Regardless of their chosen field, case managers are prone to burnout due to their volume of work, frequent staffing shortages, and emotional investment in their clients. The intricacies of tracking and working on multiple cases with varying circumstances, needs, and goals can be overwhelming to even the most seasoned case management professionals. Therefore, choosing the best nonprofit case management tool for your organization is essential.
Why use a dedicated case management tool?
There are countless tools available online to digitize and track case management tasks — from email to word processors to data management tools — but all of these are more effective and efficient when they can work together. Purpose-built case management software like CaseWorthy can store, analyze, and transmit case management information efficiently and quickly within a collaborative online environment, simplifying processes and allowing for delegation, decreasing the burden on individuals and sharing it across teams.
Below, we’ll explore the features case management systems need to keep cases organized and teams working together smoothly.
What is a case management tool?
A case management tool is a software solution or application designed to manage many individual cases within a standardized framework or process. Case management tools contain fields for data about each case — such as names, contact information, risk factors, financial data, or medical records — in a way that can be stored and retrieved easily by many team members. Many case management tools integrate automated workflows to improve efficiency and reduce burdens on individual team members.
Many industries utilize case management tools, but nonprofit organizations often use them to document clients’ needs and goals, as well as the organization’s funding and outcomes. Any organization hoping to improve the well-being of a particular community or group must break down their challenges and solutions to the individual level. Serving individuals on a case-by-case basis will uplift the community as a whole while building lasting relationships with clients served.
Case management tool features
An organization working with groups at an individual level will generate and work with a lot of data. Here are some features nonprofit organizations should look for when shopping for a case management tool to work with.
Robust reporting capabilities
Nonprofits are held to high standards of transparency and accountability. Donors and government agencies working with nonprofits want evidence that the organization is performing as expected and that their dollars are well-spent. CaseWorthy’s robust reporting interface can be seamlessly integrated with data sources and produce beautiful, easily-understood reports and dashboards to demonstrate their goals and progress, as well as those of the clients they serve.
On an individual level, reporting can help clients see and understand what their improvement entails and where they are in their journey. Individual reporting helps plot next steps and inform the overall plan and methodology for their success.
Customizable interfaces
No two nonprofits are exactly alike, so none of them should settle for a one-size-fits-all case management solution. Case management tools should be configurable to collect and store the data an organization needs. Customizable fields in case management tools ensure the nonprofit’s data remains clean and concise and that their approach can change along with the organization’s goals.
Because nonprofits often deal with highly sensitive and personal information about their clients, it is also crucial that the case management tool allows for customizable tiers of access. Not everyone working with a nonprofit organization needs to know everything, so customizable tiers grant access to users on a need-to-know basis, keeping teams informed and clients safe.
Secure referral coordination
Clients often require many different types of resources and support in their journey to success, and nonprofit case management tools are integral to making those connections and ensuring clients’ needs are met. CaseWorthy’s referral system makes it easy to build a roster of agencies and individuals in the community to work with and share pertinent information with them on a regular basis.
Modern case management data systems are incredibly sophisticated in order to promote ease of use and shareability without compromising client data and security. Certain organizations may be subject to certain data compliance standards, such as HIPAA, HMIS, and LIHEAP. Compliance with these standards when issuing referrals for clients may affect an organization’s funding or partnership eligibility.
Case notes and documentation
Case notes are the lifeblood of providing individualized care to those in need. These case notes can be as straightforward or robust as necessary, but individuals’ unique needs cannot be addressed without case notes. By recording and addressing needs on a case-by-case basis, case managers can provide the most effective and efficient solutions to issues within the case.
Case note functionality within a case management tool should be flexible in many ways: accessible, customizable, and timely. CaseWorthy cloud-based case notes can provide data and document management from anywhere. Client information is stored securely but is shareable with other team members who can add to and collaborate on case notes in real-time.
CaseWorthy does it all
CaseWorthy’s nonprofit case management tool is a flexible platform designed for human services organizations and built for the way you work. Our customizable dashboards are configurable to meet any nonprofit organization’s needs — from workforce development, to social services, to behavioral health services, and more.
When case managers take on systemic issues for the betterment of their peers and community, they need powerful tools. We’ve built our case management system with that in mind, so your team can do more good for more people — individually and collectively.