CSWE/NASW Project on Preparing Social Workers for a Managed Care Environment

From October 1995 through September 1997, the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) and the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) collaborated on a project to look at workforce-training issues and to help prepare social workers for the constantly evolving and proliferating world of managed health care. The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration provided funding for this project for two years. The following recounts the second year plans.

OVERVIEW OF THE PROJECT

The first year of the project focused on assessing the needs in both the education and practice worlds. The Strategic Action Plan, available on request, portrays a diversity of experiences and opinions about managed care. Most agree that the social work profession—and our clients—cannot and should not hide from emerging managed care systems. Instead, the project focus is on mustering social workers’ strengths to influence these systems and to advocate for and ensure the inclusion of social workers and our clients. So the work of the project has matured into forging partnerships to shape managed care through advocacy, education, and skills building. This Practice Update explains these plans and seeks to engage others to help in the considerable work before the social work education and practice communities.

ACTIVITIES

The CSWE/NASW project’s activities will focus on convening groups, providing a resource clearinghouse, and developing curricula for the social work profession about managed care concerns. An Advisory Work Group has already been convened that includes representatives from CSWE, NASW, the Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education, the National Association of Deans and Directors, and the Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Directors, as well as practitioners, consumers, managed care executives, advocacy organizations, students, and agency administrators. This group has outlined a series of possible actions reflecting the three core functions.

The convening function, as defined in the Strategic Action Plan, involves bringing together individuals and organizations at many levels to debate, analyze strategies, plan, propose policy, and develop training, among other activities. The plans of this project should be widely disseminated to engage the help of other interested people, particularly those in social work education programs and NASW chapters. The project envisions social workers influencing the managed care environment as they work together in a variety of arenas. Coalitions can develop and advocate for passage of state legislation for regulatory mechanisms that increase quality and access to services under managed care. Chapters and schools in collaboration could identify and learn from regional experts. Social workers can network on managed care issues with consumers, media, other professional groups, advocacy groups, and state legislators. Local and national groups should meet with managed care companies to seek better support for professional training. In addition, foundation funding for educational forums can be sought.

CLEARINGHOUSE

The clearinghouse function involves the transmission of information, concerns, viewpoints, issues, proposals, solutions, and curricula among social work professionals and between social workers and others who work in managed care organizations. CSWE and NASW are committed to developing a clearinghouse of resources related to managed care and the social work profession, but they need the help of others to identify these resources. A listserv (discussion group through e-mail) has been established to showcase resources and provide a vehicle for discussions about the impact and meaning of managed care for the social work profession. The project can also use existing mechanisms for collection and dissemination of managed care materials relevant to social workers, such as the NASW and the CSWE Web sites, the Center for Mental Health Services’ clearinghouse called Knowledge Exchange Network, and CSWE and NASW publications. The project also plans to share selected materials with targeted groups in hopes of furthering action. For instance, NASW chapters and schools of social work will be sent the model legislation on managed care passed through a coalition led by the Rhode Island chapter of NASW, with encouragement for actions. Other materials of interest include NASW’s existing materials on managed care for chapters and schools and the Bill of Rights (also on the NASW Web site) developed by the national organizations of different mental health professions. The Advisory Work Group members who represent educational or other groups will help disseminate the information collected by the project through organizational newsletters and meetings.

The curriculum function involves the creation and critique of curricula for course instruction, continuing education, and other specialized in-service and preservice training programs or venues. Another major set of the Advisory Work Group’s activities will focus on presentations at educational meetings on managed care’s impact on the social work profession and the clients that we serve. The annual meetings of all the educational and NASW groups should include content on how the social work profession can respond to the managed care phenomenon. The content of the efforts should promote services that are consumer created. The Advisory Work Group identified critically needed research in two areas: (1) outcomes data and social work effectiveness research and (2) clarification of the roles of BSWs and MSWs. In addition, further discussions should develop consensus positions on prevention, on the public health model as opposed to the disease model, on the client-centered perspective, and on how these positions affect curricula.

Are you interested in signing up for the listserv (e-mail based discussion group) to send/receive social work/managed care content?

• Send an e-mail message to list@discuss.naswdc.org
• Leave the subject line blank
• In the body of the message, write "join managedcare" (note, no space between "managed" and "care")
• You should get a confirming message
• After joining, send messages to "managedcare@discuss.naswdc.org".

If you have questions or comments, send it to Rita Vandivort via e-mail to rvandivo@naswdc.org .

Social work is as strong as the strength of its members. Help forge a new future.