CuraPatient Supports and Serves Case Managers
The Case Management Society of America (CMSA) defines case management as “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.” The case manager, to again quote the CMSA, “helps identify appropriate providers and facilities throughout the continuum of services, while ensuring that available resources are being used in a timely and cost-effective manner in order to obtain optimum value for both the client and the reimbursement source.”1
Community health case managers, also known as public health case managers, are responsible for understanding the hundreds of federal and scores of state and local programs and services available to resident clients and families under their care, as well as the different eligibility and reporting requirements. Ideally, they serve “as a means for achieving client wellness and autonomy through advocacy, communication, education, identification of service resources, and service facilitation.”1
Case managers also suffer from the tremendous stress of caring for those stricken by the ongoing pandemic. According to an article from Melinda Young at Relias Media, “research shows healthcare workers are suffering from extremely high levels of stress, burnout, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and occupational trauma. These existed before the COVID-19 pandemic, but have worsened over the past year and a half of the world in crisis.” The article quotes Ellen Fink-Samnick, LCSW, CCM, CRP, DBH-C, a speaker at the Case Management Society of America’s 2021 Virtual Conference, who said “We have a workforce in a dysfunctional dance with patients — no one can escape the stressors of what they’re going through.” Young describes this as “collective, infused trauma [which] has created a toxic work situation for many healthcare professionals.”2 Says Ellen Fink-Samnick: “It hits the workforce head-on; they feel it, whether they are case managers, utilization management, or reviews.”3
The stresses of the pandemic compounds the challenges community health case managers have long faced. In addition to underfunding, understaffing, and outdated technology, the biggest workday complaints for case managers include excessive paperwork and high case counts. In a study of case managers published before the pandemic and its workforce exodus, “26.5% of respondents said they had 25-49 cases … 15% had 50-74 cases per week, and 11.5% reported having over 100 cases per week.” The need to deal with so many cases creates what author Melinda Young describes as “one of the biggest challenges” for case managers: “time management. There is so much to get done and so little time. In many situations, quality is sacrificed just to get the work done in such tight deadlines. Phone contacts, daily progress notes, scheduling meetings, and addressing the occasional crisis can wipe out an entire day before you know it.”8
These workday challenges can cause delays in the ability to document. As Young writes, “a case manager can easily spend an entire workday doing home visits. One crisis can actually take several days to resolve, which leaves no time left to actually document what you did.”8 And yet case managers are compelled to document their work. As described by Martin Gardner, “excessive documentation is second on [the] list of burnout causes. Progress notes, quarterly reports, treatment plans, and a host of other forms can take its toll. Multiplying each of these forms of paperwork by 35 to 50 clients can lead to one stressed-out case manager. It seems like there is at least one new form added to the documentation every year. New requirements and regulations also add to an already overwhelming workload.” As one case manager who works with veterans described to reporters at the Canadian Press, “case managers face other problems, including a lack of training, poor computer systems and excessive paperwork, many ultimately burn out because of their caseloads, which puts even more of a burden on those who remain.”
How Can CuraPatient Help?
CuraPatient is specifically designed to improve case management, automating administration and reporting to address provider burnout and improve patient satisfaction. CuraPatient’s intuitive interface complements the workflow of case managers, and its robust analytics functionality identifies and helps to address bottlenecks, inequities, and inefficiencies. CuraPatient is an enterprise, cloud-based, SaaS platform that is readily accessible on any device, with state-of-the-art data integration and informatics designed to drive patient identi?cation, strati?cation, and engagement. CuraPatient operates on mobile devices (iOS and Android), tablets, and computers (via web browsers) to meet the unique needs of case managers in clinical settings or the field. HIPAA compliant and hosted on AWS GovCloud (US), the CuraPatient system is ISO 27001 certified, has received a positive FedRAMP High-Security Assessment Review, and will soon receive HITRUST certification (anticipated in Q3 2022).
CuraPatient addresses many of the challenges facing case managers. It automates administration and documentation, significantly decreasing paperwork. Its Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) assists with menus of services, care plans, and eligibility requirements, and identifies those that residents and their family members qualify for. Above all, it facilitates communication, which is key to case management. The Case Management Society of America states that “case management services are best offered in a climate that allows direct communication between the case manager, the client, and appropriate service personnel, in order to optimize the outcome for all concerned.”6 CuraPatient provides a common system for both case managers and residents under their care to help with direct communication before, during, and after care encounters. And it ties into state, local, and private EHRs and systems for utilization management, insurance claims, program reporting, and compliance.
To see how CuraPatient can help your organization’s case managers by engaging patients, automating administration, and reducing burnout, visit our website at www.curapatient.com.
Resources
CFDA Statistics graph: https://govbooktalk.gpo.gov/2014/03/27/the-all-in-one-guide-to-all-federal-assistance-programs/
1 https://cmsa.org/who-we-are/what-is-a-case-manager/
4 https://www.casemanagementbasics.com/2016/02/case-management-is-40-hours-enough.htm
5 https://www.tcshealthcare.com/what-is-an-average-caseload/
6 https://www.casemanagementbasics.com/2015/07/top-five-reasons-for-case-manager.html