There are many definitions of case management in the literature, but the most comprehensive definition comes from the Case Management Society of America (2017):
Case management is a collaborative process of assessment, planning, facilitation, care coordination, evaluation and advocacy for options and services to meet an individual’s and family’s comprehensive health needs through communication and available resources to promote patient safety, quality of care, and cost effective outcomes. (para. 1)
While case management occurs in all of the helping professions, not every practitioner takes an advanced, or evidence-based, approach. As a scholar-practitioner at Walden, it is important to get into the habit of integrating relevant research (i.e., evidence) into your work with service users. The Learning Resources this week include textbook readings that provide foundational information about case management, as well as research articles that provide evidence about the benefits of using a strengths-based approach to case management.
In this Discussion, you consider the importance of the advanced case management function to the practice of human services. You also evaluate the advanced case management efforts of an advanced human services professional practitioner in a Hart City scenario and propose a goal or objective for the service user in the scenario.