Taking an Innovative Entrepreneurial Road

2025 is a milestone moment, and 21 years since I left the safety of my role as Director of Case Management, Risk Management, and Quality Management to embark on a wild entrepreneurial vision. It’s hard to imagine how much time has passed, but even harder to believe the space that I created. Amazing what comes from unique vision, passion, and perseverance to enhance healthcare quality for all stakeholders: patients, providers, and practitioners included.

Where it Started

Truth be told, I had NO idea what my career would look like in 2004, but I knew my passion. I had worked in hospitals for 20 years, first as a medical social worker, then a case manager, and case management leader. Health disparities were a daily reality for the populations I worked with, as was ensuring equitable access for all persons who needed care.

I was trained by quality mavins to heed the Triple Aim; after all, shouldn’t all persons receive quality-driven, population-specific, and patient-centric care delivered at the right time, right place, and for the right cost? The answer was obvious to me, but not to all. In turn, the workforce needed education, specialized training, and access to evidence-based tools that would allow them to skillfully render that vision of care.

It was a priority for me to enhance the braintrust of each member of the healthcare workforce, from students, to new and seasoned professionals, as well as those in leadership roles. I was passionate about ethical practice and the chronic dilemmas faced by my colleagues as they balanced these tenets with regulatory requirements and personal beliefs. A growing array of challenges impeded their ability to attain successful outcomes: they spanned managing HIPAA and privacy requirements, technology proficiency, interstate practice restrictions, and increasing pressures to quickly discharge and patients across the care continuum. These pressures also impacted workforce resilience and contributed to rapidly rising rates of burnout and staff turnover.

I wanted to advocate as fiercely and unapologetically for our workforce as I had for my patients and their families. Colleagues questioned my “sudden” departure from the hospital. I had advanced to case management’s upper leadership echelons, and as a social worker in a nursing-dominated profession. However, I knew more beckoned. I strived to elevate the quality of my efforts in a way that made a tangible and sustainable difference. Yet, defining how to make a career out of this vision was my newest challenge.

How it’s Going

Fast forward to 2025: Every contract I take on allows me the unique opportunity to empower the knowledge and practice of our interprofessional healthcare workforce. This means roles spanning educator, author, professional speaker, thought leader, supervisor, and content developer.

✅ I earned a Doctorate in Behavioral Health with a specialization in health equity, integrated care, quality, and trauma-informed leadership.
✅I develop curricula and teach at Baccalaureate, Masters, and Doctoral levels for integrated care, public health, and social work programs. I recently added roles of Doctoral faculty member, academic advisor, and IRB coordinator to this mix
✅ I’ve written 5 books, including the first texts dedicated to ethics in case management; The Ethical Case Manager: Tools & Tactics was published in May 2023. Book 6 is entitled Behavioral Health for Case Management and will be out in Fall 2025.
✅I’m editing my first book with colleagues from Cummings Graduate Institute for Behavioral Health Studies entitled Integrated Behavioral Health: Applying the Biodyne Model in Healthcare, with publication through Routledge Press in Winter of 2026.
✅I serve professional associations as my expertise can be optimized, contributing to industry regulatory resources including codes of ethics, standards of practice, and serving on specialty committees.
✅ I’m editor of the HeartBeat of Case Management department for the scholarly journal, Professional Case Management, and first non-nurse to be elevated to this role for this publication.
✅I’ve left a legacy of published frameworks and models I never could have dreamed of in the form of blogs, journal articles, book forewords and chapters, industry position papers, and online learning modules.
✅I serve as an industry thought leader for credentialing entities, industry coalitions, and other initiatives.
✅In June 2023, I was inducted as a Fellow in Case Management by CMSA, and the first social worker to be awarded this honor.

✅In March 2025, I was recognized by NASW of Virginia and Metro DC as the Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient.

✅ In June 2025, I was named Case Manager of the Year by CMSA; the 2nd non-nurse to do so in the association’s 35-year history, and first in 25 years.

I forge ahead to ensure that every patient, provider, practitioner, and student feels safe, seen, heard, valued, and respected. Everyday is a learning journey that affords me the best vision to properly mentor the workforce and ensure their sustainability.

Where it Will Go

There aren’t enough words to express my gratitude for the support everyone has shown to me these last several decades. Many colleagues have asked if I’m retiring. Actually, I’m just getting warmed up! There’s too much work to be done in this industry. Watch out 2026!

Special thanks to those friends and family who have been part of this journey, and especially my better half for his unconditional support. My appreciation to these partners who continue to be the wind beneath my wings:

• Cummings Graduate Institute for Behavioral Health Studies
• George Mason University
• University at Buffalo School of Social Work
• The Case Management Society of America
• NASW Virginia and Metro DC
• Blue Bayou Press
• Case Management Institute, LLC
• MedBridge
• Rise Association
• Wolters Kluwer Health