The concept of case management for long-term mental illness

Abstract

This paper defines case management, traces the historical development of the concept, and sets out the principles and core tasks of this approach to coordinated care for the long-term mentally ill. It is argued that case management is a term which is applied to a wide range of practices which are more specifically characterized with references to twelve axes: individual or team orientation, direct care or brokerage, the intensity of the interventions, the degree of budgetary control, health or social service as the lead agency, the status and specialization of the case manager, the staff to patient ratio, the degree of patient participation, the point of contact, the level of intervention, and the target population.