User:Summerjubran/Deinstitutionalization in the United States

Partial Hospitalization
A successful community-based alternative to institutionalization or inpatient hospitalization is partial hospitalization. Partial hospitalization programs are typically offered by hospitals, and they provide less than 24 hours per day treatment in which patients commute to the hospital or treatment center up to seven days a week and reside in their normal residences when not attending the program. Patients in partial hospitalization programs show the same or greater levels of improvement as their inpatient counterparts, and unlike inpatient hospitalization, these individuals are able to maintain their familial and social roles during treatment. Partial hospitalization allows for a smoother and less expensive transition between inpatient hospitalization and community life. Some patients are able to avoid inpatient hospitalization altogether by participating in a partial hospitalization program, and many are able to shorten the length of their inpatient hospitalization by participating in a partial hospitalization program. By eliminating or reducing the length of inpatient hospital stays, diversion to partial hospitalization programs is one important component to the process of deinstitutionalization in the United States.

Intensive Outpatient Programs
Intensive outpatient programs are a crucial component of the community-based care that has replaced inpatient hospitalization and institutionalization in many cases. Intensive outpatient programs provide a more cost-effective outpatient alternative to inpatient hospitalization that allows patients to receive intensive psychiatric care while still remaining in their communities, going to school, or holding a job. These programs combine psychotherapy with pharmacotherapy, group therapy, substance abuse counseling, and related services in a very structured and time-intensive format, typically three hours a day, three days a week, but up to five days a week. They are a less time-intensive step down from partial hospitalization, but they can provide greater support than weekly therapy appointments alone. IOPs can serve as a transition between inpatient hospitalization and less intensive weekly therapy when a patient requires a greater level of care. Diversion into intensive outpatient programs has reduced the number of individuals in institutionalized settings.