The Commission for Case Manager Certification (CCMC) adopted its Code of Professional Conduct for Case Managers with Standards, Rules, Procedures and Penalties (referred to in this article as “the Code”) in 1996. It has revised the Code six times since (in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2014, and 2015). The Code consists of seven sections.
General Description of CCMC’s Code of Professional Conduct for Case Managers
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Focus |
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Preamble |
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Presents an overview of the Code including its basic objective: “to promote the public interest” (CCMC, 2015, p. 2).
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Principles |
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Lists eight professional behaviors expected of board-certified case managers (CCMs) which are also then elaborated in the standards section (p. 3).
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Rules of Conduct |
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Describes six expectations and explains that any violation to the rules potentially results in disciplinary action by CCMC “up to and including revocation of the individual’s certification” (p. 3).
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Scope of Practice |
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Reflects a number of assumptions, underlying values, a definition of case management, and a general statement about ethical issues. It also acknowledges that case managers are likely to confront ethical dilemmas in their practice (p. 4).
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Selected Definitions |
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Shares definitions of 14 terms used in case management or in the Code, some of which pertain to ethical principles such as advocacy, autonomy, beneficence, justice, nonmaleficence and veracity (pp. 5-6).
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Standards of Professional Conduct |
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Describes 26 standards for the professional conduct of case managers which are divided into five groups. A violation to any of these standards can trigger an ethics review of the board-certified case manager by the CCMC Committee on Ethics and Professional Conduct (pp. 7-10).
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Procedures for Processing Complaints |
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Explains various aspects of the complaint process whereby clients of board-certified case managers or other CCMs can formally register their complaints with CCMC. This section details the complaint process, the nature of an ethics hearing (should one occur), and the types of actions the Committee on Ethics and Professional Conduct can take (e.g., a formal reprimand, probation, or suspension of the CCM credential for a period of time). It also describes the appeal procedure (pp. 11-21).
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Provides the official form a complainant must complete and submit to CCMC before the Committee on Ethics and Professional Conduct will review the complaint (pp. 22-24).
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Compiled based on the CCMC Code of Professional Conduct for Case Managers with Standards, Rules, Procedures, and Penalties by the Commission for Case Manager Certification, January 2015, Mount Laurel, NJ: CCMC.
Next page: From Principles to Rules to Standards
