How To Become A Discharge Planner: What It Is and Career Path

What is a discharge planner and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

A Discharge Planner is a registered nurse or a master's degree holder in social work. They're typically in charge of coordinating the discharge of a patient. The discharge planner is responsible for coordinating a patient's release from a medical facility to their home or another facility like a rehabilitation center or nursing home.

The discharge planner's real work begins when a patient is admitted and continues throughout the patient's stay. They work with the hospital's utilization review office to take note of information like diagnosis, living arrangements, and social support system. This information helps to determine and develop a patient's discharge plan.

Discharge planners are mostly social workers or nurses. Federal law mandates that hospitals must have discharge planners. However, the state determines the educational and licensing requirements. An applicant can be hired as a discharge planner with a minimum of a bachelor's degree in nursing or social work.

ScoreDischarge PlannerUS Average

Salary

4.1

Avg. Salary $52,855

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

10.0

Growth Rate 6%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.44%

Asian 8.92%

Black or African American 11.35%

Hispanic or Latino 9.28%

Unknown 4.28%

White 65.73%

Gender

female 86.41%

male 13.59%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress Level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

9.1

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

7.8

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

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Key steps to become a discharge planner

Explore discharge planner education requirements

Most common discharge planner degrees

Bachelor's

59.2 %

Master's

20.9 %

Associate

14.7 %

Start to develop specific discharge planner skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	23.35%
Social Work	18.14%
Home Health	5.45%
Acute Care	4.53%
Patient Care	4.47%

Complete relevant discharge planner training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New discharge planners learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a discharge planner based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real discharge planner resumes.

Research discharge planner duties and responsibilities

Manage full caseload of patients providing both supportive and educational counseling as well as utilization review and case management services.
Assist patients with completing Medicaid applications.
Coordinate and facilitate patient placement post discharge in clinical facilities, including SNF and rehabilitation programs.
Maintain verbal contact with family/petitioner, in compliance with HIPAA and JCAHO policy, with regards to consumer needs.

Prepare your discharge planner resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your discharge planner resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a discharge planner resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Discharge Planner Resume templates

Build a professional Discharge Planner resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Discharge Planner resume.

Apply for discharge planner jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a discharge planner job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

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