Relationship of clinical case management to hospitalization and service delivery for seriously mentally ill clients.

This article describes the use of a clinical case management team approach in the care of severely mentally ill individuals and the organization of the service. Patient characteristics and use of community services are evaluated as predictors of the use of inpatient care. Findings suggest that hospitalized clients use more community services than nonhospitalized clients and that the use of certain community services--such as medical, legal, and housing services--affects hospital use. Clients who had assistance in obtaining medical services were less likely to be hospitalized, and those needing legal and housing assistance were more likely to be hospitalized.