Positive Outcomes in a Virtual Partial Hospitalization Program

BACKGROUND: Partial hospitalization programs (PHPs) are intensive outpatient mental health programs. During the COVID-19 pandemic, our PHP was converted from an in-person service to a completely virtual telehealth service. This study compared the outcomes of care between these two versions of our PHP. METHODS: In the live version of the program, care was provided to patients aged 18 to 65 years in person, five days a week, with five groups per day and additional services, such as family work. In the telehealth version, we attempted to provide the same services by HIPAA–secure videoconferencing and telephone, after educating staff and patients. The attendance at clinic, the hospitalization rate, and patient satisfaction with care were compared between the two program versions in the 12 months prior to and after the transition to virtual care. RESULTS: There were 4,821 patient visits in the in-person program, and 4,371 in the telehealth program. Compared to the in-person program, the telehealth program was associated with a higher attendance (84.5% vs. 89.5%, p = 0.0168), a lower hospitalization rate (16.5% vs. 8.9%, p = 0.02), without a difference in the patient satisfaction rate, and with 74.3% of patients reporting improvement in their condition. CONCLUSIONS: A PHP completely delivered via telehealth was feasible to implement, and some outcomes with such a program were superior to those of a live PHP. Because this was a nonexperimental study, factors other than the method of service provision may have been responsible for the observed results.