Case Management

Case management is a collaborative process of assessment, planning, facilitation and advocacy for options and services to meet an individual’s health needs through communication and available resources to promote quality cost-effective outcomes.

The definition of case management notes the focus upon the meeting of a client’s health needs. Within the Australian context, case management can be placed within a social model of health. This framework allows for the client and case manager to work on the various aspects of the client’s life that influence the client’s health. A social model of health is described as: A conceptual framework within which improvement in health and well-being are achieved by directing efforts towards addressing the social and environmental determinants of health, in tandem with biological and medical factors.

First and foremost Case Management is a service delivery approach now widely adopted across diverse settings in the human services and health sectors. The best practices in Case Management require organizational arrangements to support service delivery, staff who have been trained for the approach and its application to the particular practice setting and strategies to ensure that the organization can be responsive to evidence from practice and advocate for systemic and policy change to support service delivery.