The Center for Special Immunology's disease management program integrates all treatment elements required in CFIDS/FM disease, specifically:

• Private practice clinical medicine
• Pharmacotherapy monitoring
• Individualized nutritional monitoring
• Academic and clinical outcome research
• Cost-effective ancillary medical services

CSI deploys a "center of excellence model" (in which comprehensive services are provided within a single facility) that incorporates physician care, laboratory, in-office infusion, nutritional and psychological consultants.
The model then transitions to a 'cluster of excellence' that incorporates primary care as well as various subspecialties such as opthamology, gastroenterology, and infectious disease.

In order to provide state-of-the-art care for any adult sickness, regardless of how common, obscure, difficult, or easy, we are always learning more about:

The Heart and Blood Vessels

• Cancer
• Diabetes
• Digestion
• Liver
• Kidneys
• Blood
• Hormones
• Infections
• Rheumatism
• Adolescence
• Anti-Aging

Case Management is a collaborative process which assesses, plans, implements, coordinates, monitors, and evaluates the options and services to meet a patient’s health needs. Here at CSI, we believe that all patients with chronic illnesses need aggressive and proactive case management, starting from their first induction visit. Using communication, negotiation and all available resources, case management can promote the highest quality of care, cost effectively and with resource effective outcomes.

Working as an advocate for the patient (always searching for and moving toward the most medically appropriate solution and setting), an empowering agent for the patient, and a facilitator of communication among the patient, family, care providers, payers, and community based organizations, the case manager is a sentinel for quality assurance, fair and equitable reimbursement, maximization of resources, and catalyst for change.

At CSI, case management is focused on all elements impacting the patient’s well being: insurance, legal, vocational disciplines, psychosocial, environmental, family, and economic, even religious dynamics. The criteria to be a certified case manager (CCM) help define our CCM role at CSI:

“The case management practioner must have the ability to apply problem-solving techniques to the case management process; assess variables that impact health and functioning; interpret clinical information and assess implications for treatment; develop an individualized case management plan that addresses singular physical, vocational, psychosocial, financial and educational needs; negotiate competitive rates to maximize funding for individual’s care; understand insurance policy language; present various health care options; document case management activities; maintain confidentiality regarding release of information accounting to legal and ethical requirements and guidelines; and maintain familiarity with disease processes, available resources and treatment modalities, assessing their quality and appropriateness for specific disabilities, illnesses and injuries.”

Case Managers working with CFIDS/FM patients face all the challenges of other types of long-term, catastrophic care cases plus additional elements that don’t present themselves in other diagnoses. These include issues of confidentiality, access to information, social stigmatization, prejudice, and benefits manipulation. By remaining actively informed and aggressive, we can tackle these issues with success.