What should PHP and IOP share in an EHR?
A partial hospitalization program (PHP) and an intensive outpatient program (IOP) may share clinicians, scheduling resources, and a patient chart. Check what stays visible when a patient moves between programs and which records carry the new program and site.
Both programs at one site
The schedule distinguishes each program’s groups and rosters. Staff can see when the tracks share rooms or clinicians and which group each patient attended.
Different sites or billing entities
The receiving team can find earlier records in the chart. The first IOP encounter shows the receiving site, program, service date, and billing entity.
Residential care in the same network
Staff can find the residential discharge summary and tell which team owns the next appointment, any pending authorization, and follow-up.
Use the group capacity planner to bring a realistic schedule into the demo. Check the separate IOP guide and PHP guide for tests specific to each program.
How to compare EHRs with one PHP-to-IOP case
Give each vendor the same fictional case. A patient finishes PHP at one site on Friday and starts IOP at another on Monday. Ask admissions, clinical, authorization, and billing staff to follow that case through the demo.
- Carry the chart into IOP. Start with Friday’s signed PHP documentation and a Monday IOP start. The receiving team can find the earlier record and verify both program dates.
- Distinguish the approval periods. Leave the PHP authorization open on Monday. Give the vendor a prepared IOP decision that starts Tuesday. The reviewer identifies the Monday encounter that needs follow-up and who owns it.
- Review one group and one correction. Have one sample attendee miss a group and another attend. Ask the vendor to show the attendance record, each attendee’s note, and what a supervisor sees when a note is returned for revision.
- Trace the first IOP draft claim. After staff resolve the sample authorization question, have the biller compare the service date, program, site, billing entity, and proposed billing unit with the encounter and the sample contract.
Use the IOP and PHP demo scorecard to record the evidence. For a deeper comparison, use the continued-stay renewal case and Medicare UB-04 reference where applicable.
How often do these facilities also offer residential treatment?
In the 2024 SAMHSA public-use file, 592 of 2,257 included facility records that reported both substance use IOP and day treatment or partial hospitalization (26.2%) also reported short-term or long-term non-hospital residential substance use treatment.
- IOP and day treatment or partial hospitalization
- 26.2%
- 592 of 2,257 records with known residential treatment status
- IOP without day treatment or partial hospitalization
- 8.2%
- 382 of 4,672 records with known residential treatment status
- Day treatment or partial hospitalization without IOP
- 33.8%
- 50 of 148 records with known residential treatment status
The analysis covers facility records in the 50 states and DC. SAMHSA combines day treatment and partial hospitalization in one response. The result describes services at a location in 2024. A patient transfer and a multi-site ownership relationship each require separate evidence.
We used the substance use outpatient items CTYPE2 and CTYPEOP. A record with CTYPE7 set to no counted as having no non-hospital residential treatment. For yes answers, we checked CTYPERC3 and CTYPERC4 for short-term or long-term treatment. Two records that reported both outpatient options had unknown residential status and were omitted from that group’s percentage.
Download the state and national counts (CSV). See the SAMHSA public-use file and 2024 codebook for the survey items and answer codes.
How Ease Health supports IOP and PHP
Ease Health supports PHP and IOP in the same patient chart, with group scheduling, individual group documentation, authorization tracking, and billing review. NOW Counseling reported cutting the time it spent on group notes by at least half after adopting a shared note with individual responses.
See the Ease Health IOP and PHP overview and bring your program schedule and a fictional handoff to a demo.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best EHR for IOP and PHP programs?
Choose an EHR that can keep the chart connected across PHP and IOP while preserving each program’s service dates, group records, authorization scope, and billing details.
Can one EHR handle residential, PHP, and IOP care?
Ease Health supports residential, PHP, and IOP in the patient chart. When evaluating a shared EHR, check that staff can see earlier care and that each encounter retains its own program, date, and location.
What billing detail should an IOP and PHP EHR demo verify?
Give the vendor a sample contract and encounter. Verify which billing entity, claim format, and service unit apply for the program and date before reviewing the resulting draft claim.