Case management workforce in the United States

PURPOSE: 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. DESIGN: 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. FINDINGS: 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. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: 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.