Objective: The authors assessed health care costs associated with psychoanalytically oriented partial hospital treatment for borderline personality disorder compared with treatment as usual within general psychiatric services.
Method: Health care utilization of all borderline personality disorder patients who participated in a previous trial of partial hospital treatment compared with treatment as usual was assessed by using information from case notes and service providers. Costs were compared for the 6 months before treatment, 18 months of treatment, and an 18-month follow-up period.
Results: There were no cost differences between the groups during pretreatment or treatment. Costs of partial hospital treatment were offset by less psychiatric inpatient care and reduced emergency room treatment. The trend for costs to decrease in the partial hospitalization group during the follow-up period was not apparent in the treatment-as-usual group.
Conclusions: Specialist partial hospital treatment for borderline personality disorder is no more expensive than treatment as usual and shows considerable cost savings after treatment.