Manager, Care Management-Orlando Health Watson Clinic Lakeland Highlands Hospital-Lakeland, FL

Opening Summer 2026 at 4000 Lakeland Highlands Road, Lakeland, FL.

The Orlando Health System of Care includes award-winning hospitals and ERs, specialty institutes, urgent care centers, primary care practices and outpatient facilities that span Florida’s east to west coasts, Central Alabama and Puerto Rico. Collectively, our dedicated team members honor our over 100-year legacy by providing professional and compassionate care to the patients, families and communities we serve. Join us!

Combining the collective strengths of two powerhouse organizations, Orlando Health and the high-quality physicians at Watson Clinic are expanding access to award-winning specialty care for patients in Polk County and beyond.

Opening in summer 2026, Orlando Health Watson Clinic Lakeland Highlands Hospital – a state-of-the-art, seven-story, multi-specialty hospital – will serve as a vital 550,000 square-foot healthcare hub offering:

• 300+ inpatient beds and 69 emergency and observation beds
• 11 operating rooms and four cardiac interventional suites
• Dedicated labor and delivery services – including a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) that will debut shortly after the hospital opens
• Comprehensive cardiovascular, neurology, and oncology services
• Advanced surgical procedures

Join us in shaping the future of healthcare in Polk County as part of the Orlando Health Watson Clinic Lakeland Highlands Hospital opening team and share in the privilege of saying you were there from the very beginning.

Benefits Beyond the Expected

Orlando Health is committed to providing you with benefits that go beyond the expected, with career-growing FREE education programs and well-being services to support you and your family through every stage of life. We begin your benefits on day one and offer flexibility wherever possible, so that you can be present for your passions. “Orlando Health Is Your Best Place to Work” is not just something we say, it’s our promise to you.

• Benefits that begin on Day 1
• Four (4) weeks paid parental leave
• Debt-free degrees through our Preferred Education Program
• Tuition reimbursement and loan repayment programs
• Back-up childcare and elder care
• Fertility benefits and adoption assistance
• NCLEX reimbursement
• Free NCPDs for RN license
• Free Kaplan review courses
• Dedicated RN career counselor and GN Coordinators to develop you
• Specialty certifications reimbursement
• And more!

Position Summary:

Leads the care management team in facilitating appropriate use of hospital resources and effective discharge planning and coordination of services to transition patients to the next appropriate level of care.

Education/Training

Graduate of an approved school of nursing, Master’s in Social Work (MSW), Mental Health Counseling (MHC), or Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT).

Licensure/Certification

• Florida RN license required and maintained current if graduated from an approved school of nursing.

Experience
Three (3) years of experience in chronic disease management, care management, care coordination, utilization management, or acute clinical care. Preferred to include at least two (2) years in utilization management

Essential Functions

• Manages educational, financial and human resources for the care management teams to deliver high quality, cost effective, and
responsive patient-focused health care services.
• Coordinates the workload distribution and scheduling of the care management team members to assure adequate and appropriate staffing to meet the needs of patients and families within the Orlando Health network.
• Develops collaborative relationships with the site leadership, medical staff leadership, managed care contractors, and community leaders.
• Supports positive relationships with payors and develops plans to optimize reimbursement and quality of care.
• Monitors working DRGs and GMLOS assignment as appropriate.
• Implements the performance improvement process to include outcome measurement as it relates to the identification of processes/ strategies/ opportunities that promote population health.
• Achieves results by developing strategies to manage patient care across the continuum, focusing on high risk, high cost and problem prone areas to include patient at risk for re-admission.
• Supports processes for clinical quality/ cost-improvement initiatives/ preventing re-hospitalizations.
• Develops recommendations to expand the integration of post-acute care services and hospital operations to better meet the needs of Orlando Health and the community.
• Designs educational strategies to assure compliance with regulatory standards for NCQA, HIPAA, CMS, and other local, state and federal organizations as applicable.
• Coordinates budget implementation with regard to payroll,supplies and miscellaneous other functions that deal with the financial performance of the departments overseen,
• Serves as a department intermediary for service problems.
• Ensures incident reports are completed appropriately and follows up with incident reports as needed.
• Organizes/leads staff meetings and huddles.
• Embraces, promotes and communicates change.
• Demonstrates professional accountability by maintaining proficiency in assigned role and involvement in professional organizations and continuing education.
• Holds self and others accountable to Orlando Health’s mission, vision and values.
• Develops and recommends concepts relative to new business opportunities, subsidiary organizations, acquisitions, current business design or other organization structuring to optimize organizational strength and meet operating mission.
• Manages various human resources functions including hiring, work assignments, coaching plans, and performance counseling.
• Maintains reasonably regular, punctual attendance consistent with Orlando Health policies, the ADA, FMLA and other federal, state and local standards.
• Maintains compliance with all Orlando Health policies and procedures.

• Provides matrices and other dashboard statistics to show the effectiveness ofthe case management/ care coordination team.

Other Related Functions

• Knowledge of hospital and department policies and procedures as well as knowledge of regulatory requirements relevant to the care management department.
• Ability to compile, analyze and interpret data to include the advanced application in spreadsheet generation and the use of graphics, database management and word processing software.
• Serves as facilitator to physicians and nursing staff on utilization and discharge planning, care coordination, and utilization management issues.
• Demonstrates the knowledge of labor and expense budgets, as well as revenue and census projections/ development.
• Maintains confidentiality of data and information.