2019 Role & Function Study Key Findings

The most significant research administered by CCMC is the Role & Function Study. This is an evidence-based study of the knowledge, skills and activities case managers are performing in the field. CCMC validates and improves the CCM® certification exam with data from this study to ensure it is reflective of the current state of case management as a practice.

The 2019 CCMC Role & Function Study identified a number of key findings for both case manager professionals as well as the case management field, including:

Case Manager Professionals:

  • Slightly over half of the survey respondents were care/case managers (52.68%) while only 14.43% were manager/supervisors. 
  • 80% have performed case management work for more than six years. Most (82.23%) are registered nurses; 11.17% are social workers and 3.38% are vocational rehabilitation/disability managers, counselors, or therapists. 
  • Almost half (44.56%) of board-certified case managers participating in the survey achieved certification within the last five years. 
  • In 2014, 43.6% of respondents were over age 55 and just over 1% are under age 30. In 2019, 44.62% were over age 55 and 1.55% were under age 30.
  • Almost all (94.6%) case managers are women.

Case Management Field:

Today’s case manager plays a leading role in the rapidly changing health care environment. The key findings identified by CCMC’s study demonstrate that certified case managers are critical in the definition of care coordination and ensure the delivery of competent case management. Certified case managers are poised as leaders in health care to address consumer protection and improved health outcomes.

Over half (56.38%) spend at least half their daily time on direct case management services. About a third (35.06%) spend more than 80 percent of their time in direct case management.
Their work settings are diverse:

  • 31.5% health insurance and third party adminstrators
  • 22.1% hospitals 
  • 8.9% workers’ compensation
  • 7.9% ambulatory, medical home and disease management
  • 6.2% independent case management  
  • 4.5% community/post acute
  • 4.5% military and veteran
  • A far greater percentage of employers—61%—now require certification, a 20% increase from 2014. 
  • The percentage of employers who offer a monetary reward for certification increased to 31% up from 29.9% in the 2014 survey. 
  • About 67% of the participants indicated that care management and care coordination terms are included in their job titles, underscoring the significance of those functions.
  • There continues to be an emphasis on ethics and quality measurement as core competencies for professional case managers.

Impact to Eligibility Criteria:

Based on the 2019 Role & Funcation Study results for the questions related to the percentage of time spent in direct client contact:

  • Those without direct care provision role responsibilities continue to not agree on the practice with the other subgroups
  • Those with over 1% and up to 100% of direct care provision role responsibilities demonstrate high agreement about the practice of case management

Therefore, a change was made to the CCM eligibility criteria that the percentage of qualified work time which focuses primarily on case management practice be reduced from 30% to 20%.