Substance use disorder provider Caron Treatment Centers is looking to offer more step-down services for its patients by adding a new partial hospitalization program (PHP) to its flagship campus.
Founded 65 years ago, the Wernersville, Pennsylvania-based organization cares for patients with substance use disorders. It operates in Pennsylvania, Florida, Washington D.C., Georgia and New York. The PHP will include private and semi-private sober living options, four hours of group therapy daily and two individual counseling sessions per week.
This isn’t Caron’s first PHP offering. The provider currently has PHPs in Florida and Encore Outpatient Services in Arlington, Virginia, a joint venture with Maryland Addiction Recovery Center.
“PHP gives them the ability to continue in their intensive treatment, while also allowing them to start putting their recovery into practice,” Rotenberg said in an email to Behavioral Health Business. “PHP can help patients who might need to step up to a higher level of care, but who are not ready to go to a residential program.”
PHPs offers “a structured program of outpatient psychiatric services as an alternative to inpatient psychiatric care,” according to Medicare.gov. Specifically, PHPs can be another option for patients coming from residential or inpatient care but aren’t ready to home immediately, David Rotenberg, executive vice president and chief clinical officer at Caron Treatment Centers, said.
PHPs can be employed to help patients in recovery stay engaged in treatment, especially those in underserved communities, Rotenberg noted.
“So if we can help our patients who really aren’t ready to go home and step down to an [intensive outpatient program] or outpatient program bridge from residential with a cohesive treatment plan that includes a supportive, sober living environment, that’s what PHP can do,” Rotenberg said. “We also found that there are fewer resources in sober living for women and those navigating [medication-assisted treatment]. Our PHP with structured, sober living fills that gap. PHP gives patients the opportunity to start putting their recovery into practice while still having support.”
Caron also sees an increased interest in PHP from its insurance partners, who are looking to help patients stay engaged for longer. The new PHP program is in-network with Caron’s current healthcare payer partners, including Aetna.
“Our value-based agreements with our insurance partners for our residential program in Pennsylvania allow our patients a guaranteed length of stay and measure our outcomes,” he said. “We have 30- and 90-day rates of recovery that are above 92%. So we’ve built a level of trust with our payers who recognize that patients do better when they stay engaged in their recovery plan.”
Step-down services are growing in popularity. In addition to PHPs, many providers are building intensive outpatient programs (IOPs). These programs typically consist of at least nine hours of treatment a week for adults, according to the National Alliance of Mental Illness.
Like PHPs, many providers are seeing growing payer interest in IOPs, partly for their cost savings.
“If someone can be treated in an IOP setting versus an inpatient setting, on a per diem basis, it’s a fraction of the cost,” Terry Hyman, managing partner of Northwood Healthcare Partners, previously told BHB. “And if you can avoid that inpatient stay or a single ED visit, it is a highly economical alternative.”
The rise of more step-down services comes as rates of SUD continue to rise. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reports that roughly 43.6 million adults in the U.S. have met the applicable DSM-5 criteria for having a SUD in the past year.
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