Case Management Is a Problem-Solving Function - Essay Example

This article will explain how one assesses the needs of an individual during case management. This paper will also explain how mobilizing services and getting information to discuss the referral process is arrived at.

Case management can also be referred to as program coordination or service coordination (Levine and Brill 5).

Case management dominates in HIV/ AIDS programs to ensure that both the affected and their families get access to care and other services. It is also used in other programs which include the elderly, people with chronic disabilities, teenage mothers, mental health clients, veterans, the disabled, school children, substance abusers, and developmentally disabled individuals among others (Holt 140).

There are several ways in which people can access their needs during case management. The case manager should identify the problem facing the client. This will ensure that he has understood the type of conflict that he should address. This enables him to prepare adequately for managing the case. After getting to know the type of client one is working with then, the case manager should be able to categorize the clients according to case management settings (Holt 56). These include classification according to the organization, type of case manager, payment, and the case manager functions (Holt 57).

The client one is working with should cooperate effectively. This is because cooperation is effective in reducing the emotional component of the conflict. As one continues dealing with the client, he or she should assess the adherence of the client to the case management procedure (Levine and Brill 34). The tests chosen for the client are supposed to be accurate enough to generate the required results (Holt 67). The case manager should take his/ her time in monitoring the client’s progress. Assessment of the client is an ongoing procedure (Holt 20). During this period, the case manager should have built a solid relationship with the client. Moreover, for the case manager to be successful, he/she should select a target population that can benefit him/ her in the long run. All these procedures will ensure that one can carry out successful case management together with their client.

For case managers to achieve effective referrals, parties at the receiving end should have slots on a needed basis (Levine and Brill 140). This is because the client is not to be kept on a waiting list. They are supposed to be willing to grant admission to their programs. However, different case management agencies have their approach to the referral process. Some place the responsibility of identifying and securing services with the case manager while other agencies have a formal referral process with resource developers who get services from agencies (Holt 29). Both of these approaches are far from ideal in the sense that case managers and resource developers still find it a difficult task in locating and securing slots.

This shows that the approaches lack predictability and accountability. The tools needed for the assurance of timely referrals. Institutionalizing case management over a long period most likely results from the creation of a formal inter-agency partnership in which member institutions empower case managers (Levine and Brill 152). However, without such partnerships, case managers may face predictability challenges and, hence, affect the whole procedure.
This partnership between a case manager and a client enhances the accomplishment of the terms of the service plan. The client, in turn, also plays his/ her part by showing up for tests and other monitoring classes. A skilled case manager can make a young person an active partner in his/ her service plan if he/she knows the use of referral procedures (Holt 45). When the client is assisted in getting to know his/ her problems, he/she is granted the freedom to choose a set of service options from the case manager. This will thereafter call for an appointment between the client and a person from the referral agency.
In this situation, the case manager should be able to ensure that the client undertakes the referral procedure successfully. After a client goes through this procedure successfully, the case manager can know the next step to take (Holt 49). In case the referral procedure is not a success, the case manager can intervene with the help of the agency individual to adjust the service plan. In such a procedure, communication between the three parties is highly vital to monitor the client’s progress with the service plan (Holt 57).

Accountability and predictability are also vital in ensuring that the service plan process is successful (Levine and Brill 178). This calls for communication links among the service providers. The final goal of this procedure reaches when the client’s case is entirely solved. Even though this process is costly and time-consuming the results are reputable to the client himself/ herself (Levine and Brill 179). Most of these things are achieved based on the fact that these case managers are learned.
In conclusion to this essay, we draw that for any effective case management procedure to take place there have to be the following components: Appropriate candidates, intake and assessment of the candidates, designing of a service plan, intervening with the receiving end in the society, implementation, and monitoring of the service plan and lastly evaluating the case management effectiveness (Holt 98). By following this process, the manager is guaranteed positive feedback from the clients after the case management procedure (Levine and Brill 192). Read More