The case management process: a step-by-step guide to success

Nonprofit organizations and public sector agencies work to serve clients with complex issues by listening to their concerns, providing the resources they need, and checking in to ensure they are continuing to improve and thrive.

To manage these relationships, your organization needs a structured system for addressing every client’s unique situation. This is known as the case management process.

In this guide, we’ll break down the key components of the case management process for human services agencies along with a few best practices.

What is the case management process?

The case management process is a series of steps and actions that case managers take to meet clients’ health and human services needs.

A defined case management process should outline exactly how case workers will manage relationships and positively impact clients’ lives through individualized, data-informed care. Because every client you serve has a unique situation, implementing a system for assessing and managing client needs can be a challenge. This is why many organizations turn to software to facilitate their case management process.

Steps in the case management process

The typical case management process includes five core steps or stages:

We’ll explore each step in detail so you can establish your own flexible approach to case management and achieve more positive outcomes.

1. Intake

Intake refers to the first time a client contacts a case manager for assistance. This meeting can happen in person or take place online through self-service tools.

At the intake meeting, you should start getting to know the client and collect initial data about their needs. Ask the client for information that’s relevant to their case and the care you can provide, such as:

Demographic and contact information so you can reach out to them again.
Existing health conditions that may impact their case, the services they need, or how they interact with you.
Socioeconomic status and any financial concerns or barriers they may have.
Living situation, including what community they live in, who they live with, and whether they feel safe in their current situation.
Whether they have used social and health services before and what the results were.
Physical, emotional, and cognitive functioning levels.

Along with collecting information, intake helps you evaluate if a client would benefit from your organization’s services. If the answer is yes, you can move on to the next step in the case management process. If the client has needs that you can’t address, you might refer them to another community resource where they can seek further assistance.

You can simplify and improve your case management process by investing in a case management system that includes online intake forms. Paper intake forms have multiple issues, such as difficulty reading handwriting and challenges in storing hundreds of clients’ intake forms.

Digital, self-service intake forms allow clients to complete the intake process quickly, reducing administrative time for your team and ensuring their information is stored securely in an accessible case management database. Here’s an example of what this interface might look like for clients:

2. Needs assessment

After identifying that your organization has the ability to help a client, move on to conducting a needs assessment. During a needs assessment, speak with the client to go into greater depth about their needs to identify the severity and urgency of the need, as well as any potential opportunities.

The needs assessment process usually involves working with a client to fill out a form that specifies exactly what their needs are and the intensity of those needs. For example, an organization that assists survivors of domestic abuse might ask clients to rate their current safety, financial position, physical health, and mental health on a scale of 1-5. While quantitative numbers may not reflect the specifics of the situation, these can alert case managers to which of the client's needs require more immediate action.

Additionally, case managers should take qualitative notes during the needs assessment to highlight any specific reminders, questions, or concerns they have about the client and their needs.

3. Risk evaluation

Using the data collected during the needs assessment, case managers should then evaluate the client’s risk level.

Risk means different things to different organizations. For instance, in the previous example of an organization that provides services to survivors of domestic abuse, the risk level may be based on the possibility of the client experiencing further abuse. In contrast, an organization that provides mental health services to unhoused individuals may need to evaluate clients on how likely they are to continue accepting the organization’s help.

As such, it can be useful to evaluate risk by two factors:

Client-related: What risks might the client experience that may interfere with their ability to recover, thrive, and receive help? These might be environmental factors, such as the safety of the client’s current living situation, or barriers specific to the client, such as their literacy levels.
Intensity: How extreme are the identified risks? Clients' needs will vary in severity. For example, a nonprofit that provides mental health services might have two clients with the same condition that can be disruptive to daily life, but are at different levels of risk.

By identifying high-risk situations, case managers can act quickly to recommend intensive or immediate services to those in greater need or be proactive about removing potential obstacles to a client receiving assistance.

4. Service planning

While client needs should be continually re-evaluated throughout the case management process, at this point, initial evaluations are complete, and the case manager can create goals with the client or recommend services.

Based on your findings, pair the client with services at your organization, usually by providing network or internal referrals. To encourage the client to continue seeking assistance, you should also establish goals for the client at this time.

These goals are usually related to the theoretical end-point of the client seeking assistance, such as when they are safe, in a stable environment, and healthy. To help clients achieve these goals, case managers should break these goals down into:

Specific actions: What steps should the client take? These should be specific and possible to achieve given the client’s current needs and abilities. For example, a common first action will be to make an appointment with the service the case manager referred them to.
Outputs: After taking the action, what will happen to the client? This might be receiving medical assistance, housing, creating a resume or applying for a job, or further evaluation.
Outcomes: What are the long-term results of the client taking specific actions? These outcomes might be learning valuable life skills, establishing themselves in a safe environment, or becoming healthy enough to secure and maintain a new job.

Additionally, share a plan for what future activities the client should take, how they will be supported, and how you’ll together measure the client’s progress. This provides clients with a clear timeline and concrete steps they can take.

5. Monitoring and evaluation

After planning services, case managers should continually monitor and evaluate clients as long as they continue to seek assistance. Understanding the impacts and long-term outcomes of your programs not only helps you assess whether they are meeting a client’s needs but also how effective your services are as a whole.

For example, if a case manager notices a specific program does not appear to be meeting multiple clients' needs, that could be a sign that certain aspects of the program need to be rethought.

Case management process best practices

Before implementing your case management process, consider what your organization can do to give your programs and clients the best chances of success. A few case management best practices include:

Collaboration: Your organization has multiple case workers for a reason. Encourage your staff to work together to support each other, brainstorm solutions, and create innovative programs.
Maintaining security: Many of your clients will likely need to share private information. Ensure your case management software has security measures in place to protect their data, such as role-based permissions and multi-factor authentication.
Investing in software: If your organization is not already using unified case management software, consider making an upgrade. Software can help your organization stay organized, act quickly, report on your impact, and expand your services.

For organizations looking to get started with case management software or change systems, we have to recommend our solution, Bonterra Impact Management, built on Apricot.

Impact Management is a comprehensive, flexible case management solution designed specifically for nonprofits and public sector agencies. Our platform is designed to make your organization more efficient, better at data management, and able to deliver improved program results.

Achieving success with the case management process

Case management is not a linear, straightforward process. You’ll need to re-assess clients’ needs and update your service planning to meet changing needs and circumstances.

Be aware that this iterative process can change abruptly. However, with the tools and strategies in place to keep your team on track with your case management process, you can ensure your clients receive the services they need.