Formal interprofessional education needed to prepare professional case managers of the future

Demands for greater accountability and transparency in health care are increasing the visibility of professional case managers, including to fulfill the crucial care coordination role. While the competency of professional case managers can be assured through board certification, there is a growing need for preparation of case managers as they transition into the practice. This concern is also highlighted by recent research in the case management field, in which 89% of respondents said they use on-the-job training as their primary method to learn case management. Given the interdisciplinary nature of case management, there is a greater need to address how health and human services professionals are prepared for the advanced practice of case management. With few formal education programs in case management, greater dialogue and cooperation among interprofessional educators and case management leaders are needed to ensure a robust case management workforce development pipeline is established, with more professionals from multiple disciplines entering at earlier stages in their careers.