Case management workforce in the United States.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare characteristics of the case management (CM) workforce in the US by age, years of experience, and original profession.


METHODS
This study was an exploratory, descriptive secondary analysis of demographic and job characteristics of 24,085 certified case managers (CCMs).


METHODS
Descriptive statistics, Chi-square tests, and correlation coefficients were calculated.


RESULTS
The majority of the case-management workforce is made up of RNs (93.3%). The CCMs were older, with a mean age of 55.0 years, than were those in their original profession and started to work as CCMs late in their careers. The educational level of RN-CCMs was lower than that of CCMs from other professions. Also, job titles and work settings of CCMs were diverse, with different focus areas depending on clients' needs. The distribution of CCMs was associated with the number of managed-care enrollees.


CONCLUSIONS
Profiles of CCMs in this study are valuable for clinical practice and can assist with deployment of the CM workforce.


CONCLUSIONS
To develop and deploy CCMs better matched to societal healthcare needs, characteristics of CCMs should be precisely understood. Managing the CM workforce is expected to be critical because of a shortage of RN workers and aging-of-the-workforce issues in the US.
Park
Eun-Jun
EJ
Department of Nursing, Kyungwon University, San65 Bokjeong-Dong, Sujeong-Gu, Seongnam-Si, Gyeonggi-Do, 461-701, Korea. eunjunp@kyungwon.ac.kr
Huber
Diane L
DL
D000328:Adult; D019090:Case Management / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology