There are many different types of addiction treatment and many different levels of care or types of drug and alcohol treatment that different substance abuse treatment facilities offer. There is inpatient drug and alcohol treatment, intensive outpatient (IOP) and outpatient addiction treatment, detox or medical detox and individual counseling or therapy. However, when it comes to drug and alcohol abuse treatment, one of the least talked about and misunderstood level of care is called partial hospitalization or “PHP”. Especially in the Baltimore area and throughout areas of Maryland like Baltimore City, Towson, Pikesville, Catonsville, Bel Air, Owings Mills, Ellicott City and Westminster, there is very little talk of PHP addiction treatment.
The reason is because there is virtually no addiction treatment centers in the local area that offer a PHP day treatment level of chemical dependency or substance abuse treatment. Maryland Addiction Recovery Center is changing all that. In order to offer the most comprehensive, patient-driven, customized treatment services and solutions to the Baltimore City, Baltimore County and surrounding areas in Maryland, Maryland Addiction Recovery Center is offering a level of PHP day treatment to serves those clients in need.
What is Partial Hospitalization (PHP) treatment?
PHP of a level of care typically only seen when treating clients suffering from mental illness, substance abuse issues or alcoholism. In this level of care, a patient or client continues to live at home or in a home-like setting (perhaps a sober house or a halfway house) but commutes to a substance abuse treatment center or drug and alcohol treatment facility to receive treatment during the day. PHP can usually be a program offering between 5 to 7 days of treatment. PHP is very similar to intensive outpatient (IOP) drug treatment or outpatient treatment, in that treatment is comprised of group therapy, individual therapy with a primary therapist, psych-educational group, life skill and vocational counseling, psychopharmacological assessments and medical evaluations. More often than not, PHP will include a more intense and comprehensive level of therapy and many times specific issues will be identified and groups surrounding those issues will be incorporated, such as anger management, trauma or parallel process addictions such as gambling, eating disorders or sex addictions. Partial hospitalization (PHP) treatment as a substance abuse program in a drug and alcohol treatment center is the step in addiction treatment that falls right in between inpatient hospitalization treatment and intensive outpatient (IOP) treatment. One way to look at it is that PHP has the comprehensive, clinical benefits of inpatient drug rehab while also giving the patient the life skills and real life benefits of intensive outpatient (IOP) treatment.
What are the benefits to Partial Hospitalization (PHP) drug and alcohol treatment?
There are many benefits of Partial Hospitalization (PHP) drug and alcohol treatment. The first is clinical. PHP treatment allows a person suffering from substance abuse to receive the highest, most intense level of treatment available. The patient is under care throughout the day, working with a team of clinicians and medical professionals to identify and treat both their drug and alcohol issues but also their co-occuring disorders (often referred to as dual diagnosis treatment) and underlying conditions. The second benefit of PHP day treatment is that it allows a patient to receive treatment outside of an inpatient rehab or substance abuse facility. Why is this important? Well, many people do not do well when hospitalized. Inpatient settings is one of the most difficult things to overcome when getting a person into drug treatment for the first time. They believe they will be going into a place in a straightjacket that looks like a building from “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest”.
While this is often a misconception, even when entering an inpatient facility with nice amenities, patients feel confined and the sterile environment doesn’t support holistic healing of the body, mind and soul. Hand-in-hand with this idea is that PHP allows a patient to receive treatment while still living at home or in a sober house or sober living environment. Therefore, patients who cannot go to treatment because of life circumstances such as family, kids, employment or extreme medical or physical issues are able to stay in their local area while receiving the same comprehensive level of quality drug and alcohol treatment that they would at an expensive inpatient rehab facility. Which then brings up the third, and often unfortunately the most important benefit of PHP treatment: cost. More so than anything else, patients or families of addicts and alcoholics are concerned with the price of treatment. Addiction treatment can be expensive, especially inpatient treatment.
Partial Hospitalization addiction treatment then offers an affordable and accessible avenue for those in need of quality addiction treatment services. PHP is covered by most insurance companies. More importantly, insurance companies would rather pay out for PHP treatment services than inpatient treatment. Inpatient treatment typically covers a 28 day stay. PHP is more of a long term treatment service, covering several months. What is beneficial of PHP as opposed to inpatient is that a 28 day stay in an inpatient facility can run anywhere from $18,000 to upwards of $60,000, depending on the program. PHP is the same comprehensive, detailed, intense level of treatment, just made extremely more affordable and lasting for a much longer length of time. It also makes stepping down levels of care much easier and the transition from PHP to intensive outpatient (IOP) treatment much smoother.
For whatever reason, partial hospitalization (PHP) substance abuse treatment programs are almost non-existent in the Baltimore Metropolitan area and surrounding counties in Maryland. Search on the internet for “substance abuse treatment center”, “substance abuse treatment facility” or “alcohol addiction treatment center” in any of the following local areas: Towson, Lutherville, Timonium, Cockeysville, Pikesville, Owings Mills, Reisterstown, Westminster, Cockeysville, Bel Air, Ellicott City, Columbia or Baltimore City and Baltimore County. It returns very little treatment options to being with, virtually all of which are IOPs or outpatients. Some have inpatient settings. A few offer medical detox or opiate detox. You will be hard pressed to find a drug treatment program in Baltimore or an addiction treatment center throughout Maryland that offers a PHP. Partial Hospitalization treatment programs have all the clinical benefits of inpatient drug and alcohol treatment, but without the high price tag and the cold, hospital setting.
If you or someone you know is in need of Partial Hospitalization (PHP) treatment or any level of substance abuse or chemical dependency treatment due to alcohol or drugs, please call Maryland Addiction Recovery Center at (410) 773-0500. You can find more information about our PHP program and all of the other services offered by MARC by visiting our web site, marylandaddictionrecovery.com
Table of Contents
