New study highlights CM demographics

The Commission for Case Manager Certification (CCMC) of Mount Laurel, NJ, conducts a thorough survey of case managers every five years, providing a snapshot of where the profession stands.

The latest CCMC Role and Function Study was published in January 2015. Its main purpose is to ensure the CCMC credentialing exam remains current. CCMC’s latest survey, conducted in May and June of 2014, involved 52,370 queries and 7,668 responses — a nearly 15% response rate.

The study’s data also give a candid look at the case management profession’s demographics. Here are some of the study’s key findings:

• Qualified, knowledgeable case managers are more in demand than ever before. About 26% of employers now require certification, as opposed to 20% requiring certification in the 2009 survey.

• About 40% of employers financially reward certification in case management, as opposed to about 30% providing compensation for certification five years ago.

• The largest age cohort to respond to the survey was the 56-to-60-year-old group. Nearly 44% of the survey’s respondents were older than age 55, a percentage that has more than doubled since the 2009 survey.

• Around 61% of case manager respondents have performed case management work for more than six years.

• Registered nurses account for nearly 89% of case managers surveyed; 4.4% are social workers, and 2.3% are vocational rehabilitation counselors or specialists.

• More than 34% of board-certified case managers participating in the study achieved certification within the last four years.

• About 95% of case managers are women.

• About 60% of the study’s participants said that the terms “care management” and “care coordination” are included in their job titles.

• There’s a significant increase in emphasis on ethics and quality measurement as core competencies for professional case managers.

• Case management departments are becoming more sophisticated with dedicated leaders, supported by managers or supervisors. The study found that 65% of case manager respondents spend at least half their daily time on direct case management services, and nearly 39% spend more than 80% of their time in direct case management.

• Their work settings are diverse, with 28.8% in health insurance, 22.8% in hospitals, 11.6% in workers’ comp, and 7.3% in independent case management.

For more information on the CCMC Role and Function Study, visit http://ccmcertification.org/media/media-kit/role-function-key-findings. ♦