Case management is the practice performed by a person or organization to ensure that the needs of a client are satisfied with respect to their health and other human services. This practice is performed by executing 6 steps.
- Assessment
This is the initial step wherein the case manager meets the clients, interacts, and analyzes the client’s health conditions. By assessing their needs, the case manager decides if the client can benefit from his organization’s services or not. A thorough assessment also allows him to recognize any immediate needs of the client.
- Planning
The needs of the customer cannot be fulfilled all at once or it may have a negative effect on the client’s health. Therefore, a definite plan has to be laid out to achieve the health needs of the client. This plan is based on the assessment carried out by the case manager which includes setting specific goals that are achieved in order and monitored continuously to determine the impact on the client’s health and to evaluate the improvements.
- Implementation
This is where actual work is done. The specific services are provided to the client in the manner laid out. This is where most of the communication takes place between the client and the caretaker or the case manager.
The client is constantly given advice based on his assessment. In some cases, it may include counselors who are responsible for providing proper guidance to the client. This is a transparent process which focuses on building trust in order to make sure that the client follows all the guideline and advice.
- Coordination
Coordination is the key step to successful case management as it makes sure that the organization’s employees, involved in the process of case management of a specific client, have the proper information.
A case manager needs to have all the information about the client before he interacts with them. A service provider must have all the exact plans and goals for the client’s health along with the correct assessment report to implement the required services efficiently. Proper coordination among the employees is the only way to make sure that the right information reaches the right person at the right time.
- Monitoring and Evaluation
A case manager is responsible to constantly monitor and evaluate the whole process. Monitoring helps in recognizing if the process is being carried out as planned and that the client is getting all the services he needs. Evaluating, on the other hand, makes sure that there is a positive effect on the client’s health at each step of the process and if not, it allows the case manager to make changes before it becomes too late.
Why Case Management is needed
When a client is depending on you for their health and wellness, their life and expectations become a huge responsibility. It is one of the most stressful jobs in the world because you are obligated to ensure the wellbeing of some other person. All and any decisions you make, directly affect the lives of not just one person, but the lives of all the other people associated with that person.
This is where Case management fits in. By making sure that you adhere to a specific practice, you can successfully reach the client’s health expectations. Successful case management ensures the optimum health of the client, and at the same time, aids the organization in achieving that goal by providing numerous benefits.
The Role of Case Managers in Successful Case Management
According to the case management society of America or CSMA “The case manager helps identify appropriate providers and facilities throughout the continuum of services while ensuring that available resources are being used in a timely and cost-effective manner in order to obtain optimum value for both the client and the reimbursement source.”
Other than this, he is responsible for carrying out the process of case management solely. He assigns tasks to the teammates based on their individual abilities to make sure that the process is carried out smoothly. Because of these responsibilities, a case manager is expected to have the appropriate abilities.
For successful case management, case managers should possess the following skills
- Experience(At least 5 years in the relative field)
- Excellent communication skills
- Clinical expertise
- Time management
- Decision-making
- Problem-solving
- Organizational
- Autonomy
- Influential for the team
- Teamwork
- Patience
Case Management Models
To achieve successful case management, case managers often adopt some standard case, management models. These models define a blueprint to follow which helps to achieve the required goals as simply as possible. Here are some of the popular case management models.
- Intensive case management
The intensive case management model is aimed at collective cases usually involving a community. Clients targeted by this model are generally in requirement of short term support and are having fewer resources. Services provided under this model include outreach and counseling. It is a cost-effective approach to community treatment.
- Clinical case management
Commonly adopted in cases of substance abuse treatment, clinical case management models involve the combination of traditional case management and clinical services. The clinical services involved are mainly therapeutical ones like psychotherapy.
This model allows a single person to provide clinical services to the client which leads to a cost-effective approach as compared to providing the separate facilities of case management and clinic to the client.
- Strength-based case management
The strength-based model follows two principles.
- Examine the strengths of the client to help him in becoming self-reliable.
- Assisting the client to hunt for the basic resources that are missing.
Through these principles, it enables the client to shift from dependent or institutional care to an independent life.
- Brokerage case management
This model lays a lesser focus on monitoring and more focus on providing services to different clients. The advantages include reaching more clients in lesser time while the other side of the coin includes limited communication between the clients and the case manager.
The key components for successful case management are having a case manager with the desired skills, adherence to the standard steps of case management, a model that suits the client’s situation and a team of people who understand the responsibility of the job and are motivated to provide optimum services to the client.
