Abstract
Background: Care management roles and responsibilities are frequently called out in leading white papers and exemplars; yet, the actual roles and responsibilities are poorly defined.
Method: A qualitative content analysis using 6 landmark white papers and exemplars from national organizations to collect emerging care management and coordination roles and responsibilities.
Results: Three major themes emerged from the content analysis: (1) care management is about complex systems and complex medical and social needs, (2) nurses are central to the interdisciplinary team, and (3) informatics is vital to support and enhance care management.
Implications for Practice: Care managers need to be experienced with complex systems of care as well as complex diagnoses and conditions that our clients and their caregiver's experience. A nurse being central to the clients and embedded within the interdisciplinary team aids in diminishing the burden of negotiating the trajectory of a condition/illness as well as improves the interdisciplinary communication and teamwork. This review of literature has defined the complexity of care management and the discreet roles and responsibilities, as well as how informatics is vital for care managers to target and monitor key populations needing care management.