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Cases

How to use a Case as an episode-of-care workspace—from services-only coordination through optional formal Treatment Planning.

Cases overview

A Case represents an episode of care: a defined period when staff are organizing and recording support for a student. It provides one workspace for ownership, services, referrals, Goals, planning, reviews, and closure history.

A Case may be as simple as a place to organize services. Add Case Goals when measurable outcomes would help. Use the formal Treatment Planning workflow only when the episode of care calls for structured plan context, an establishment date, and recorded reviews.

Part of the record	Required?	What it does
Case	Main record	Organizes the episode of care and preserves its history.
Services	As work occurs	Records the support provided during the Case.
Case Goals	Optional	Tracks measurable outcomes associated with the Case.
Treatment Plan	Optional	Adds formal plan context, establishment, and review history inside the Case.

Find and open Cases

Cases live under a student. Open the student and choose Cases in the student navigation. Review existing Cases before opening another one so the same episode of care is not split across duplicate records.

When opening a Case, select its category, assigned practitioner, status, priority, opened date, and any relevant referral or student indicators. Document the presenting concern at the Case level. You can immediately begin logging services and add Goals or formal planning later if needed.

The five Treatment Planning states

The Treatment Plan card shows the Case’s visible planning state and the next action available to the practitioner. These states describe the optional planning workflow inside the Case; they are not separate Case statuses.

Visible state	What it means	Next available action
Services-only Case	The Case is organizing services without Case Goals or formal plan context. This is valid.	Continue logging services, add a Goal, or edit the Treatment Plan.
Case Goals	One or more Goals belong to the Case, but a formal plan has not been established. This is also valid.	Continue Goal work or add plan context.
Draft Treatment Plan	Plan context has been saved, but the Treatment Plan has not been formally established.	Complete required plan details and establish it when appropriate.
Established Treatment Plan	The current plan has an establishment date and may be reviewed while the Case remains active.	Continue work, edit current details, print, or complete a Plan Review.
Plan needs review	An established Case was reopened and requires formal follow-up.	Complete a supported review or re-establishment workflow.

Building a Treatment Plan

Use formal Treatment Planning when the Case needs documented plan context, participating providers, a planned service cadence, a planned duration, Case Goals, and formal establishment and review activity.

1. Open the student and choose Cases.
2. Open the relevant Case.
3. Choose Edit Treatment Plan.
4. Enter the plan context, participating providers, planned frequency, and planned end date.
5. Create a new Case Goal or associate an existing Goal with this Case.
6. Save the planning details. They remain a Draft Treatment Plan.
7. Return to the Case and choose Establish Treatment Plan when the required information is ready.
8. Use Print Treatment Plan when a current printable view is needed.

Planning fields

Field	How to use it
Presenting Concerns	Summarize the concern, pattern, impact, and relevant context.
Strengths	Document student, family, school, or community strengths that can support the work.
Stressors	Record current barriers or circumstances that affect the plan.
Diagnosis or Symptoms	Document only what is appropriate and supported for the Case; a diagnosis is not required.
Plan Summary / Interventions and Modalities	Describe the current approach, interventions, responsible participants, and intended follow-through.
Planned Service Frequency	Choose exactly one: Weekly, Biweekly, Monthly, or As Needed.
Planned End Date	Define the intended duration by recording when this plan is expected to end or be reconsidered.
Case Participants	Identify the providers or staff participating in the Case and their role.

Goals and progress

Goals may belong to a Case or remain standalone on the student record. A Case Goal can be created before formal planning begins, while a Treatment Plan is a draft, or after establishment. SocialNote reuses the existing Goal creation and progress-entry workflows.

Action	Effect
Create or select a Case Goal	Associates the measurable outcome with this episode of care.
Log Goal progress	Adds a dated progress entry and updates the Goal’s current outcome information.
Edit an established plan	Updates the current planning details; it does not freeze or version the Goals.
Establish or re-establish	Records establishment of the current plan; Goal work can continue afterward.

Reviews and amendments

A Case Review is a distinct historical event. It documents the practitioner’s evaluation of the current plan and may either confirm that the plan remains appropriate or lead to changes. Applicable changes can then be reflected in the current plan and, when appropriate, re-established.

Word	What happened	What did not necessarily happen
Reviewed	A Case Review was recorded as a distinct historical event.	The plan was not necessarily changed or re-established.
Edited	The current plan details were changed.	An edit alone is not a recorded review and does not prove review compliance.
Re-established	The current plan was established again following applicable review or change.	Goals were not frozen into an immutable version.

Review types available in SocialNote are Scheduled review, Ad hoc review, Re-establishment, and Discharge review. A review can record continued appropriateness, revision, preparation for discharge, or discharge.

Closing and reopening Cases

Close a Case when active coordination ends. SocialNote records the closure date, reason, outcome, summary, and whether a referral is needed next year.

Closure information	Available choices or guidance
Closure Reason	Discharged as Planned · Referred to Other Services · Student Declined · Family Declined · Insufficient Progress · Withdrew from District · Summer Break · Other
Closure Outcome	Marked Improvement · Moderate Improvement · No Change
Closure Summary	Describe the result, remaining needs, handoff, and next monitoring step.
Active or Paused Goals	For an established Treatment Plan, choose a disposition for each Goal: close as met, close as not met, continue as a standalone student Goal, or move it to another open Case.

Reopening restores the Case to active work without erasing its prior services, Goals, reviews, closure, or plan history. If the closed Case had an established Treatment Plan, reopening creates Plan needs review so the practitioner formally considers whether the current plan is still appropriate.

Printing the current Treatment Plan

The printable Treatment Plan represents the current plan at the generated timestamp. It includes the current Case status, Goals, providers and participants, planned frequency, planned duration, plan context, review information, and—when applicable—closure information.

Timeline and reporting

The Case timeline summarizes relevant Treatment Plan, Goal, progress, review, closure, and reopening activity so authorized users can understand how the episode of care changed over time.

Treatment Planning reports combine documented reviews with current Case data. Review compliance is based on actual Case Review records—not merely editing, establishing, or re-establishing plan details unless the supported workflow also records the applicable review.

Legacy records

Imported legacy submissions may appear as converted plans, retained historical snapshots, or items requiring administrative review. Practitioners should not recreate, edit solely to “clean up,” or otherwise fix legacy records unless a district administrator directs them to do so.

Worked example: decreasing student absences

Jordan’s Attendance Support Case begins as a services-only Case. The practitioner can log check-ins and family coordination immediately. When the team decides measurable follow-through and a formal plan would help, it adds the following optional planning information.

The plan can be saved as a draft and established when required details and an active Case Goal are ready. Later progress entries update the current Goal outcome. A scheduled Case Review can document that attendance is improving and the current plan remains appropriate without requiring a plan change.

Treatment Planning vocabulary

Term	Meaning
Case	The episode-of-care workspace.
Case Goal	A Goal associated with a Case.
Draft Treatment Plan	Planning details saved but not formally established.
Established Treatment Plan	The currently established plan.
Case Review	A recorded review of the plan.
Re-establishment	Establishing the current plan again following review or change.
Plan needs review	Required follow-up after reopening an established Case.

Who can do what

Action	Who
View cases	Staff in the student's district who have access to the student's school.
Open a case	Same as above.
Edit, plan, review, close, or reopen a case	The case creator, the assigned staff member, or an administrator, subject to district access.
Work with Case Goals	Staff with access to the student and permission to create or update the Goal.
Print the current Treatment Plan	Authorized users who can view the Case.
Delete a case	The case creator or an administrator.

If Edit Case is not available, the case may belong to another staff member. Ask the assigned staff member or an administrator to make the change or reassign the case.