Improving publicly funded substance abuse treatment: the value of case management

This study evaluated the impact of case management on client retention in treatment and short-term relapse for clients in the publicly funded substance abuse treatment system.

A retrospective cohort design was used to study clients discharged from the following four modalities in 1993 and 1994: short-term residential (3112 clients), long-term residential (2888 clients), outpatient (7431 clients), and residential detox (7776 clients). Logistic regression models were used to analyze the impact of case management after controlling for baseline characteristics.

The odds that case-managed clients reached a length of stay previously identified as associated with more successful treatment were 1.6 (outpatient programs) to 3.6 (short-term residential programs) times higher than the odds for non-case-managed clients. With the exception of outpatient clients, the odds of case-managed clients' being admitted to detox within 90 days after discharge (suggesting relapse) were about two thirds those of non-case-managed clients. The odds of case-managed detox clients' transitioning to post-detox treatment (a good outcome) were 1.7 times higher than the odds for non-case-managed clients.

Case management is a low-cost enhancement that improves short-term outcomes of substance abuse treatment programs.