CBHCM Professional Ethics and Responsibilities 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A case manager is treating a client who also happens to be a personal acquaintance. This situation represents which type of ethical concern?
- Scope of practice violation
- Dual relationship conflict (Correct answer)
- Documentation error
- Informed consent failure
Correct answer: Dual relationship conflict
A dual relationship occurs when a professional has both a personal and professional relationship with a client, which can compromise objectivity and professional judgment.
Question 2: Informed consent for behavioral health services must include which of the following elements?
- Only the treatment plan goals
- The nature of services, risks, benefits, alternatives, and the right to withdraw consent (Correct answer)
- The therapist's personal qualifications only
- A guarantee of treatment outcomes
Correct answer: The nature of services, risks, benefits, alternatives, and the right to withdraw consent
Valid informed consent requires disclosure of the nature of treatment, risks and benefits, available alternatives, and the client's right to withdraw at any time.
Question 3: When a client's treatment goals conflict with the goals established by their insurance payer, the case manager's primary obligation is to:
- Always follow the payer's guidelines to preserve the contract
- Advocate for clinically appropriate services while working within payer requirements (Correct answer)
- Discharge the client if payer and client goals cannot align
- Document the payer's goals as the client's goals
Correct answer: Advocate for clinically appropriate services while working within payer requirements
Case managers must advocate for clinically necessary care while navigating payer limitations, keeping the client's clinical needs as the priority.
Question 4: Which of the following best describes 'scope of practice' for a behavioral health case manager?
- The geographic area in which the case manager may work
- The range of professional activities authorized by training, licensure, and organizational policy (Correct answer)
- The number of clients a case manager may serve simultaneously
- The types of diagnoses a case manager may treat
Correct answer: The range of professional activities authorized by training, licensure, and organizational policy
Scope of practice defines the boundaries of professional activities a case manager is qualified and authorized to perform based on education, training, and credentialing.
Question 5: A case manager learns that a client plans to harm a specific identifiable third party. Under the Tarasoff duty-to-warn principle, the case manager must:
- Keep this information confidential as it was disclosed in treatment
- Warn the intended victim and notify law enforcement (Correct answer)
- Refer the client to a higher level of care and take no further action
- Document the threat and wait to see if the client follows through
Correct answer: Warn the intended victim and notify law enforcement
The Tarasoff ruling established that mental health professionals have a duty to protect identifiable third parties when a client makes a credible threat of harm.
Question 6: Which of the following actions best demonstrates the ethical principle of justice in behavioral health case management?
- Providing the same exact services to every client regardless of need
- Ensuring equitable access to resources based on individual client needs and circumstances (Correct answer)
- Prioritizing clients who pay privately over those with public insurance
- Limiting services to clients who demonstrate motivation for change
Correct answer: Ensuring equitable access to resources based on individual client needs and circumstances
Justice requires fair and equitable distribution of resources and services based on individual need, not status or ability to pay.
Question 7: A case manager notices signs of compassion fatigue affecting their work. The most ethical course of action is to:
- Continue working and hope it resolves on its own
- Seek supervision, peer support, or professional help to address self-care needs (Correct answer)
- Reduce client caseload without informing the supervisor
- Transfer all clients immediately without proper transition planning
Correct answer: Seek supervision, peer support, or professional help to address self-care needs
Ethical practice requires case managers to recognize the impact of compassion fatigue on client care and seek appropriate support to maintain professional competence.
CBHCM Professional Ethics and Responsibilities 3
A case manager is treating a client who also happens to be a personal acquaintance.
This situation represents which type of ethical concern?