It is generally accepted that matching patients to the appropriate level of care will help to maximize their treatment experience. (Finney & Moos, 1986; Leshner, 1997; Mattson et al, 1994; Miller, 1992; Wellisch, Prendergast & Anglin, 1995). But once they have entered treatment it is also important that they are made aware of and have access to all the services available to them which will potentially help them complete treatment. And, when applicable, it is important that they are prepared to transition into some form of aftercare to continue their treatment. By effectively coordinating and conducting treatment matching with case management and preparing clients to transition to a different level of care, facilities will potentially be able to increase engagement and retention in treatment.

The hypothesis behind treatment matching is simply that clients matched to a specific, individualized treatment will have better outcomes than those assigned to a standard treatment setting. There has also been evidence showing that patients who are matched to the level of care they think they need are more engaged in their own treatment (Hser et al, 1998) which improves retention. The problem is that there is very little standardization in treatment settings about which level of care is most appropriate for the variables screened. Westenberg et al (1998) found a general amount of agreement among therapists on which client variables are most important to screen for. However, there was disagreement on which level of care would be most appropriate for the patients. The authors defined three areas which led to the disagreement. First, therapists used different characteristics as indicators of treatment. Second, therapists differed on the importance they applied to each characteristic and third, therapists interpreted some of the characteristics differently. Recognizing this disparity, there have been calls for a formal standardized assessment from the substance abuse treatment field to ensure patients are placed into the appropriate level of care. NIATx has identified two standardized assessment tools for use in matching clients to the proper treatment. The American Society of Addiction Medicine Patient Placement Criteria (ASAM-PPC) and the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) provide standardized assessment tools to assist counselors in matching clients to the correct level of care.