Case management and the national quality agenda: partnering to improve the quality of care.

The national quality agenda has received a great deal of public attention and hospital leaders are turning to case management departments for solutions. The purpose of this article was to review the evolution of the national initiative and to describe how case management programs-regardless of the setting-can demonstrate their value to their organization through embracing the core measures. The author discusses what barriers currently exist in systems that prohibit organizations from achieving 100% performance on core measure indicators. The Case Management Standards of Practice will provide a framework of discussion identifying why case managers should participate in the improvement process. And, finally, the author will discuss suggested strategies case managers can implement in their practice.