The Basics

CM 8 requires that the CM program encourage professional development for its case managers.  Examples of this kind of encouragement would be direct provision of the kind of experience required for certification, training to enhance expertise in case management, or time-off or financial assistance for that training and attendance at association meetings.  Document the training and meeting attendance under this standard as you would the more general staff training requirements of Core 27.  In otherwords, document training and meeting attendance in a centralized training file or in the employees' individual personnel files.

Management Tips

URAC gives you a lot of flexibility in the implementation of this standard.  Direct reimbursement is not required; rather, only encouragement.  If your organization is not providing financial assistance, you'll be expected to document such encouragement activities as providing access to professional journals, internet resources, and the like. 

As is always the case, management's primary responsibilities are to craft P&Ps that describe the process and a system to document its implementation.

URAC Accreditation Tips

The three elements of this standard each weigh 3 points.

As usual, you should start your AccreditNet submission with a P&P that describes the CM staff training program, including any incentives the organization provides for training or meeting attendance.  In addition, evidence of implementation of that program will be useful here, for example, a couple of training agendas or certificates of attendance at professional development trainings.  Job descriptions for your case managers, too, could be helpful here, particularly if they articulate the organization's expectation that the employee participate in professional development activities.

During the onsite review, the URAC reviewer will do as he/she does for all training-related standards, that is, combine a review of personnel and training records selected from a list of case managers, with interviews of the case managers and their supervisor(s).  Likely questions for the case managers include:

• What kind of professional development activities did you participate in during the past year (e.g., conferences, trainings, in-services)?
• What kind of support, if any, did this organization provide for your professional development?
• Are you a member of a professional association?  If so, did this organization pay your dues or send you to a conference of that association?