Issue Briefs
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 a hard copy of an Issue Brief for your staff, or for use at a meeting, we can send you a limited amount at no charge. Simply make your request by filling out the form in the sidebar, and we'll be happy to send them to you.
Empowered, engaged, equipped and enabled: Enabling the power of e-patients
June 2017 —In January 2007, a routine shoulder x-ray revealed an unexpected grey smudge on Dave deBronkart’s lung. More tests determined deBronkart had stage 4 kidney cancer. Tumors in his kidney, leg, arm, both lungs, skull and tongue confirmed the seriousness of his case.
Do the right thing: Excellence and ethics in case management
April 2017 —Professionals adhere to codes of ethics. For case managers, it's the Code of Professional Conduct for Case Managers. Developed by and for professional case managers, it provides ethical guidelines and principles. It serves as a baseline expectation, regardless of the care setting.
BUSTED! Three big myths—and the truth—about social workers and board certification for health care case management
December 2016 —Increasingly, social workers are seeking board certification as case managers. Along with that interest come questions—about eligibility, career trajectory, exam costs, benefits and a host of other issues.
What happened? How adverse childhood experience affects your clients' health
December 2016 —Words matter. Change the way you ask a question and transform your relationship with a client. Professional case managers understand this, and it’s at the heart of successfully addressing the impact of trauma.
Redesign, align, communicate: Lessons from Geisinger’s case management system-wide transformation
October 2016 —For all the changes we’ve witnessed in health care delivery, health care is still typically sickness care, focused on the immediate presenting problem, the episode, the diagnosis. Even case managers, trained to take the long view, succumb to the tyranny of the urgent. “What we know, however, is that as case managers, we must constantly move the focus back to the big picture: to transitions of care across the continuum, to alignment of the different pieces of health care,” says Patrice Sminkey, CEO of the Commission for Case Manager Certification. “No matter how much we accomplish, we must keep moving forward.”