Substance use disorder (SUD) is a growing health problem which needs a very complex range of care due to the chronic and relapsing nature of the disorder and the multiple psychosocial problems involved. There are often difficulties in current outpatient programs to deliver and coordinate ongoing care and access to different health care providers. To improve treatment outcomes various case management (CM) models have been developed, at first in other psychiatric domains but also for patients with SUD.

The aim was to assess the effectiveness of CM for patients with SUD using existing studies.

Systematic review of CM interventions for patients with SUD by analyzing randomized controlled studies on this matter found on the electronic database PubMed published between 1996 and 2016.

Most of the analyzed studies showed improvement on the chosen outcome measures, although, these varied in the different studies. Mainly the treatment adherence improved, but substance use only reduced in a third of the studies. Overall functioning improved in about half of the studies. Further, studies are necessary to determine inclusion criteria for CM treatment for patients suffering from SUD in order to orientate patients most likely to benefit from this approach to the specific CM programs. There are still only few studies on this intervention and SUD. Further, studies are needed to examine the effect of treatment intensity of the CM intervention. Also longitudinal studies are needed to ensure the effectiveness of these treatments.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.