Case management: a heritage more than a century old

The roots of case management are more than a century deep. This innovative approach to managing, coordinating, expediting, and facilitating patient care is neither new nor exclusively limited to nursing practice. A review of the historic literature reveals that the evolution of case management is a byproduct of creative healthcare efforts associated with different disciplines, including nursing, medicine, mental health, public health, and social work. This article presents a historical review of significant milestones in the evolution of the field of case management and its related tools (i.e., clinical pathways).