title: Case Management Ethics: High Professional Standards for Health Care's Interconnected Worlds.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this discussion is to draw attention to the considerable pressure on professional case managers today to coordinate with multiple stakeholders, with responsibilities that put them at the forefront of contact with payers and providers. This discussion raises awareness of how case managers, and board-certified case managers in particular, must demonstrate that they adhere to the highest ethical standards, as codified by the Commission for Case Manager Certification's Code of Professional Conduct for Case Managers.
  
  
  METHODS
  This discussion applies to case management practices and work settings across the full continuum of health care.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As advocates for clients (individuals receiving case management services) and their families/support systems, case managers must adhere to the highest of ethical and professional standards. The Code of Professional Conduct for Case Managers is an indispensable resource for case managers to ensure that they place the public interest above their own, respect the rights and inherent dignity of clients, maintain objectivity in their relationships with clients, and act with integrity and fidelity with clients and others, as stipulated by the code.
authors.affiliation: Patrice V. Sminkey, RN, is the CEO of the Commission for Case Manager Certification, the first and largest nationally accredited organization that board certifies case managers. To date, more than 60,000 case managers have been credentialed as Certified Case Managers (CCM); currently, nearly 40,000 holders of the CCM are in practice. (For more information, see the CCMC website at www.ccmcertification.org.) Jeannie LeDoux, RN, BSN, MBA, CCM, CPHQ, is a commissioner of the CCMC and chair of its Ethics & Professional Conduct Committee. She is also a clinical educator at MCG (previously known as Milliman Care Guidelines and now part of Hearst Health).
authors.forename: Patrice V
authors.initials: PV
authors.lastname: Sminkey
authors.forename: Jeannie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: LeDoux
mesh_terms: D019090:Case Management; D004989:Ethics; D006801:Humans; D010344:Patient Advocacy