2011 National Case Management Week

CMSA is pleased to offer the Integrated Case Management Training curriculum (ICM).

This program is an intensive, advanced program incorporating home study, virtual participation via webinars and face-to-face competency testing.

Integrated case management (ICM) training is an advanced educational program designed to provide case managers coming from either medical or mental health backgrounds with the content and skills needed to perform systematic complexity assessments; to develop and carry out comprehensive and coordinated physical and mental health care plans; to apply consistent complexity-based anchor points in specially designed ICM clinical documentation software; and to record ongoing clinical, functional, quality of life, satisfaction, and fiscal outcomes during the management process. The ICM assessment process fosters the development of an alliance between the case manager and patient/client using motivational interviewing skills while disentangling physical, psychological, social, and health system barriers to improvement. During training, managers learn to how to alter barriers in each of these domains without the need to transfer patients/clients to other managers.

Training in ICM has been in development since 2008 by the Case Management Society of America and Cartesian Solutions, Inc.™ It is, in part, based on the application of 15 years of complexity research largely performed in Europe and, in part, on the 2010 Standards of Practice for Case Management. To date, nearly 100 case managers have participated in beta or early official training experiences.

Why Integrated Case Management?

Today’s health care is fragmented. Thus, one of the greatest challenges for patients with chronic medical conditions and concurrent mental health needs, often those with the highest health service use, is to receive coordinated care and assistance that will stabilize medical and mental health symptoms while also addressing social and health system factors that contribute to poor outcomes. This is aggravated by the fact that case managers with medical backgrounds do not feel competent to assist with mental health needs and those with mental health backgrounds do not feel competent to assist with medical needs. The ICM training program was developed to allow case managers coming from either medical or mental health backgrounds to transition to a holistic assessment and assistance approach that allows them to help patients with barriers to improvement in any complexity domain from case management initiation to graduation.

The Importance of ICM Training

ICM training is divided into the following two Sections:

Section I Training: The first component of training includes more than 40 hours of Manual study, chapter self-test completion, and participation in four ICM webinars given over twelve weeks. If a participant misses a scheduled webinar, the material can be addressed by viewing a recorded webcast of the session.

At the end of the webinar component of training, continuing education credits will be distributed.

Section II Training: The second component is a one-day, face-to-face skills implementation session in which participants will perform mock complexity assessment interviews, score IM-CAGs related to completed interviews, develop a care plan, and learn to document outcomes as patients move toward graduation. A prerequisite for participation in the second component will be completion of the first.

Those choosing to complete the face-to-face training may take the internet-based comprehensive exam on the ICM approach to case management. A passing score of 70 percent or greater will result in a certificate of completion and permanent access codes for use of the ICM software. Trainees are encouraged to complete the exam immediately after completion of the face-to-face training, but will have access to the exam for 30 days.

Those who pass the test will be given certificate of completion of the course and a permanent username with temporary password for use of the CMSA’s ICM software. This can be used for ongoing clinical documentation of real patient in the participant’s organization if their worksite does not have built in ICM software.