CMSA Today - Issue 4, 2021

WORKFORCE

CASE MANAGEMENT WORKFORCE NEEDS ARE DRIVEN BY SUPPLY AND DEMAND BY CHARLES WHITE, EdD, MBA

CASE MANAGEMENT DEMAND FACTORS

of care. Healthcare organizations, public health agencies, private employers and insurance companies are ramping up pop ulation health initiatives as our healthcare payment systems transform. Expansion of accountable care organizations and value based purchasing across the insurance sec tor (Medicare, Medicaid, employer-based plans, workers compensation and open market plans) continue to increase the demand for the case management func tion. Many organizations are supplementing their workforce with travelers in order to meet immediate needs. And frankly, case management is no lon ger a Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. job. Many organizations are expanding case management services to 24/7/365 days a year. Coverage is also being extended into outpatient settings and specialty areas.

rate for nursing faculty (Fang et al., 2020). In addition, 88.6% of nursing programs prefer or require that faculty vacancies are filled with nurses with doctoral degrees (Fang et al., 2020). Now, let’s think about the effect of the pandemic on our current nursing students. As widely reported across the United States, our schools, colleges and universities have instituted tele-education. There have been limitations regarding nursing student place ment and the continuation of clinical rota tions during the pandemic. Many nursing programs were also not prepared for the increased demand for simulation-based training. The pandemic has also increased stress levels and elevated fears typically experienced by nursing students (Lovric et al., 2020, p. 200), causing some nurs ing students to take time off. One of my nursing students stated the following: “In high school, I’ve felt overloaded with stress because of the thought of not being able to go to college and situate myself in a safe job that pays enough for me to just survive, at the least. Today, I’m afraid of not being able to even continue going to school due to my

A perfect storm continues to intensify because of our existing shortage of regis tered nurses, limited nursing faculty, BSN entry requirements and the effects of the pandemic. As Haas et al. (2020) described, the fragility and vulnerability of our nursing workforce have been exposed (p. 236). This, in turn, has had a trickle-down effect on the availability of nurse case managers and social workers to fill vacancies across the healthcare sector. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2021) predicted that there would be approximately 175,000 registered nurse openings each year for a 10-year period from 2019-2029. Healthcare social worker jobs are estimated to increase by 26,700 over a 10-year period from 2019-2029 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021). The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) reports that there is a 94% placement rate for BSN gradu ates within 4-6 months of graduation (AACN Research Brief, 2020). The need for qualified case managers continues to expand across the continuum

CASE MANAGEMENT SUPPLY FACTORS

Of concern is the continuing vacancy rate of nurse faculty to train new nurses and nurse specialties. The AACN reports that there continues to be about a 9% vacancy

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CMSA TODAY

Issue 4 • 2021