Pipeline: Acadia’s New Suicide Prevention Centers; New SUD Locations

Acadia partners with suicide prevention organization to open new centers

Acadia Healthcare (Nasdaq: ACHC) has opened 15 community resource centers in partnership with a leading suicide awareness organization to help young individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD).

The centers are located in four states across the country within Acadia’s Comprehensive Treatment Centers (CTC), which provide medication-assisted treatment (MAT) to individuals 18 and older struggling with OUD.

The centers are operated in conjunction with The Jason Foundation, a Hendersonville, Tennessee-based non-profit organization that has worked with Acadia since 2013 to provide suicide awareness programs and resources to patients, families and communities.

Such a pairing is important because opiates have been present in 20% of deaths by suicide, according to data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) called out in the press release announcing the news.

“The opening of these Community Resource Centers will have an enormous beneficial impact on the communities they serve,” Clark Flatt, president of The Jason Foundation, said in the press release. “The rise of opioid abuse and the toll that substance abuse takes on the mental well-being of our loved ones should not be ignored. We must look to treat all aspects of an individual’s well-being to ensure that we do not lose someone prematurely.”

Acadia Healthcare operates 227 facilities across 40 states and in Puerto Rico. In an earnings call the company conducted in February for its fourth quarter and year-end 2020 results, CEO Debbie Osteen talked up various expansion goals, which, among others, include the targeted opening of six to 10 CTC facilities per year between 2022 and 2025.

Discovery Behavioral Health unveils new youth program

Discovery Behavioral Health has opened the doors of its newest facility, which is a youth mental health program in Beavercreek, Oregon.

The residential treatment program — branded as Discovery Mood and Anxiety Program — is located south of Portland and is available to adolescents ages 11 to 17. Additionally, it is gender-inclusive and holds no more than 14 patients at a time.

The program offers evidence-based treatments such as cognitive behavior therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, exposure and response behavior prevention, medication management and dietary support.

Headquartered in Los Alamitos, California, Discovery operates over 100 centers nationwide for mental health, substance use disorder (SUD) and eating disorder treatment services. Discovery is a portfolio company of the private equity firm Webster Capital. 

SaVida expands in Vermont

SaVida Health is growing its presence in Vermont with the opening of a new facility in Brattleboro.

The Brattleboro location provides MAT using suboxone and vivitrol, in addition to offering psychiatric medication management, counseling and case management.

SaVida accepts most insurance plans including Medicare and Medicaid..

Backed by the private equity firm Council Capital, SaVida operates 29 addiction treatment programs across Vermont, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts and Virginia. The new Brattleboro center is SaVida’s ninth in the Green Mountain State. The company itself is headquartered in Nashville.

Pinnacle expands in New Jersey

Pinnacle Treatment Services has opened a new outpatient OUD facility in Salem County, New Jersey.

The facility — Pennsville Treatment Services — is located in Pennsville, which is southwest of Philadelphia, and offers patients a full range of MAT using methadone and buprenorphine. Individual and group counseling is also provided.

The Pennsville location accepts Medicaid, commercial insurance and self-pay. Plus, it plans to start accepting Medicare before the end of the year.

The new center marks Pinnacle’s 10th location in New Jersey, where the company runs a total of 13 SUD programs. Pinnacle’s headquarters are also located in the state, not far from Pennsville in Mt. Laurel.

Pinnacle operates more than 115 community-based locations across New Jersey, California, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The provider is owned by the health care private equity firm Linden Capital Partners.

Duke Health opens new behavioral center

Durham, North Carolina-based Duke Health has opened a new behavioral health center in its hometown at its Duke Regional Hospital.

The new center includes 42 private inpatient rooms with two secure courtyards; 18 private treatment spaces within the emergency department (ED), which also holds a courtyard; 30 outpatient clinic rooms; and electroconvulsive therapy services.

The $102.4 million center is over 112,000 square feet and combines the behavioral health services that had been separately offered at Duke Regional and Duke University Hospital, which is affiliated with Duke Health.

Duke Health is a health care network made up of the Duke University Health System, in addition to health and health research programs within the Duke Global Health Institute and other entities across Duke University.

Rutgers University adds adult autism center

Rutgers University has opened a new center for adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at its Douglass Campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

The Rutgers Center for Adult Autism Services Community Center is located in a $9.5 million, 10,000-square-foot facility and provides vocational and recreational programs to adults with ASD. The center includes vocational, social and life skills teaching areas; individual and group training rooms; a professional kitchen; recreational and common spaces; offices and meeting rooms. 

Rutgers says the adult ASD facility is the first of its kind at a U.S. higher education institution and that it was built specifically to address the prevalence of ASD in New Jersey, which has higher rates of preschoolers diagnosed with autism than other states.

Newport Academy opens two facilities

Newport Academy, which operates mental health programs for teens, young adults and families on the East and West Coasts, has expanded its services in California with the opening of two new facilities in the Los Angeles area.

The provider has opened a residential treatment center in northwest Los Angeles, along with an outpatient program in Santa Monica. Both centers provide a full continuum of care for patients and their families.

In addition to California, Newport Academy provides services in five other states for young people struggling with mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders, trauma, dual diagnosis and substance abuse. Along with its residential treatment centers, Newport offers intensive outpatient (IOP) and partial hospitalization programming (PHP).

Newport Academy is owned by The Carlyle Group (Nasdaq: CG), which is reportedly considering selling the provider, according to PE Hub.

Wellpath adds OUD, SUD treatment facility

Wellpath Community Care Centers of North Carolina, a provider of OUD and SUD treatment services, is opening a new center in Winston-Salem.

The location offers in-person and telehealth services and provides MAT for individuals with SUD.

Wellpath Community Care Centers of North Carolina is a division of the Nashville, Tennessee-based health care provider Wellpath, one of the nation’s largest for-profit healthcare providers for prisoners.

Wellpath operates across 33 states as well as in Australia and is owned by private equity firm H.I.G. Capital.

Aware Recovery Center grows footprint to new region

Aware Recovery Center, which operates alcohol and drug addiction treatment programs in the Northeast and Southeast, has expanded its services to the Indianapolis area.

The Wallingford, Connecticut-based in-home addiction treatment (IHAT) provider, which partners with payers to provide services to patients, will use Anthem as a payer in Indiana. Aware also provides services in Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Aware provides patients with integrated behavioral and medical care with services rendered by a psychiatric professional, a registered nurse or licensed social worker, a licensed family therapist and two certified IHAT coaches and/or counselors, who meet patients in their homes for up to a year.

Aware Recovery earlier this year received a private equity investment for an undisclosed sum from the growth equity firm Health Enterprise Partners.

Regional treatment provider enters new state

Legacy Healing Center, which operates addiction and behavioral health treatment facilities in South Florida, has opened its first location outside its home state.

Legacy’s new facility in Cherry Hill, New Jersey — which is just outside of Philadelphia — was created in response to the large number of people from the Northeast who have previously sought treatment at its South Florida facilities, the company said in a press release announcing the opening.

The provider treats a variety of SUDs at its facilities and offers IOP and PHP, as well as post-IOP outpatient and family programs.

Addiction treatment provider adds new center

Glen Allen, Virginia-based Master Center for Addiction Medicine, which operates three addiction treatment locations in the state, has opened a new location in Hampton. 

The new center provides office-based, outpatient addiction medicine services to patients in the Hampton Roads area and also provides mental health services through its partnership with Genesis Counseling Center, a local provider of counseling, therapy and coaching services. 

In addition to Hampton, the Master Center operates centers in Glen Allen, Gloucester and the Richmond area. Formerly known as the Virginia Center for Addiction Medicine, the provider changed its name last year.

New SUD treatment center opens

Cedar Oaks Wellness Center has opened in Cincinnati to treat SUD.

The center sits on 120 acres of forest and includes 26 beds for residential and detox patients.

MAT and relapse prevention services are available at the location, along with activities including peer and family support groups like Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, meditation, yoga, recovery coaching and art- and equine-based therapies.