CASE-MANAGEMENT - SERVICE OR SYMPTOM

Case management is being embraced in the public and private sectors and across disciplines. This article provides a brief overview of the concept, its history, and contemporary models. The primary purpose of this article is to examine macrochallenges that case management poses for the social work profession. A major challenge is that case management may be used to cover up a broader issue-that the health and human services delivery system is a nonsystem. Other challenges include maintaining a client-centered perspective in a cost-obsessed environment, dealing with quality control, coping with resource-poor environments, and dealing with diversity among case management personnel.