Case Managment Training Announced to Address Shortage
It’s no surprise that care managers are struggling to keep up with the growing workload. Research now confirms what we’ve been feeling for years. Too much to do, not enough time. If you’re currently a case manager or care coordinator, you know your case load pile is getting deeper as expectations of your competence to handle increasingly complex array of patient conditions elevates. There is pressure for to do more with less. There is pressure for improved outcomes. There is pressure for the entire team.
Research confirms what we’ve all been feeling. But what do we do now?
Case Manager Training Solution Launched
Care Excellence provides a flexible online source of continuing education for care managers. Additionally, it is a solution for the organizations that employ case managers, care coordinators, and others whose role is to coordinate care, assure quality, and optimize outcomes for the persons enrolled for their medical care coverage. With the generous support of California Health Care Foundation and The SCAN Foundation, the CSU Institute for Palliative Care worked with health plan leaders and care managers to create Care Excellence, a training curriculum that will serve the needs of all levels of health plan care managers. Developed by team including industry experts, certified case management professionals, and health plan experts, Care Excellence’s real-world curriculum has been thoughtfully designed to prepare health plan care managers and coordinators in all phases of their career for success.
Case Manager Training for New Hires
The Foundational level of coursework teaches essential skills to those new to care management, as well as those who would benefit from a review of the fundamentals. The Foundational courses are applicable to care coordinators and care managers in all disciplines. Five courses, with from one to seven modules, are designed to provide focused education on topics ranging from Community Support to Trauma Informed Care to Motivational Interviewing. Each course is broken into modules, and care managers looking for information on just a specific topic can, if desired, purchase just that specific module.
Case Manager Training for Experienced Team Members
Advanced Concepts courses will be provided for experienced care managers and other professionals working with growing, diverse populations with special and complex needs. Not only are challenging conditions such as diabetes, Alzheimer’s and congestive heart failure addressed but other modules and courses address specialized areas of care coordination such as chronic opioid use, domestic violence, and working with LGBTQ, pediatric and homeless populations. A total of over 26 modules are being developed to deliver specialized concepts for care managers.
Case Manager Training for Managers, Supervisors, Leadership
The Leadership courses, the third level of Care Excellence’s program, teaches leads and supervisors how to effectively supervise and mentor to enhance staff orientation and onboarding, improve staff satisfaction, and decrease turnover. Working effectively within teams, leadership traits, strategies for growing talent and creating an environment that fosters innovation are the objectives of the leadership curriculum. It is accomplished through four distinct face-to-face courses designed to be completed over the course of one year.
Continuing Education in Case Management Leadership July Event Announced
Care Excellence courses are launching throughout 2016. The first of the four leadership courses, Best Practices for Improved Outcomes, is taking place in Fullerton, CA. This course was developed by leading experts in Case Management and is delivered by experienced professionals in a small-group setting.
The July 22 agenda focuses on these topics:
- Collaboration and Brainstorming
- Understanding and Utilizing Quality and Performance Standards Data
- Problem Solving and Critical Thinking
- Communication: Open Dialogue and Cross Discipline Learning
Click HERE to learn More and Register for Best Practices for Improved Outcomes
Industry-recognized Case Managers Leading the Course
Rebecca Montano, Ph.D., MBA, CRC, CCM, CMC is a consultant with the California State University Institute for Palliative Care with 23 years of case management experience, 10 of which concentrated on aging and caregiver dynamics. She works as a professional geriatric care manager and Eldercare mediator. Dr. Montano has a Ph.D. in Human Services with a concentration in Geriatrics. She holds three industry certifications: Certificate of Rehabilitation Counseling, Certificate of Case Management, and a Care Manager Certificate.
Carol Lovci, R.N., M.S.N., CCM. is a case management specialist and a certified case manager. She is Associate Dean of Nursing with Independence College, a medical specialty instructor for California College of San Diego, and a nursing consultant for California Mentors. She is the recipient of California College of San Diego’s Teacher of the Year Award.
Important Case Management Facts
- Case management provided by registered nurses and social workers is predicted to be one of the fastest growing occupations by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the next six years, demand will increase by over 20% from current numbers. To meet the demand, employers will be faced with training new hires with varied experience to effectively coordinate care and “make the navigation of services seamless for members” (Esslin and Barth, 2015).
- Medicare‐Medicaid beneficiaries currently present “complex needs and tenuous social supports” (p. 1). Frequently with chronic medical and behavioral health conditions that are difficult to manage under the best circumstances, the added issues of barriers to access, complex medication regimens, lack of follow up, and poor or no previous diagnosis, to name only a few of the potential medical hurdles, create even more confounded conditions for case managers and the beneficiaries they serve. Navigation of services is further complicated when unstable social and life circumstances, lack of social support and socio‐economic factors, and untreated mental health or substance use problems influence the care dynamic.
- Numbers of people enrolled in health plans are growing, due to legislative actions as well as population aging and increases in chronic illness prevalence. The bellwether Kaiser Family Foundation (2012) reported that as the population ages, California will continue to see a high percentage of Medicare enrollees as well as an aging population also eligible for Medi‐Cal. These aging dual-plan participants are estimated to have two or more chronic conditions.
Why the CSU Institute for Palliative Care?
The launching of Care Excellence gives even greater breadth and depth to the educational mission of the CSU Institute for Palliative Care, which is to help organizations and professionals gain critical education to meet the growing needs of chronically or seriously ill people in all care settings.