Top 12 Care Manager Skills to Put on Your Resume

Crafting a compelling care manager resume means putting your interpersonal, administrative, and clinical strengths front and center. Hiring teams scan for proof you can coordinate care smoothly, support patients with clarity and compassion, and keep complex operations from wobbling. Show the skills that make this happen, and your resume snaps into focus.

Care Manager Skills

1. Empathy
2. Leadership
3. Communication
4. Time Management
5. Conflict Resolution
6. Critical Thinking
7. Care Planning
8. HIPAA Compliance
9. Salesforce Health Cloud
10. Electronic Health Records (EHR)
11. Patient Advocacy
12. Team Collaboration

1. Empathy

Empathy, in the care manager role, is the steady ability to understand and respond to another person’s feelings, worries, and hopes—then shape support and plans that honor those realities.

Why It's Important

It builds trust. It changes conversations. Empathy unlocks tailored care, calms anxiety, and improves adherence—often the difference between a plan that sits on paper and a plan that works.

How to Improve Empathy Skills

1. Active listening: Listen to understand, not to reply. Track tone, body language, pauses.

2. Empathy training: Join workshops or simulations that stretch perspective-taking.

3. Reflective practice: After tough encounters, debrief yourself. What landed, what missed, what next time.

4. Seek diverse perspectives: Read, watch, and talk beyond your usual circles to widen your lens.

5. Mindfulness and self-compassion: Regulate your stress so you can stay present for others.

6. Feedback and mentoring: Ask colleagues and patients how your approach feels and adjust with intention.

Do this consistently and empathy turns from intention into muscle memory.

How to Display Empathy Skills on Your Resume

2. Leadership

Leadership, for a care manager, means guiding teams through complicated care journeys, setting crisp priorities, and creating the conditions where patients and staff both do their best work.

Why It's Important

It keeps care coordinated, decisions timely, and morale steady. Strong leadership lifts outcomes, reduces friction, and makes quality sustainable.

How to Improve Leadership Skills

1. Continuous learning: Take courses, attend huddles, read widely on healthcare operations and people management.

2. Clear communication: Keep messages direct. Listen deeply. Close loops.

3. Lead with empathy: Understand pressures on patients and staff; adjust plans without losing momentum.

4. Invite feedback: Ask often, act on it, and circle back.

5. Build engagement: Recognize wins, manage workload, and make teamwork the default.

6. Decide with data and ethics: Balance evidence, risk, and equity. Own the decision.

7. Mentor others: Coach, delegate stretch work, and open paths for growth.

How to Display Leadership Skills on Your Resume

3. Communication

Communication in care management is the steady exchange of the right information, at the right time, in the right way—among patients, families, and clinicians—so care stays clear and safe.

Why It's Important

Misunderstandings cost time and health. Clear communication sharpens decisions, prevents errors, and builds trust across the care team.

How to Improve Communication Skills

1. Active listening: Track content and emotion. Summarize back to confirm.

2. Plain language: Cut jargon. Use examples that make sense to the listener.

3. Empathy: Name concerns, validate feelings, and meet people where they are.

4. Feedback culture: Ask for input; give constructive, actionable notes.

5. Digital tools: Use secure messaging, telehealth, and shared notes to keep everyone aligned.

6. Cultural competence: Adapt style to language, norms, and health beliefs.

7. Conflict skills: De-escalate early. Focus on interests, not positions.

8. Practice: Role-play tough conversations; refine scripts and tone.

How to Display Communication Skills on Your Resume

4. Time Management

Time management for care managers means triaging tasks, scheduling smartly, and guarding focus so patient care moves without bottlenecks.

Why It's Important

Delays ripple. Good time management cuts wait times, reduces burnout, and keeps care plans on track.

How to Improve Time Management Skills

1. Prioritize with intention: Use an urgent vs. important matrix. Protect high-impact work.

2. Set SMART goals: Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound.

3. Use tools: Calendar blocks, task boards (Trello, Asana), reminders, shared checklists.

4. Delegate well: Match tasks to strengths; hand off with clear expectations and checkpoints.

5. Batch and buffer: Cluster similar work; leave margins for the unpredictable.

6. Review weekly: Look back, re-forecast, adjust priorities.

How to Display Time Management Skills on Your Resume

5. Conflict Resolution

Conflict resolution is the calm, structured process of surfacing disagreements among patients, families, and providers—and steering them toward workable, respectful outcomes.

Why It's Important

Unresolved friction drains teams and derails care. Resolving it early protects relationships and patient safety.

How to Improve Conflict Resolution Skills

1. Active listening: Summarize viewpoints; check for understanding.

2. Empathy: Acknowledge emotions and underlying needs.

3. Assertive clarity: Speak plainly about issues and boundaries without blame.

4. Joint problem-solving: Identify root causes; co-create options; agree on next steps.

5. Mediation tools: Use neutral facilitation techniques for complex or high-stakes disputes.

How to Display Conflict Resolution Skills on Your Resume

6. Critical Thinking

Critical thinking for care managers means analyzing data and context objectively, weighing risks and trade-offs, and making reasoned decisions that hold up under pressure.

Why It's Important

When resources are tight and cases are messy, sound judgment guards quality, equity, and efficiency.

How to Improve Critical Thinking Skills

1. Question assumptions: Ask what might be missing or misread.

2. Gather evidence: Pull records, guidelines, and patient input before deciding.

3. Appraise quality: Distinguish strong evidence from weak; avoid bias traps.

4. Consider alternatives: Generate multiple options; use frameworks like Six Thinking Hats to stretch perspectives.

5. Reflect after action: Review outcomes; extract lessons; iterate.

6. Keep learning: Refresh clinical knowledge and systems know-how regularly.

7. Practice: Work scenarios and case reviews to sharpen reasoning speed and rigor.

How to Display Critical Thinking Skills on Your Resume

7. Care Planning

Care planning is the personalized, living roadmap built from a thorough assessment, shared goals, and coordinated actions across the care team.

Why It's Important

It aligns expectations, clarifies responsibilities, and moves patients toward outcomes that matter to them.

How to Improve Care Planning Skills

1. Comprehensive assessment: Use standardized tools (e.g., interRAI) and patient narratives to capture needs and strengths.

2. Goal setting: Co-create SMART goals that reflect patient preferences and priorities.

3. Plan development: Integrate input from interdisciplinary teams; define roles, timelines, and escalation paths.

4. Implementation: Coordinate services, community resources, and benefits; remove barriers quickly.

5. Monitor and adapt: Use PDSA-style reviews to adjust as conditions change.

6. Communication: Keep all parties informed using shared records and secure messaging (Oracle Health/Cerner, Epic, etc.).

7. Education and support: Equip patients and families with clear instructions, self-management tools, and contacts.

How to Display Care Planning Skills on Your Resume

8. HIPAA Compliance

HIPAA compliance means safeguarding protected health information (PHI) across people, processes, and technology—privacy, security, and breach response—to preserve trust and meet legal standards.

Why It's Important

It protects patients, prevents penalties, and keeps data integrity intact—nonnegotiable in healthcare.

How to Improve HIPAA Compliance Skills

1. Train everyone: Provide routine, role-based training covering privacy, security, and breach notification.

2. Risk assessments: Use the HHS Security Risk Assessment approach to spot and mitigate vulnerabilities.

3. Policies and procedures: Maintain clear, accessible SOPs for PHI handling, access, and disposal; review annually.

4. Secure data: Encrypt, enforce strong access controls, use MFA, and lock down physical records.

5. Minimum necessary: Limit PHI access to what each role requires; audit regularly.

6. BAAs with vendors: Ensure every partner with PHI access signs and follows a Business Associate Agreement.

7. Breach response: Document incident workflows and timelines; report promptly per HHS rules.

How to Display HIPAA Compliance Skills on Your Resume

9. Salesforce Health Cloud

Salesforce Health Cloud is a patient and member relationship platform that gives care managers a unified view of people, tasks, and outcomes—so outreach, coordination, and follow-through all tighten up.

Why It's Important

It centralizes information, standardizes workflows, and supports proactive engagement—powerful for closing gaps in care.

How to Improve Salesforce Health Cloud Skills

1. Training and certification: Build skills through Trailhead paths and formal credentials.

2. Automation and AI: Use flows, rules, and Einstein to reduce manual steps and surface risk signals.

3. Custom views and dashboards: Configure 360-degree patient summaries, work queues, and outcomes tracking.

4. EHR integration: Connect via MuleSoft or APIs for current meds, allergies, labs, and notes.

5. Communication tools: Enable secure messaging, care team collaboration, and telehealth touchpoints.

6. Mobile-first: Equip field teams with the Salesforce mobile app for real-time updates.

7. Community insight: Share lessons and patterns in the Trailblazer Community; keep releases current.

8. Feedback loops: Collect user and patient input; refine page layouts, flows, and alerts.

How to Display Salesforce Health Cloud Skills on Your Resume

10. Electronic Health Records (EHR)

EHRs are real-time digital charts—history, diagnoses, meds, allergies, imaging, labs—shared securely across authorized providers. For care managers, they’re the backbone of safe coordination.

Why It's Important

EHRs speed information flow, sharpen decisions, and support accurate reporting and billing. Less rework, fewer errors, better continuity.

How to Improve Electronic Health Records (EHR) Skills

1. Interoperability: Advocate for HL7/FHIR standards, clean interfaces, and consistent data mapping.

2. User-centered design: Involve frontline staff in optimizing templates, shortcuts, and views.

3. Training and support: Offer onboarding, refreshers, super-user coaching, and just-in-time help.

4. Analytics and reporting: Build dashboards for gaps in care, utilization, and outcomes; act on trends.

5. Security and compliance: Enforce role-based access, audit logs, and HIPAA safeguards.

6. Patient engagement: Promote portals, secure messaging, scheduling, and results access.

7. Information blocking compliance: Align with the 21st Century Cures Act to support appropriate patient data access.

How to Display Electronic Health Records (EHR) Skills on Your Resume

11. Patient Advocacy

Patient advocacy is standing with the patient—clarifying choices, defending rights, removing barriers—so care reflects what matters to them.

Why It's Important

It increases trust, equity, and adherence. Patients feel heard, informed, and supported.

How to Improve Patient Advocacy Skills

1. Know the landscape: Learn patient rights, coverage options, community resources, and appeal processes.

2. Listen first: Capture fears, goals, and constraints before advising.

3. Empower with information: Teach plain-language options, risks, and self-management steps.

4. Build partnerships: Connect patients, families, and providers with clear roles and steady communication.

5. Champion quality and safety: Escalate concerns, address disparities, and track resolution.

6. Coordinate relentlessly: Synchronize appointments, referrals, authorizations, and follow-ups.

7. Address social needs: Screen for social determinants and link to housing, food, transport, or financial supports.

How to Display Patient Advocacy Skills on Your Resume

12. Team Collaboration

Team collaboration is the glue—shared goals, clean handoffs, and fast feedback across disciplines—so patients experience seamless care.

Why It's Important

It reduces errors, speeds problem-solving, and uses everyone’s expertise wisely.

How to Improve Team Collaboration Skills

1. Set shared goals: Define outcomes, owners, and timelines everyone can see.

2. Communicate clearly: Hold quick huddles, document decisions, and close loops.

3. Use collaboration tools: Adopt secure chat, task boards (Trello/Asana), and shared docs.

4. Clarify roles: RACI-style accountability prevents duplication and gaps.

5. Feedback culture: Normalize constructive critique and appreciative recognition.

6. Upskill together: Cross-train, run simulations, and debrief after complex cases.

7. Foster trust: Respect expertise, follow through, and keep commitments.

How to Display Team Collaboration Skills on Your Resume