Case management in the acute care setting. A model for health care reform

Case management, as a model for delivering health care, has a long history. Since its inception, the scope and goals of case management have changed and matured. Contemporary approaches to case management represent a dynamic, integrated, and multidisciplinary model of health care delivery. Case management incorporates interdependent and collaborative arrangements between the client and health care provider to ensure cost-effective, quality care. Because of its foundation in cost and quality control, case management is likely to be the delivery model that will play a major role in health care reform over the next decade, both in the acute care setting and in community-based, long-term care programs.