Case management: a source of support and stability for the client and the healthcare system.

This article is updated from a series written to introduce a Japanese audience to case management after the enactment of Japan's Long Term Care Insurance Acted in 2000. This act includes a provision for care management, and its anticipation resulted in the creation of a new professional called 'care manager' or 'kaigo shien senmon in.' The series was published last summer in Quality Nursing: The Japanese Journal of Research and Scholarship. The article presents the role of the case manager in the United States including background, definition, and functions of assessment planning, implementation, coordination, monitoring, and evaluation. Benefits of case management to the consumer, providers, payors, and the system are discussed. New directions for case management discussed include working with Community Health Workers to reach culturally diverse populations, population health management case management for long-term care populations, and direct contracting. The article is accompanied by a sidebar, which discusses case management as a linchpin, or central cohesive element that enhances the work of other health system components.