An adult partial hospitalization program is structured, hospital-level psychiatric treatment delivered during the day, with the patient going home each evening. Medicare defines it plainly as an intensive outpatient program provided as an alternative to psychiatric hospitalization.
Aurora Charter Oak Hospital runs an adult PHP in Covina, California, serving the San Gabriel Valley and the wider Los Angeles area. Patients attend Monday through Friday for roughly two to four weeks, then return home for evenings, weekends, and holidays.
Call our Assessment Center at 800-654-2673 for a free, confidential assessment, available 24 hours a day. If you or someone you love is in immediate danger, call or text 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or call 911.
How the Adult Partial Hospitalization Program Works
PHP gives you a full treatment day without a hospital bed. You arrive in the morning, spend the day in structured clinical programming with the same team and the same group of people, and sleep at home.
Our program combines group therapy, individual sessions, family therapy, educational groups, cognitive behavioral therapy, and Illness Management and Recovery. Medication management runs alongside all of it, with a psychiatrist involved rather than a monthly check-in somewhere else. Aftercare referrals are built into the plan before you finish.
The evening at home is not a gap in treatment. It is where the treatment gets tested. A skill practiced in group at 11 a.m. gets used that night in the actual kitchen, with the actual family member, against the actual sleep problem, and the next morning’s group works with real information instead of hypotheticals. Inpatient care removes your environment. PHP works on it.
The Hours That Define PHP
The 20-hour figure you will see quoted is a clinical eligibility threshold, not a schedule.
Medicare defines PHP as a program paid for a minimum of 20 hours of services per week, and Medicare.gov translates that for patients as usually 4 to 8 hours of care each day. The federal coverage rules go further: your care plan has to state that you require at least 20 hours of therapeutic services a week, and a physician has to certify it.
That threshold is what separates PHP from intensive outpatient. IOP requires a minimum of 9 hours a week. The gap between 9 and 20 hours a week is the difference between the two programs, and it is a clinical judgment rather than a preference.
Group size matters too, and it is worth asking any program about. Medicare’s coverage determination for PHP states that group therapy should be limited to ten or fewer participants, and it excludes programs made up primarily of activity, social, or recreational therapy. Ask what a program’s actual group sizes are before you enroll anywhere.
PHP Compared With Inpatient and Intensive Outpatient
The sharpest difference between PHP and IOP is not the hour count. It is the admission standard.
For PHP, Medicare requires a physician to certify that you would otherwise need inpatient treatment. For IOP, Medicare states flatly that you do not need to qualify for inpatient treatment to receive services. PHP is care delivered in place of a hospital bed. IOP is care that never assumed one.
Against inpatient hospitalization, the difference is overnight supervision. Inpatient provides continuous nursing and psychiatric care in a secure setting, typically for five to seven days at Aurora Charter Oak. PHP provides the clinical intensity without the bed, which only works if home is safe overnight.
Nobody is “better.” Medicare’s own coverage determination states the governing principle: patients should be treated in the least intensive and restrictive setting that meets the needs of their illness. Under-treating and over-treating are both failures, and an assessment is what tells the difference.
Who Partial Hospitalization Is and Is Not For
Being honest about who PHP does not fit is more useful than listing everyone it does.
PHP suits an adult with acute psychiatric symptoms or a substance use disorder who needs daily clinical contact, has a safe place to sleep, and can participate actively in a full treatment day. It also suits someone stepping down from an inpatient stay who is stabilized but not ready for weekly therapy.
PHP is not appropriate if you are in immediate danger to yourself or someone else. Medicare’s coverage criteria are explicit that partial hospitalization patients must not be a danger to themselves or others, because the program sends everyone home at night. That is an inpatient situation, and we would tell you so.
There is a threshold at the other end as well. The coverage criteria expect evidence of failure at, or inability to benefit from, a less intensive outpatient program. If weekly therapy is working, PHP is not the answer. And your home matters clinically: the criteria require an adequate support system to sustain yourself outside the program, which means the assessment will ask who is at home, whether medications can be secured, and whether transportation is reliable.
What a Day in the Program Looks Like
Days run Monday through Friday on a set schedule, which is part of the point. Structure is treatment for a person whose days have stopped having any.
The clinical day typically rotates through process group, skills groups, psychoeducation about the condition, individual therapy, and family sessions. You meet with a psychiatrist for medication evaluation and adjustment, and the team documents what is working so the plan changes based on evidence rather than guesswork. Our clinical staff includes psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, and licensed therapists.
Family involvement is not a courtesy add-on. Beginning in 2024, Medicare recognized caregiver training and principal illness navigation as billable services within PHP, which is a formal acknowledgment that teaching the people around you is part of the treatment rather than a nicety. Our family and patient support resources cover what to expect.
Most people complete the program in two to four weeks, though length depends on clinical need and how you are responding.
How Aurora Charter Oak Reports on Safety
The fear most people carry into any psychiatric program is about being restrained or locked in a room. That fear deserves data rather than reassurance.
Independent figures published through CalHospitalCompare, drawn from CMS reporting for 2022 through 2024, show Aurora Charter Oak using physical restraint at 0.13 hours per 1,000 admission hours against a California average of 0.90, and seclusion at 0.01 hours per 1,000 admission hours against a state average of 0.70. Our transition records included the specified elements 95% of the time, compared with a 56% state average.
Those are third-party numbers, not our own marketing. We are not claiming restraint never happens; we are pointing at independently reported data showing it happens at a small fraction of the state average, and at discharge documentation that travels with you more completely than most.
Aurora Charter Oak is accredited by The Joint Commission, licensed by the State of California, and Medicare-certified. The hospital has 134 beds on 10 acres of landscaped grounds and has been operating for over two decades. We also publish our own outcomes, including satisfaction scores of 85% or greater across the core quality indicators hospitals use nationally.
Partial Hospitalization for Older Adults
Late-life depression is underdiagnosed rather than uncommon, and the numbers behind that statement are stark.
NIMH data puts past-year major depressive episode among adults 50 and older at 4.5%, the lowest of any adult age band. Yet the suicide rate among men aged 75 and older was 40.7 per 100,000 in 2023, the highest of any demographic group in the country. Low measured prevalence alongside the highest mortality is the signature of a condition being missed, not a condition that isn’t there.
Older adults often report fatigue, pain, sleep loss, or memory trouble rather than sadness, and those symptoms get attributed to aging or to medical illness. NIMH notes that grief, social isolation, and loneliness are the life changes that most often turn into depression and anxiety in later life.
Programming for older adults has to address what general adult programming does not: medication reconciliation across psychiatric and medical prescriptions, cognitive screening to distinguish depression-related slowing from early dementia, medical comorbidity, bereavement and role loss, hearing and vision in group settings, and transportation. Los Angeles County’s Department of Mental Health treats 60 and over as the older-adult threshold, which is younger than most people expect.
Insurance, Cost, and California’s Parity Law
Cost is the question people are most afraid to ask, so here is what can actually be said.
Aurora Charter Oak accepts 39 named plans, including Kaiser, Medi-Cal, Medicare, TRICARE, TriWest, Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Cigna, Health Net, Humana, Magellan, Molina, Optum, and United Health Care. The full list is on our insurances we accept page, and we also publish price transparency information and offer financial assistance.
For a Medicare patient in 2026, Medicare.gov lists a Part B premium of $202.90 a month and an annual Part B deductible of $283, after which you generally pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount for professional services plus coinsurance for each day of partial hospitalization. Medigap or a Medicare Advantage out-of-pocket maximum changes that materially. Medicare does not cover meals, transportation to the program, purely social groups, or job-skills training. Transportation is the one that quietly derails attendance, so plan it before week one.
Californians have a stronger coverage right than most people know. Senate Bill 855, effective for state-regulated plans issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2021, requires coverage of medically necessary treatment for all mental health and substance use disorders, explicitly including partial hospitalization.
It also requires plans to use criteria developed by nonprofit professional associations rather than their own internal rules, and bars them from applying different, additional, or more restrictive criteria. If a state-regulated plan denies PHP using homegrown guidelines, that is a specific argument you can make.
Stepping Into and Out of the Program
Discharge from PHP runs in two directions by design, and Medicare’s coverage determination says so directly: patients may be discharged by stepping up to inpatient care or stepping down to a less intensive outpatient level.
Stepping up is not failure. It is the safety net working. Families often fear that entering a day program is a one-way commitment, or that needing more care means the program did not work. Neither is true.
Most people step down. The usual path from PHP is intensive outpatient, then standard outpatient therapy and ongoing medication management. Because Aurora Charter Oak runs inpatient, residential, PHP, and IOP on one campus, moving between levels does not mean a new intake, a new authorization fight, or a new clinical team.
Getting Started
Call the Assessment Center at 800-654-2673 any time, day or night. The assessment is free and confidential, and its purpose is to work out which level of care fits, not to sell you one.
Our team will talk through what has been happening, verify your benefits, and tell you honestly whether PHP is right, whether you need something more intensive, or whether outpatient care would serve you better. You can read more about the admissions process, our mental health assessment, and preparing for your visit before you call.
Providers can make a referral through our provider referrals page, 24 hours a day.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does PHP cost out of pocket?
It depends entirely on your coverage. Under Medicare in 2026 you generally pay 20% of the approved amount after a $283 Part B deductible, plus per-day coinsurance. Commercial and Medi-Cal coverage differs. Our team verifies your benefits during the free assessment and gives you an estimate before anything is committed.
Is PHP better than IOP?
Neither is better. They serve different clinical situations. PHP requires certification that you would otherwise need inpatient care and involves at least 20 hours a week; IOP requires at least 9 hours a week and carries no inpatient-substitution test. Medicare’s own standard is treatment in the least intensive setting that meets the needs of your illness.
How long does the adult PHP last?
Patients typically attend Monday through Friday for approximately two to four weeks, depending on individual needs and clinical response. Some people step down to intensive outpatient sooner; others need longer. Length is a clinical decision reviewed as you go, not a fixed package.
Who is an appropriate candidate for partial hospitalization?
An adult with acute psychiatric or substance use symptoms who needs daily clinical contact, is not in immediate danger to themselves or others, has a safe place to sleep, and can participate in a full treatment day. It also fits people stepping down from an inpatient stay who are stabilized but not ready for weekly therapy.
Do I stay overnight in a partial hospitalization program?
No. You attend during the day and go home each evening, weekend, and holiday. That is the defining feature of PHP and it is a clinical requirement rather than a convenience: the assessment checks that your home environment is safe enough to support treatment overnight.
Does Medicare cover partial hospitalization?
Yes, when a physician certifies that you require at least 20 hours of therapeutic services a week and that you would otherwise need inpatient treatment. Medicare does not cover meals, transportation to the program, purely social or support groups, or job-skills training that is not part of mental health treatment.
Do you offer a program for older adults?
Yes. Adults of all ages are served, and older-adult programming addresses medication reconciliation, medical comorbidity, cognitive screening, grief and isolation, and practical barriers like transportation and hearing in group settings. Call the Assessment Center and describe the situation so the assessment accounts for it.
What insurance do you accept?
Aurora Charter Oak accepts Medi-Cal, Medicare, and most major insurance plans. Our team will assist with verifying benefits and can offer flexible payment arrangements if needed.
