Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

As baby boomers grow older and levels of chronic illness rise in our society, the current healthcare system has become increasingly ill-equipped to meet the needs of these patients. In response to this increased burden of chronic illness, a new model of healthcare delivery - case management - has emerged as a way for healthcare professionals to better care for patients with complex needs. Case management is defined as the collaborative process of assessment, planning, facilitation, care coordination, evaluation and advocacy for options and services to meet an individual's and family's comprehensive health needs (Case Management Society of America). While case management works well, healthcare teams have notoriously struggled to implement this new model into daily practice. Accordingly, we sought to understands the factors that affect the ability of healthcare professionals and teams to do - or not do - case management in primary care. To do so, we searched for every study around the world that examined this topic. We found 19 research studies, originating from six countries. Overall, nine common "factors" (aspects that help or hinder case management) were identified from the studies. We spend the majority of our analysis describing these factors, mapping them out, and explaining potential relationships between individual factors. Overall, this review identifies important factors that influence the ability of healthcare professionals to do case management in primary care. Such findings may allow for the development of interventions of policy- or clinic-level interventions to improve case management function and, by extension, to provide better care for patients with complex needs.