Board-Certified Case Manager - Value of Certification
Commitment & Accountability
The CCM® is evidence that you’re at the top of your profession. Join more than 50,000 Board-Certified Case Managers committed to excellence. It’s a credential the public and employers trust.
Case managers who have earned the Certified Case Manager® (CCM) credential have the expertise, knowledge, and professional experience to provide the right services to clients across the continuum of care, including those with serious or complex medical conditions, and/or catastrophic injuries and illnesses. The CCM® credential means that case managers are committed to upholding the highest professional and ethical standards. To maintain certification, CCMs must comply with the Code of Professional Conduct for Case Managers, which is enforced by The Commission™.
The letters “CCM” behind your name empower your career potential. Those letters tell employers, clients and colleagues:
- You have proven knowledge and you’re ready to practice case management in health care and across practice settings.
- You’re an expert—a respected peer on the care team.
- You’re committed to life-long learning and professional development.
- You stand up as an advocate for clients and the public interest.
The CCM® is prized as the gold standard for case manager excellence across all health care and health management settings. The CCM is the:
- Exclusive case manager credential endorsed by the National Association of Social Workers
- Only cross-setting, cross-discipline case manager credential for health or human services professionals that is accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies.
- Only cross-setting case manager certification validated by a comprehensive job analysis, independently conducted and analyzed by experts.
Clients need an advocate on their side, and a Board-Certified Case Manager is the right professional to act in an individual’s best interest in a complex and fragmented health care system to provide optimum value and desirable outcomes for all involved. The letters “CCM” behind your name empower your career potential.
- 44 percent of CCM® employers require the CCM® credential, and 58 percent pay for the exam.*
- The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) approves the CCM® credential for reimbursement under the GI Bill for licensing and certification.
- The CCM® is approved to meet hospital Magnet Recognition status.
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The CCM® is a US-based credential, with CCMs residing in all 50 states and its territories
- DEFINITION OF CASE MANAGEMENT (ACMA/The Commission™, September 2022)
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Case Management is a dynamic process that assesses, plans, implements, coordinates, monitors, and evaluates to improve outcomes, experiences, and value.
The practice of case management is professional and collaborative, occurring in a variety of settings where medical care, mental health care, and social supports are delivered. Services are facilitated by diverse disciplines in conjunction with the care recipient and their support system.
In pursuit of health equity, priorities include identifying needs, ensuring appropriate access to resources/services, addressing social determinants of health, and facilitating safe care transitions. Professional case managers help navigate complex systems to achieve mutual goals, advocate for those they serve, and recognize personal dignity, autonomy, and the right to self-determination.
- PHILOSOPHY OF CASE MANAGEMENT
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Case management is an area of specialty practice within the health and human services profession. Its underlying premise is that everyone benefits when clients* reach their optimum level of wellness, self-management, and functional capability: the clients being served; their support systems; and the health care delivery systems, including the providers of care, the employers, and the various payor sources.
Case management facilitates the achievement of client wellness and autonomy through advocacy, assessment, planning, communication, education, resource management, and service facilitation. Based on the needs and values of the client, and in collaboration with all service providers, the case manager links clients with appropriate providers and resources throughout the continuum of health and human services and care settings, while ensuring that the care provided is safe, effective, client-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable. This approach achieves optimum value and desirable outcomes for all, including but not limited to the clients, their support systems, and the healthcare delivery systems, including the providers of care, the employers, and the various payor sources.
Case management services are optimized best if offered in a climate that allows direct communication among the case manager, the client, the payor, the primary care provider and other service delivery professionals. The case manager is able to enhance these services by maintaining the client’s privacy, confidentiality, health and safety through advocacy and adherence to ethical, legal, accreditation, certification and regulatory standards or guidelines.
Certification determines that the case manager possesses the education, skills, knowledge and experience required to render appropriate services delivered according to sound principles of practice.
* “Client” refers to the recipient of case management services and can include (but is not necessarily limited to) consumer, client, or patient.
- CCM® JOB TASK ANALYSIS
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The Commission™ has conducted the 2024 CCM® Job Task Analysis study of the case manager practice to update the content of the Certified Case Manager (CCM®) examination. Data Recognition Corporation (DRC), an experienced provider of assessment solutions, has worked with The Commission™ on the analysis. The study aims to validate the core knowledge areas that are important for the continued certification of case managers. A panel of experts proposed updates to the content outline of the CCM examination to become effective in August 2025. The case manager community validated the proposed updates by providing information related to any additional core knowledge content areas that should be included in the exam by responding to a survey.
A representative sample of 2,145 case managers responded to the survey. DRC analyzed the data and met with the Job Task Analysis Taskforce to review the results to make the final recommendations to The Commission™ regarding the exam content and test specifications.
Exam Blueprint Domain Adjustment
The most significant adjustment from the 2019 blueprint to 2024 is that Domain 1 was divided into two domains, thus shifting the total number of domains from five to six. Additional revisions to objectives reflected industry changes and modifications to ensure each objective was clear, concise, and distinct. The proportion of items designated to each domain was redistributed to reflect the adjustment to domain structure and objective distribution. The redistribution was accomplished through the survey analysis and job analysis Taskforce recommendations.
The August 2025 CCM® exam was based on the new blueprint, which included revised knowledge domains.
What else is new with this exam?
- There is a blend of 3 and 4-answer multiple-choice questions throughout the exam.
- All candidates will have the option to take a short break in the middle of the exam.
- E-BOOK: GROWTH, BENEFITS & VALUE: 2023 INSIGHT INTO TODAY'S CCM® CERTIFICANT
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In a changing health care industry, board-certified case managers are poised for employment flexibility and strong compensation as they work to support clients by coordinating appropriate care, educating and empowering them, and advocating on their behalf. The site of work for case managers is changing: According to The Commission's™ findings, most work remotely or hybrid. Board-Certified Case Manager salaries are higher than ever, demonstrating the tremendous value that case managers bring to the various health care settings in which they work.
To inform our advocacy and education for board-certified case managers, The Commission™ surveys Board-Certified Case Managers to gather information every two years. The most recent survey results are illustrated in an e-book, "Growth, Benefits and Value: 2023 Insight into Today’s CCM Certificant."
- ACMA & THE COMMISSION'S JOINT POSITION STATEMENT
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View the joint position statement on the Value of Certification: