The community case management program: for 12 years, caring at its best.

One of the most complex issues currently under debate in this country is how best to provide health care for our society. Since 1995, Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, has been effectively addressing one facet of this national crisis by providing services to a population of primarily elderly, chronically ill individuals perpetually caught in the gaps between acute and end-of-life services. Community case managers link program participants with appropriate health care services and providers that enhance physiological and functional status, identify resources that enrich quality of life, and encourage relationships and skills which foster self-efficacy. By emphasizing timely access to health-maximizing services, this program documented an impressive 81% reduction in financial losses to the organization during 2006 for emergency and inpatient services provided to a specific sample from this population.