CCMC

The role of the professional case manager is changing rapidly.  Health reform has called upon the industry to ensure that care delivered is efficient, effective, high quality and low cost.  Never in our history has the role and the function of the professional case manager been more important.  The expectations of today’s case manager are evolving and the experts in policy, research and industry are talking with the Commission about changes affecting case management practice.

The Commission’s Issue Briefs are offered as part of the CMLearning Network®. Each publication covers topics that are timely and relevant for today’s professional case manager. If you would you like hard copies of one or all of the Issue Briefs for your staff, or for use at a meeting, simply make your request by clicking here, and we'll be happy to send them to you.

• Dancing, not wrestling: Motivational interviewing helps case managers cultivate relationships and elicit change (Volume 3, Issue 2)

Case managers possess the expertise to guide clients toward finding their own solutions, to give them the tools to self-manage and to make transformative changes. This truth lies at the heart of motivational interviewing (MI)—collaborative, client-centered conversation that strengthens the client’s own motivation to change. Featuring Catherine M. Mullahy, RN, BS, CRRN, CCM, president, Mullahy & Associates, LLC and Michael G. Goldstein, MD, associate chief consultant for preventive medicine, Veteran's Health Administration (VHA), National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. Disclaimer: Dr. Goldstein's comments and opinions are his own and do not represent the official views or positions of the Veterans Health Administration.

• Cultivating the accountable case manager: New models of care, increased demand make robust workforce development essential (Volume 3, Issue 1)

New models of care that emphasize care coordination require a robust cadre of professional case managers who are current, skilled and well-suited to the demands of the position. The industry must start identifying and preparing that cadre now. The question, however, is how? Featuring Hussein Tahan, DNSc, RN, independent consultant and researcher International Health Care Management & Consulting, New Jersey and knowledge editor, CMBOK, and Patrice Sminkey, RN, chief executive officer, The Commission

• Communicate, engage, transform: Bon Secours case managers part of a robust team enhancing health care delivery and patient health (Volume 2, Issue 5)

Debate still rages about some aspects of health care delivery, but one thing appears to be a given: Truly coordinated care delivered by the right professionals at the right time to the right patient is one solution to the current crisis. The looming question is this: How do we get there? Featuring Robert Fortini, PNP vice president, and chief clinical officer at Bon Secours Medical Group and Patrice Sminkey, chief executive officer, The Commission.

• Renewed emphasis on team-based, coordinated care places the professional case manager center stage (Volume 2, Issue 4)
  Coordinated, team-based care remains at the heart of quality care, in models old and new, and the board-certified case manager brings the education, skills and talent to deliver it. Read what case managers bring to the new “center stage” of care coordination in this brief featuring David Meyers, MD and Janice L. Genevro, Ph.D., of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and Annette C. Watson, RN-BC, CCM, MBA,  the Commission’s immediate past-chair and senior vice president, Community Transformation for Taconic IPA.

• The Case for Professional Case Management to Enhance Patient-Centered Coordinated Care: A Sampling of the Evidence
  Care coordination is an essential activity to achieve the goals of better individual health, better population health and reduced health care costs. Read the mounting evidence that demonstrates the need for—and success of—professional case management to ensure coordination of care. Multiple examples across various health care settings and throughout the nation are cited of the benefits of professional case management in improving the delivery of health care services for patients.

• From "turf" to "team" Case Management Interfaces with Team-based Care Models (Volume 2, Issue 3)
  Today’s new models of care—the medical home, advanced primary care and accountable care organizations—are collaborative and connected. Read about the leadership initiative that has transformed the Veteran’s Health Administration into a collaborative, team-based model—including effective use of case managers—in this brief, featuring the VHA’s VACO Primary Care Clinical Program Manager Joanne M. Shear, MS, FNP-BC, and Kathryn M. Serbin, BSN, MS, CCM, of the James A. Lovell Federal Healthcare Facility and the Commission’s chair- elect.

• Center Stage in the Revolution: A Health Care Reform Action Guide for the Professional Case Manager (Volume 2, Issue 2)
  The Affordable Care Act (ACA) placed case management functions center stage in proposed new models of care. The Commission and its certificants must be part of designing these new models, not merely react to changes after they happen. Learn about today’s key initiatives and how case managers are leveraging the Case Management Knowledge Framework to illuminate our role in a changing landscape. Featuring Sara Franko of Capitol Counsel LLC and Patrice Sminkey, the Commission’s chief executive officer.

• Current, Evolving and Always Available: The Case Management Body of Knowledge (Volume 2, Issue 1)
  The interest and opportunity in case management is rapidly expanding, among those who practice and also among the professionals who deliver and those who regulate health care. The science, practice and policy of case management are changing, increasing the need for to up-to-date, easily accessible information about case management knowledge and process. Enter the Commission’s Case Management Body of Knowledge™ (CMBOK ® ) to address this need and to realize our mission of advancing the practice of case management. Featuring the expert voices of CMBOK Knowledge Editor Hussein Tahan, DNSc, RN and Annette C. Watson, RN-BC, CCM, MBA, the Commission’s immediate past-chair and senior vice president, Community Transformation for Taconic IPA.

• Care Coordination: Case managers "Connect the Dots" in New Delivery Models (Volume 1, Issue 2)
  One key finding of the Commission’s 2009 Role & Functions survey is that, as complexity of care increases and the demand for accountability grows within new models of care, the role of the case manager is increasing in importance--especially in guiding patient transitions across multiple practitioners and care settings. Featuring experts Janet Tomcavage, RN, MSN of Geisinger Health Plan and Michael B. Garrett, MS, CCM, of Qualis Health.

• Growing Trend: Case Management Certification Desired and Paid for by More Employers (Volume 1, Issue 1)
  The employer perception of the growing importance of certification suggests that employers view   certification as a quality indicator, a proxy for demonstrating competence that an employer is willing to pay for and even require. Follow the implications of this trend in this issue brief based on findings from the Commission’s 2009 Role & Functions Study and featuring experts Lisa Woodring, LSCSW, LCSW, CCM, RN, director of clinical operations for Clinical Trials Technology, Inc. and Sandy Wederquist, RN, CPUM, CMAC, director of care management for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City.