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American Journal of Public Health logoLink to American Journal of Public Health
. 1997 Oct;87(10):1659–1664. doi: 10.2105/ajph.87.10.1659

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

M Shwartz 1, G Baker 1, K P Mulvey 1, A Plough 1
PMCID: PMC1381130  PMID: 9357349

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: 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. METHODS: 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. RESULTS: 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. CONCLUSIONS: Case management is a low-cost enhancement that improves short-term outcomes of substance abuse treatment programs.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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