By Dr. Colleen Morley, President of CMSA, and Bonnie Geld, President and CEO of CFCM
For too long the case management profession has been referred to as healthcare’s best-kept secret. No more.
The Case Management Society of America (CMSA) and The Center for Case Management (CFCM) have worked together to present their collaborative Position Paper Communicating Your Value: The Case Manager's Guide. This first-of-its-kind paper highlights invaluable information on wide-ranging case management roles and features insight from some of the best and brightest case managers in the field. CMSA and CFCM look forward to raising awareness about the undeniable impact case managers have on the healthcare continuum.
With yesterday’s official launch, we sat down to discuss this special collaboration.
On how this collaboration came to be…
Colleen: I have long been a fan of CFCM and Karen Zander and had the opportunity to meet Bonnie at a conference. When I was looking for entities to collaborate with, CFCM was top of my list! In my usual overly exuberant way, I am so incredibly excited about this project, from working with CFCM to the subject matter experts who volunteered their time, talents and perspectives in their contributions to the opportunity to publish something that I have been longing to see; why is case management important, in case management's own words!
Bonnie: Other than a mutual admiration for CMSA/CFCM, Colleen and I had the opportunity to connect and discuss our common goals for Case Management and Social Work Practice. We found that our organizations align towards improving the visibility of the value of this discipline. Writing this paper was a wonderful experience and an honor. We had the opportunity to learn from so many professionals in the field. The value is clear!
On why it is important to discuss case management’s value and why it was important that the Communicating Your Value: The Case Manager's Guide Position Paper be shared now…
Colleen: Because we are the best-kept secret in all of healthcare and we are on a mission to break that perception. It's time case management took its place in the light and that the entire healthcare community, including the patient/caregiver, understood the value a professional case manager brings to their journey.
Bonnie: October is Case Management month. This paper offers another opportunity to highlight the importance and value of these professions. Hospitals and Health Systems don’t always have a clear understanding of the case management practice; nor do they leverage the skill sets of these clinicians so that true care coordination and patient progress can be achieved. We believe our paper highlights the value case managers bring to the organization and to the patients and communities they serve.
On what they hope to accomplish…
Colleen: We hope to start conversations about where case managers "should be" in the healthcare continuum (answer: everywhere) and how they are, not just integral but invaluable members of the healthcare team, regardless of practice setting. We also want to inform patient/caregivers about who we are, what we do and how they benefit from us (and the services we provide).
Bonnie: Value begins with visibility. We believe that this position paper offers more visibility to demonstrate our worth and reminds the health care ecosystem that we are an essential piece of the care continuum.
Download your FREE copy of Communicating Your Value: The Case Manager's Guide here: https://cmsapmg.wpenginepowered.com/cmsa-cfcm-position-paper-2023/
We want to hear from YOU! Communicating your value to multiple populations isn't always easy. In the comments, tell us about your experiences with this, whether it was a time when you struggled to articulate the value of case management to someone or a time you were able to successfully advocate for yourself as a case manager/ the practice of case management.
Then join us for Case Managers & Coffee on Saturday, October 14th to share your insights and brew up some connections to close out #CMWeek2023: https://cmsapmg.wpenginepowered.com/about/national-cm-week/
Bios:
Dr. Colleen Morley, DNP, RN, CCM, CMAC, CMCN, ACM-RN, FCM is the Associate Chief Clinical Operations Officer, Care Continuum for University of Illinois Health System and the current President of the Case Management Society of America National Board of Directors. She has held positions in acute care as Director of Case Management at several acute care facilities and managed care entities in Illinois, overseeing Utilization Review, Case Management and Social Services for over 14 years; piloting quality improvement initiatives focused on readmission reduction, care coordination through better communication and population health management. Her current passion is in the area of improving health literacy. She is the recipient of the CMSA Foundation Practice Improvement Award (2020) and ANA Illinois Practice Improvement Award (2020) for her work in this area. Dr. Morley also received the AAMCN Managed Care Nurse Leader of the Year in 2010 and the CMSA Fellow of Case Management designation in 2022. Her 1st book, “A Practical Guide to Acute Care Case Management”, published by Blue Bayou Press was released in February, 2022. Dr. Morley has over 20 years of nursing experience. Her clinical specialties include Med/Surg, Oncology and Pediatric Nursing. She received her ADN at South Suburban College in South Holland, IL; BSN at Jacksonville University in Jacksonville, FL, MSN from Norwich University in Northfield, VT and her DNP at Chamberlain College of Nursing.
Bonnie Geld, MSW is President and CEO of The Center for Case Management and, brings over 20 years of experience in the area of Case Management with a focus on the design of longitudinal case management programs, strategic design and development of transition programs, process improvement, team building, and successful integration of social work and RN roles. She has been the System Director for Case Management Services for a five-hospital system in Western Massachusetts, Director of Care Management in Minneapolis and Houston, and has developed and implemented successful Care Management programs in other states, both in Large Adult Systems in Oklahoma and Children’s Health Systems in Texas. She has launched a variety of educational programs and workshops on promoting lean actions, team interventions, rapid-cycle assessments, and integrated care planning.