Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) in Ohio

An intensive outpatient program (IOP) is structured treatment for people who live at home. At Leora that means three hours of therapy group a day, three to five days a week, with individual sessions alongside. It is a form of outpatient rehab with more hours than standard outpatient care and fewer than partial hospitalization.

Intensive outpatient runs separate mental health and substance use tracks at both facilities. The mental health track treats conditions including depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and PTSD.

The mental health track runs at both facilities and meets apart from the substance use track. Virtual IOP has a mental health program as well, which meets during the day.

When a mental health condition and substance use are feeding each other, partial hospitalization runs a dual diagnosis track that treats the two together. The page on mental health treatment in Ohio describes Leora's mental health programs.

Nine to fifteen hours a week leaves room for work or family care. IOP fits people who need more than a weekly therapy appointment and cannot step away from the rest of their lives. Some come to it as a step down from partial hospitalization or after ambulatory detox, and others after residential or inpatient treatment somewhere else. It can also be the starting point, when the assessment finds this level fits.

The main requirement is medical stability. Someone who needs close medical attention needs a different level first.

The assessment will point elsewhere for:

• Withdrawal that has not been managed yet, which comes first through ambulatory detox, or an inpatient program when it is severe
• A need for overnight supervision or 24/7 care, which Leora does not provide
• Symptoms that keep getting worse despite attending
• Rounds of IOP that did not hold, where partial hospitalization is the next step up, or residential treatment elsewhere

Groups are led by licensed clinicians. Credentials among Leora's clinical staff include LCDCIII, LICDC, LSW, LISW, LPC and LPCC. Group work draws on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), with 12-step facilitation for people it suits. Case management and peer recovery support sessions happen as needed, and family therapy can be arranged.

Medication management is with a nurse practitioner every two to three weeks. Medication assisted treatment can start here or continue from detox. From here, care steps down to outpatient, one to two days a week. Before discharge, your team plans the next step with you: a lower level of care, outpatient therapy, and community recovery support such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or Narcotics Anonymous (NA).

The levels of care differ in hours a week and in where you sleep.

• Inpatient and residential treatment: you stay overnight. Leora does not provide either one.
• Partial hospitalization (PHP): Monday to Friday, 9:00 am to 4:15 pm at Leora. You sleep at home.
• Intensive outpatient (IOP): three hours of therapy group a day, three to five days a week at Leora, which comes to nine to fifteen hours a week. You sleep at home.
• Outpatient: one to two days a week at Leora, with two hours of group each time.

Medicare's page on intensive outpatient program services gives a weekly figure for it: "You may benefit from intensive outpatient program services if your care plan states you require at least 9 hours of therapeutic services each week." That figure is Medicare's.

Ohio's Medicaid rule for substance use treatment, rule 5160-27-09 of the Ohio Administrative Code, follows the criteria of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM). It groups intensive outpatient and partial hospitalization together as level of care 2 and puts residential and inpatient services at level 3. Outpatient services, at level 1, are "limited to less than nine hours per week for adults."

Virtual IOP runs by video anywhere in Ohio: a daytime program for mental health and an evening program for substance use. It is fully remote, which helps people who live far from Columbus and Dayton.

Leora accepts every Ohio Medicaid plan and all major commercial insurance, and admissions can check your coverage while you are on the phone.

Ohio's Medicaid rule for substance use treatment lists intensive outpatient among the levels of care it pays for. The pages on Ohio Medicaid and UnitedHealthcare cover what each asks for. Other plans set their own terms, so ask your insurer whether IOP needs prior authorization before you start.

Both facilities run the mental health track and the substance use track.

• Intensive outpatient in Columbus: 5432 N High St, Columbus, OH 43214
• Intensive outpatient in Dayton: 948 Patterson Rd, Dayton, OH 45419

Each page covers that building and the other levels of care in it, so a step up or down does not mean a new provider.

Leora welcomes walk-ins at both facilities, or call Columbus at (614) 665-8878 or Dayton at (937) 660-4145. Bring:

• Your ID
• Your insurance card
• A current list of your medications
• A copy of your discharge plan, if you are coming from another program

Leora accepts all major commercial insurance and Medicaid.