Case management redesign saves millions for NM health care plan: health plan cuts positions, slashes cost of care.

When Presbyterian Health Plan merged its commercial, Medicare, and Medicaid managed care products, the case managers decided to take the merger a step further.

"When the organization made a decision to merge the product lines and we were merging the case management departments together, it was the perfect time to go further and look at everything we were doing," says Paula Casey, BSN, MSN, senior clinical project coordinator for case management.

By redesigning the way its case management services worked, Presbyterian Health Plan (PHP) in Albuquerque, NM, was able to decrease its number of full-time employees from 120 to 90 full-time equivalent positions (FTEs) at a savings of more than $1 million in the first year.

In 2001, the revamped case management program was able to document about $6 million in savings generated by case …