THE CURRENT PRACTICE OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PARTIAL HOSPITALIZATION - RESULTS OF A NATIONAL SURVEY

Objective: In 1992, the American Association for Partial Hospitalizati on initiated a national survey of partial hospitalization providers to investigate their present status (programming, staffing, and pricing) , to track market trends, and to improve advocacy for appropriate util ization and reimbursement. Method: Instrument development and field te sting preceded widespread distribution of the survey. From survey data , a description of child and adolescent partial hospital services base d on statistical averages is reported as are analyses of program diffe rences by length of stay and for-profit/not-for-profit status. Results : Of the 580 programs responding, 95 indicated that at least 50% of th eir patient population consisted of children and adolescents. Descript ive statistics on this subsample suggest continued variability in chil d and adolescent partial hospital programming. Program differences in referral and discharge patterns, population and programming, and utili zation and funding patterns based on length of stay and profit status are presented. Conclusions: The pattern of significant program differe nces between acute-care and long-term child and adolescent partial hos pital programs and for-profit/not-for-profit programs (along with the absence of for-profit programs treating children and adolescents in lo ng-term programs) points to an evolving system of care.