Levels of Care

The UTHealth Houston Center for Interventional Psychiatry delivers care across a continuum of levels, allowing treatment intensity to be matched to each patient’s clinical needs. This structure supports timely access to care, clinical safety, and continuity as symptoms evolve.

Rather than relying on a rigid stepwise approach, the Center uses a matched-care model, in which patients are placed at the most appropriate level of care based on illness severity, functional impairment, safety considerations, and prior treatment response. Patients may move flexibly between levels as clinically indicated.

Levels of Care

Outpatient Care
Outpatient services are appropriate for patients who require specialized evaluation, medication management, psychotherapy, or interventional treatments while maintaining daily activities. Outpatient care often serves as the point of entry for assessment or as a step-down level following more intensive treatment.

Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)
The Intensive Outpatient Program provides structured, frequent treatment for patients with moderate to severe symptoms who need more support than standard outpatient care but do not require full-day or inpatient treatment. IOP emphasizes stabilization, skill building, and continuity while allowing patients to live at home.

Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP)
The Partial Hospitalization Program offers day-hospital–level care for patients with significant symptom burden or functional impairment. PHP provides intensive, multidisciplinary treatment during the day, with patients returning home in the evenings. This level of care is appropriate for individuals who require close monitoring but remain medically and psychiatrically stable.

Inpatient Psychiatric Care
Inpatient care is reserved for patients with acute safety concerns, severe suicidality, psychosis, catatonia, or profound functional decline. Inpatient treatment provides 24-hour monitoring and rapid access to intensive interventions, including interventional psychiatry services, when clinically indicated.

Continuity Across Levels

Transitions between levels of care are intentional and coordinated, with a focus on safety, stabilization, and long-term recovery. Step-down and step-up decisions are guided by ongoing clinical assessment and outcomes monitoring.

Through this structured yet flexible continuum, the Center aims to deliver the right level of care at the right time, supporting effective treatment and sustained recovery for individuals with severe and treatment-resistant psychiatric illness.