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Groups Work to Credential More Social Workers

The Commission for Case Manager Certification and the National Association of Social Workers are working together to increase the number of social workers with a case manager credential.

To help relieve the workforce gap in the healthcare industry, the Commission for Case Manager Certification and the National Association of Social Workers partnered to encourage more social workers to obtain CCMC’s healthcare credential.

“Board-certified case managers are meeting the needs of patients and organizations that are evolving in the context of new requirements and payment models,” CCMC CEO Patrice Sminkey said in a statement. “The Commission’s board recognized this collaboration with NASW as a critical opportunity to continue preparing a professional workforce that is changing and expanding, marking the importance of the healthcare social worker.”

CCMC’s Certified Case Manager (CCM) credential demonstrates that healthcare professionals as case managers are prepared to provide proper service for patients with serious or complex medical conditions, illnesses, and injuries.

Through the new partnership, social workers who qualify for NASW’s Case Management Credential will also qualify to take the CCM certification exam for the same fee. NASW members will also receive a further discount.

“Social workers play an integral role in the nation’s health care system, helping patients and their families get the best possible care, and case management has been a key function of social workers since the founding of the profession,” NASW CEO Dr. Angelo McClain said in the release. “NASW is proud to work with CCMC to give social workers credentials and certifications that will make them even more attractive to health care employers.”

The groups’ collaboration will work to raise awareness of the benefits the credential gives social workers, namely by bolstering their professional development and making them more attractive to potential employers.

“Individuals that are board certified with CCM have an increased opportunity in advancing their career professionally, from a management perspective,” Sminkey said in an interview with Associations Now. “It gives them career mobility.”

Both organizations are also dedicated to protecting patients and “with the increasing demands in the healthcare system, [ensuring] that the right individual, the right clinician, the right practitioner is delivering the right care,” Sminkey said. Earning this credential will better prepare those social workers who are part of an interdisciplinary healthcare team care for their patients.

CCMC began expanding its strategic partnerships five years ago, and together with NASW sought to address the changes to the healthcare system following healthcare reform, specifically by promoting “workforce development and professional advancement of case managers in the healthcare sector,” Sminkey said.

(iStock/Thinkstock)

Alex Beall

By Alex Beall

Alex Beall is an associate editor for Associations Now with a masters in journalism and a penchant for Instagram. MORE

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