Editorial: The Untapped Potential of Partial Hospitalization Programs

Abstract

The prevalence of mental health conditions in adolescents has been increasing worldwide.¹ With the increasing demand, access to effective mental health care has struggled to keep pace.² More adolescents are requiring intensive inpatient hospitalizations for high-risk conditions and often lack adequate resources for sub-acute care following discharge. Step-down programs can help to facilitate safe discharges and decrease the likelihood of hospital readmissions, reducing the burden of health care costs. Likewise, intensive treatment options for youth can also help to fill a gap in the escalation of care from the outpatient setting while preventing hospitalization. Partial hospitalization programs (PHPs) are designed to offer this intermediate level of care between inpatient and outpatient services. Averaging 20 hours of treatment per week, PHPs serve as a cost-effective solution for more intensive treatment compared to inpatient hospital admission. In this editorial, we aim to highlight the findings of a study by Rubenson et al.,³ titled "Review: Patient Outcomes in Transdiagnostic Adolescent Partial Hospitalization Programs," which helps to enhance our understanding of this treatment model.