title: Case management: beyond the walls.
abstract: Managed care and capitation will become increasingly familiar in the Central Valley of California as managed care arrangements capture more of the marketshare. This type of healthcare environment presents a myriad of opportunities for case management to affect quality and cost outcomes within healthcare organizations. Assessment skills (clinical outcomes), client-provider relationship (member satisfaction), and resource coordination (cost containment) are three key elements underlying the role of the case manager, making the role components congruent with the needs of a managed care population. As payers continue to mandate outcomes measurement, case management beyond the walls or outside the inpatient setting is a technique that will increasingly be used to document that the diverse needs of high-risk patients are met.
authors.affiliation: Community Health System, Fresno, CA, USA.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lutz
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lookinland
mesh_terms: D002140:California; D019090:Case Management; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care; D003363:Cost Control; D017050:Episode of Care; D006801:Humans; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017146:Models, Organizational; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care