I’ve been coming for three years in a row. I feel the conferences are very educational, and because it’s on the national level, you can make connections with a lot of people from across the country – learn what they’re doing in their hospital versus what you’re doing in yours. 

I attended a session this morning that was very impactful. It was session 2208, "A Call to Action for Hospital Case Managers...Financial Reimbursement or Improved Patient Outcomes... Where Do You Stand?" It had an excellent speaker; they really brought home what a case manager was supposed to do. She even gave you the encouragement to go to administration within your organization to talk about the standards of practice, and getting them on board even when there’s resistance. 

Out on the show floor today, I had a great experience taking to a vendor who supplied life vests. Turns out I had difficulty getting one for a patient previously, so it was nice to be exposed to a different company versus the one option that we thought we had back at home. 

This is my second consecutive year attending the CMSA conference, and I enjoy attending because I’m able to easily connect with other case managers from different regions of the country, and to see what’s working in other facilities as compared to what we’re doing in ours back at home. Having the opportunity to talk to different case managers from different walks of life – from acute care to workers’ comp. Across the board, there’s just a great sense of comradery of case management here. 

A really impactful moment for me was yesterday’s keynote speaker with Dr. Jerry Linenger. It was a great presentation that was down to earth and really drew the connection of what we do on a daily basis, and taking time out for yourself. He was taking about his time in space, the perils and things he faced, and drew the connection to appreciate the air you breathe every day.

Today’s session on acute case management really hit home for me because it’s sometimes hard to find great information on my case management specialty. The speaker mentioned all the other tasks that we’ve taken on as case managers, and lately it seems that it’s actually been more task-oriented than patient-oriented. I really got a lot out of attending that session.