Pennsylvania Code
Title 55 - HUMAN SERVICES
Part VII - Mental Health Manual
Subpart D - Nonresidential Agencies/Facilities/Services
Chapter 5210 - PARTIAL HOSPITALIZATION
PARTIAL HOSPITALIZATION-ADULT
Section 5210.21 - Staffing and personnel

(a) Program director. The program director shall be a mental health professional and have a minimum of 2 years of post-graduate clinical experience.

(b) Staff/patient ratio. Adult partial hospitalization programs shall have a minimum of one full-time equivalent (FTE) clinical staff member to every six patients. Staff/patient ratio is to be determined on the basis of the designed program capacity, such as, a program with a program capacity of 30 would require five FTE staff. When there are changes in the program capacity, appropriate staffing changes shall be made as required. Staff should be of appropriate disciplines and shall include at least one member, other than program director, who is a mental health professional or one member who is a psychiatric nurse. All clinical staff time devoted specifically to the partial program including that of the program director and medical staff shall be included when calculating patient/staff ratio.

(c) Psychiatric staff. Adult partial hospitalization programs shall have a minimum of 2 hours of assigned psychiatric time per week for every five patients of program capacity. This is to ensure adequate care and supervision for patients in the partial hospitalization program.