Caron Treatment Centers expands in Florida
Wernersville, Pennsylvania-based nonprofit behavioral health provider Caron Treatment Centers opened its 100,000-square-foot facility at the beginning of February, according to a news release from the organization.
The facility, The Keele Medical Center, is located at 4575 Linton Boulevard, Delray Beach, Florida. It offers a medical detox unit, 40 residential treatment beds, an older adult program, neurocognitive services, research and medical education services.
“We are making a strategic and thoughtful investment in our Caron Florida operations,” Brad Sorte, the outgoing CEO of Caron Treatment Centers, said in the release.
It also added a standalone mental health program in Florida through its Caron Florida entity.
Caron Treatment Centers continues to make significant investments in all-encompassing facilities and in research. During the summer of 2022, it opened the Fran and Doug Tieman Center for Research on its Wernersville campus, a treatment center focused on developing new treatments.
On Feb. 9, the organization announced Sorte’s departure from the CEO role. A search is underway for a replacement.
UHS announces $61M joint venture with Lehigh Valley Health Network
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based Universal Health Services (NYSE: UHS) and Allentown, Pennsylvania-based Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) announced a joint venture to build a 144-bed behavioral health hospital.
The joint venture will invest as much as $61 million in the facility, according to a UHS representative. It will be located near the Lehigh Valley Hospital-Muhlenberg campus in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
The facility will encompass about 97,000 square feet, according to a news release.
“The need for a variety of behavioral health programs and services is far outpacing regional capacity, and those needs are only growing,” Dr. Brian Nester, president and CEO of LVHN, said in the release. “This new facility across the street will nearly triple the number of inpatient beds available to the Lehigh Valley.”
LVHN already provides inpatient and outpatient behavioral health services, including extensive telepsychiatry programs.
UHS has seen much of its recent growth come through joint ventures with other health care partners that don’t have the expertise or resources to manage a behavioral health offering, according to its chief financial officer.
On Feb. 21, UHS announced that it selected a location for Southridge Behavioral Hospital, its joint venture with Trinity Health Michigan, for a facility in Byron Center, Michigan.
Summa Health opens $84M, seven-story behavioral health facility
Summa Health opened the Juve Family Behavioral Health Pavilion, an $84 million facility exclusively dedicated to behavioral health patients in Cleveland.
Akron, Ohio-based Summa Health’s new center operates 64 beds across seven stories. It replaces the psychiatric unit at the nearby hospital, Summa St. Thomas. It started accepting patients on Jan. 24.
The center is so named following a $10 million gift from Sharon and Richard Juve: Richard Juve is the chairman of Americhem, a global firm headquartered in Cuyahoga Falls, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Its services include partial hospitalization programs (PHP), a traumatic stress center, intensive outpatient programs (IOP), a geriatric unit and outpatient psychology and psychiatry services.
Pinnacle Treatment Centers opens all-in-one treatment campus in Indiana
Mt. Laurel, New Jersey-based Pinnacle Treatment Centers has completed its Recovery Works Martinsville campus by opening Martinsville Treatment Services, an outpatient medication-assisted treatment (MAT) provider for opioid use disorders (OUD).
Located in Indiana, Recovery Works Martinsville also offers inpatient detoxification, residential addiction treatment, acute psychiatric stabilization, partial hospitalization programs (PHP), intensive outpatient programs (IOP) and outpatient counseling.
“The Recovery Works Martinsville campus reflects Pinnacle’s mission of removing barriers to treatment and providing the customized services that can transform individuals, families, and communities,” Pinnacle Treatment Centers CEO Joe Pritchard said in a news release.
Pinnacle Treatment Centers operates an expanding footprint of 135 treatment locations in California, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
In January, it announced it opened a location in Niles, Ohio, its 20th location in the state. The company also acquired the MBA Wellness Center in Stockbridge, Georgia.
VHC Health and Arlington County team up on $80M hospital
Arlington, Virginia-based VHC Health announced that it has a letter of intent with Arlington County for the health system to acquire land to build a new behavioral health hospital.
The 5.8-acre plot will see a facility that contains 24 adult beds, 24 adolescent beds, 24 wellness and recovery beds and five outpatient programs, according to a news release. VHC Health’s main campus will add a 14-bed geriatric care unit.
It will also provide rehabilitation services for central nervous system injuries.
The project is estimated to cost $80 million, according to the Washington Business Journal.
VHC Health plans on breaking ground on its new facility in late 2023 or early 2024 and expects construction to be complete in late 2025.
Ballad Health opens 24-hour behavioral health center in Johnson City, Tennessee
Ballad Health has opened an all-hours walk-in behavioral crisis center at Woodridge Hospital in Johnson City, Tennessee.
The 24/7 center addresses behavioral health emergencies such as suicidal or homicidal ideation, acute psychosis, auditory and/or visual hallucinations, or any other extreme mental or emotional crises, according to a news release.
“Immediately, this clinic creates a much-needed access point for behavioral healthcare, thereby enabling people who need intervention to reach experts and services that can help,” Tammy Albright, CEO of Ballad Health’s behavioral health services, said in the release. “However, the far-reaching effects of this clinic have the potential to alleviate larger problems in healthcare — issues that are afflicting communities nationwide, not just in our region.”
The move, in part, accelerates access to crisis treatment by taking this kind of care out of the emergency department. Ballad Health hospitals will still receive inpatient behavioral health transfers. The clinic accepts insured and self-pay patients, the release states.
Urgent care and on-demand options don’t often appear in behavioral health outside of crisis care offerings, with some exceptions.
Scottsdale, Arizona-based startup MIND 24/7 has launched a walk-in clinic that is designed to take over defunct pharmacies and other retail locations to give all-hour access to behavioral health care.
Telehealth-focused behavioral health providers have stepped into the urgent care setting. Long-operating telepsychiatry provider Array Behavioral Care has announced a new relationship with a leading manager of emergency departments as part of its expansion through a business-to-business model.
Last year, the hybrid outpatient mental health provider Mindpath Health piloted an on-demand model with what appeared to be promising early data.
Companies featured in this article:
Ballad Health, Caron Treatment Centers, Lehigh Valley Health Network, Pinnacle Treatment Centers, Summa Health, Universal Health Services, VHC Health
