Inpatient Rehab Centers in San Antonio

What is inpatient care, and how does it differ from residential treatment?

Inpatient care for addiction in San Antonio is medically managed or medically monitored treatment with nursing and physician coverage 24 hours a day. The care matches the high-intensity levels in the American Society of Addiction Medicine criteria, which sets it apart from residential programs built mainly around therapy and routine.

Residential treatment is also round-the-clock, but it focuses on structured therapy and daily routine, and medical staff are less present. For those options, see residential rehab in San Antonio or detox in San Antonio. How long someone stays is a clinical decision, and programs publish their own typical range.

Each San Antonio listing shows the program’s levels of care, accepted payment and insurers, accreditation, languages and the groups it serves. Where a provider offers them, listings also mention psychiatric care, withdrawal management in a hospital setting and medication for opioid or alcohol use disorder.

Medicare Part A is the part that applies to hospital stays, and managed care and private plans commonly want prior authorization before a planned admission. Freestanding programs hold a Chemical Dependency Treatment Facility license from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, so asking for the license number before admission is reasonable.

• levels of care
• payment types and insurers
• accreditation
• languages
• populations served
• hospital-based withdrawal management, psychiatric care, or medications for opioid or alcohol use disorder, where offered

If you also have a mental health condition, the dual diagnosis listings narrow the search. Length of stay depends on clinical need, and each listing gives the program’s own stated range.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission’s Regulatory Services Division licenses freestanding programs as Chemical Dependency Treatment Facilities. Before admission, ask intake staff for the license number and look it up on the commission’s chemical dependency facility pages.

Will Medicare, Texas Medicaid or private insurance pay for an inpatient stay?

Coverage depends on the plan and on documented medical need, so no insurer pays for every inpatient claim. Medicare Part A is the part of Medicare that applies to hospital inpatient stays, and Medicare listings in San Antonio show which programs accept it. In the Bexar County service area, Texas Medicaid STAR members are enrolled with Aetna, Community First, Superior or Wellpoint. Managed care and private plans commonly require prior authorization for a planned admission, so ask the admissions team to confirm coverage before a date is set.

If you don’t have insurance, you can call the Outreach, Screening, Assessment and Referral (OSAR) line at The Center for Health Care Services, Bexar County’s local authority, at 210-261-3076, or dial 2-1-1. State-funded care uses an HHSC sliding scale. Fees range from 0% in the lowest income bands up to 100% above 350% of the federal poverty level. Programs that take these funds appear under state-funded rehab in San Antonio.

What happens before and after an inpatient stay?

Withdrawal safety

Withdrawal from alcohol or benzodiazepines can be medically serious and should be assessed by a clinician, not managed alone at home. Call 911 in an emergency, or 988 in a mental health or suicidal crisis. The Center for Health Care Services runs a 24-hour crisis and substance use helpline at 1-800-316-9241 or 210-223-7233. Its Restoration Center at 601 N. Frio St., just west of downtown, has a public sobering unit and a clinic that gives 24-hour medical clearance for detox.

Discharge and step-down care

Discharge planning should begin early in the stay and name the next level of care. That is often a partial hospitalization program, intensive outpatient or standard outpatient care, along with any medication follow-up. San Antonio has no rail, so follow-up visits usually mean VIA buses, VIA Prímo or VIAtrans paratransit. Every inpatient listing here sits within 25 miles of a river, most often the Medina River, at a median of 21.4 miles.

For inpatient listings statewide, see inpatient rehab in Texas. Every treatment type in the city is on the San Antonio rehab page.