About The Commission™

The Commission™ had its beginnings in a July 1990 case management conference and a survey conducted to determine interest and attitudes towards certification.  As a result of the survey, a National Task Force on Case Management convened in Dallas on March 27, 1991. Notes from the meeting reference formation of a Steering Committee made up of 30 professionals representing 29 healthcare industry stakeholders. The organizers envisioned the establishment of an entry-level type certification that would demonstrate basic education, experience, and competence, evidenced by an examination. 

A paramount concern was the varied training and background of people who called themselves case managers; incompetent practice could damage the emerging profession and endanger the well-being of patients. The idea was put forward that case management professionals themselves, rather than a regulatory authority, should oversee the credentialing process. As a result of the Dallas meeting, the task force set to work to research and develop what would become the first CCM® examination.

The work to develop case management certification included a number of milestones:

  • Clarification of the case manager role and development of a draft definition of case management (August 23, 1991, Steering Committee Report)
  • Finalization of case management definition and name of the credential: the Certified Case Manager (CCM) (July 3, 1992, letter to National Task Force)
  • A 1992 bid to develop the certification process, won by the Certified Insurance Rehabilitation Specialists (now the Certified Disability Management Specialists)
  • Development of certification eligibility guidelines, the role and function study, and the examination process
  • Formation of an interim commission to oversee the certification process
  • Refinement of the eligibility criteria for the Certified Case Manager (CCM®) credential
  • Development and field testing of an examination in 1993

In 1993, The Commission™ offered its first credentialing exam. Some 12,000 case managers sought the CCM in its first year, well beyond the 1,000 or so applicants expected.

Other recent milestones: