BUILDING AND MAINTAINING AN EFFECTIVE

CASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Sundra Franklin

CASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

A standardized process for delivering services which has been developed to achieve a primary end goal: long-term employability.

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CASE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE

A client-centered, goal-oriented process for assessing the strengths and needs of an individual for particular services; developing a plan to attain their goals; assisting him/her to obtain the determined services and facilitating their use of services in obtaining their goals (education; goal-focused employment – i.e., long term employability)

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BUILDING A CASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM• Organized to serve manage numbers of

participants• Serve small and large numbers of

participants• Monitor participant progress• Correct participant challenges or enhance

participant accomplishments as they advance toward their goals

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BUILDING A CASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Why a System is Needed:• Standardization of Services• What happens to a participant should

not be based upon which case manager they get

• Performance objectives are more realistically developed and achieved

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A systematic approach to service delivery that delivers a strategy for:

• Coordinating the provision of services (system level)

• Utilizes a participant-centered, goal oriented progress for assessing strengths and needs 

• Assists participants to utilize necessary services to achieve individual and programmatic goals (participant level)

(Source: Center for Youth and Communities, Brandeis University)

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UTILIZING A BI-LEVEL APPROACH

System Level Responsibilities:

.Ensure the availability of commonly needed services

.Ensure that case managers know what they can and cannot promise participants

.Empower case managers to “requisition” services and resources across institutional boundaries

.Revise traditional modes of operations when they do not work in the participants’ best interest04/19/23 7

UTILIZING A BI-LEVEL APPROACH

•  Identify and prioritize personal strengths and needs, and translate them into a set of realistic goals

• Develop a plan of action for achieving the goals• Access the resources needed to pursue those goals

across institutions • Successfully complete a “customized” set of services

among a variety of institutions• Help the participant access services on his or her own

thereby reducing dependency on the case manager

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UTILIZING A BI-LEVEL APPROACHClient Level Responsibilities:

DISENGAGING COORDINATING ACCESSING RESOURCES PLANNING ASSESSING ENGAGING START

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PHASES OF CASE MANAGEMENT INTERVENTION

MANAGEMENT RELATIONSHIP Partnership with the Participant Establishing and maintaining a partnership with participants should be both the initial and sustaining focus and function of the case manager/participant relationship

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PARTNERSHIP:THE ESSENTIAL CASE

MANAGEMENT RELATIONSHIP

A dynamic approach to case management establishes a partnership with participants and makes a “Demand for Work” at all phases of the relationship

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PARTNERSHIP:THE ESSENTIAL CASE

Why a Partnership?

• Growth and change on the part of the partnership is usually required to meet case management goals 

• Growth and change require the active involvement of an individual 

• Workers should not be working harder on a person’s life than they are 

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MAKING A DEMAND FOR WORK• Start the case management relationship with an

expectation of partnership and your expectations• Model the expectation of partnership during the

initial interview as well as throughout your work together

• Be prepared to define the participant’s work throughout the process

• Do not accept failures to produce• Do not advance when work has not been completed

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PARTNERSHIPS, LINKAGES AND COLLABORATION

• No single agency is equipped to provide the

range of services required for an individual goal achievement

• Effective community-wide partnerships and sharing resources are necessary for success.

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ORGANIZATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS• There are two types of organizational partnerships: Internal and External • Internal: between peers (work teams; between front-line workers and

administrators) • Dynamic partnerships are essential for both direct case management

functions and interactions between front-line workers and administrators• Front-line workers and administrators must work together and in teams

to manage the successful movement of participants through the case management phases

• Front-line workers often identify community partners and establish relationships with counterparts in other organizations

• Program administrators must be receptive to follow-through and to legitimize these relationships via MOU’s, contracts, cross-trainings, etc.)

 

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There are five core functions: • Recruitment and Intake – The participant invitation, enrollment and

application process• Assessment – The foundation of case management . Includes developing an

assessment strategy, is ongoing so that progress can be measured, identifies strengths, assets, abilities, aptitudes, interests, occupational and employability levels, assesses barriers and determines supportive service needs and resources

• Planning- a specific individualized plan of action . This is the first tangible outcome of the assessment process 

• Coordination and Using Resources- the full range of community services and resources that are needed to guide the participant to his final goals

• Documentation- utilization of Case Management MIS systems which track client status and success and maintaining case files and quality case notes which are accurate and timely

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CASE MANAGEMENT IS THE FOUNDATION OF

ALL PROGRAMMATIC CORE FUNCTIONS

ACCOUNTABILITY AND DOCUMENTATION

RECORD KEEPING

IF IT’S NOT WRITTEN, IT DIDN’T HAPPEN!

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RECORD KEEPING• Good records/case notes are concise, specific, relevant,

clear, logical, meaningful, useful, grounded in facts, well-organized and well written.

• CASE NOTES TELL A STORY!!• Poor records are unfocused, vague, aimless, biased,

speculative, imprecise, tardy, mistaken in facts , unorganized and poorly written

• The case note is the primary focal point and accountability to the participant and to the organization.

• The Individual Service Strategy provides a strategy for services, goals and outcomes

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CASE MANAGER TOOLS• The dynamic “Use of Self”• Dialogue that is in depth, accurate, empathetic

and structured• Inventories, checklists, worksheets and the

internet • Formal, standardized tests• Capacity to develop and maintain partnerships• Planning• Problem solving skills

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ADAPTING AN ETHICAL, PROFESSIONAL APPROACH

Ethical Issues for Workforce professionals

• ETHICS - Principles of honor and morality

Accepted Rules of Conduct

The moral Principles of an individual • EFFICACY - The power to be ethical

Personal effectiveness at performing according to the rules of conduct

• EXCELLENCE - Remarkably good; of superior merit

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