote improved patient outcomes &satisfaction. Co-leader of Ethics Review Team in the capacity of evaluating and consulting on direct ethical issues identified within the ethics process at Athens Regional. Ad Hoc member of six sigma project and extensive experience with design, implementation, and evaluation of readmission reduction initiatives. Subject matter expert for department in areas of design, build, system validation & testing, training & designing training materials and implementation for electronic health record for Cerner within organization. Responds to and manages patient and family complaints relating to social work/care management involvement in cases within the Service Excellent Complaint process within organization.

Worked as a medical social worker in an acute care hospital in Athens, GA, Worked as a social work within all inpatient settings of the hospital with specialized experience with nephrology and urology populations for five years and oncology and pediatric population for one year. Worked with patients & families performing case management, completing biopsychosocial assessments, transition planning & developing and implementing safe discharge plans for patients, offering family support, community resource connection, crisis intervention, and advanced directives