Expert predicts future of case management
Will you have a job in the new millennium?
As case managers prepare for the new millennium, the health care delivery system in the United States is facing dramatic growth and change. Understanding the changes ahead means you can prepare now to develop the skills demanded and seize the opportunities that lay ahead.
What will your future hold? Here are the changes Mary F. Gambosh, RN, CDMS, CCM, predicts case managers will see as we move toward the turn of the century. Gambosh is president of Mary F. Gambosh Limited, a case management firm in Richmond, VA, and former president of the Case Management Society of America in Little Rock, AR.
• Case management specialization will continue. "I believe more employers and managed care organizations will contract with case management specialists to handle difficult populations. Case managers who seek certification or advanced education in these specialized areas will be paid more for their efforts."
• Mergers and acquisitions in the health care industry will continue. "However, I believe that some independent health care companies will specialize their services and survive."
• Risk sharing at all levels will continue.
• Benefits companies will be more involved with services purchased by employers.
• Employers will purchase more services directly from providers. "Creative case managers will seize this opportunity to assist employers and business coalitions in purchasing quality provider services."
• Case managers and case management departments will be audited. (For details on accountability, see story, p. 133.)
• Need for instant exchange of information will drive future employment. "Computer use is now essential to case management. There will be fewer faxes and phone calls and an increased use of electronic transfer of information via the Internet."
• Telemedicine services will increase.
• The need for certification will increase. "The need for certification is already a reality. Selecting a certification process is a highly individual and personal choice. You really must weigh all the choices and examine your own career path, and then go get certified, if you aren’t already." (For a complete discussion of case management certification, see Case Management Advisor, January 1997, pp. 1-6.)
• Integrated systems and 24-hour insurance coverage will become more widespread.
Wanted: Creative case managers
Watching for trends in the health care delivery system and in national demographics could be the key to case managers remaining gainfully employed as the new century approaches, Gambosh says. "It’s up to case managers to carve out our own future. There are several demographic trends that will create job opportunities for case managers." Those opportunities and trends include:
• Increases in non-English-speaking populations. "There will be a predicted sharp increase in both Hispanic and Asian populations in the United States. Case managers who are bilingual will be very valuable to employers."
• Increases in elderly population.
• Increased use of alternative treatments. "There will be an increased need for case managers to coordinate traditional and alternative treatments."
• Increased need for case managers who can provide tutoring for case management certification exams.
In addition, if you want to remain employed in case management in the year 2000 and beyond, Gambosh recommends you remove the following phrases from your professional vocabulary:
"It sounds good, but . . . ."
"Let’s put it on the back burner for now."
"We tried that once."
"We were doing all right before."
"They will never buy that."
"I would not have survived all the changes in case management since the 1970s without an open mind and a strong love of change. Change is the most important word in the health care dictionary. It’s not an option, it is a reality, and to survive, case managers must embrace it," says Gambosh.
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