More allegations of abuse and misconduct at an Acadia Healthcare (Nasdaq: ACHC) facility have surfaced in an investigation by The New York Times, which reports alleged instances of patient suicide and rape.

The latest report comes just two months after Acadia Healthcare, one of the nation’s largest behavioral health providers, shuttered its troubled Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center in Lemont, Illinois, on Feb. 13. The decision came exactly six months after an August 2024 lawsuit was brought against the facility, claiming a staff member sexually assaulted and raped a 24-year-old woman on multiple occasions while she was a patient.

The facility prided itself on providing “transformative care and successfully treated more than 26,000 women and adolescent girls,” while in operation, according to an Acadia Healthcare spokesperson.

“The recent New York Times story about Timberline Knolls, a closed Acadia facility, includes material inaccuracies and cherry-picks and conflates historical incidents to paint a false and inaccurate picture of the safety and quality of the care our facilities provide,” the spokesperson told Behavioral Health Business. “Acadia closed Timberline Knolls earlier this year after a comprehensive review determined the landscape for the specialized programs and services offered by the facility had changed since Acadia acquired the facility 13 years ago.”

Abuse allegations against staff at Timberline Knolls date back to 2018, when a different facility counselor was accused of sexual abuse and rape by multiple women. By 2021, the charges against the former employee rose to 62.

Other accounts of delayed reporting of such incidents by staff to appropriate authorities and multiple 911 calls to police detailing similar claims have raised concerns about patient safety and staff oversight.

Separate findings in reports by the Illinois Human Rights Authority detail physical peer-to-peer abuse, restricted bathroom access, inadequate therapeutic activities, patients being denied meal choices, and inappropriate discharge of past patients.

Acadia confirmed to BHB that “throughout Acadia’s operation of the facility, Timberline Knolls always maintained its license and independent accreditation status and completed dozens of audits, surveys, visits, and inspections from state and local regulatory bodies, accreditors and payors.”

Similar reports and abuse allegations have been raised at Acadia facilities in Utah, New Mexico, and Michigan.

“While we are unable to comment on specific patient situations due to privacy laws, our strict policies require that complaints and incidents are appropriately investigated and acted upon promptly to protect our patients and staff,” Acadia’s spokesperson said. “They are also reported to appropriate agencies as required by law or regulation, and we enhance our policies and procedures if necessary. If a staff member violates a policy, they could be subject to additional training, education, or disciplinary action up to and including dismissal. To be clear: Acadia and its facilities do not tolerate assault, abuse, and neglect, and we have a zero-tolerance policy for behavior that could endanger our patients and staff.”

As a system, Acadia has also been accused of holding patients against their will in ways that violated the law, raising medication dosages and claiming patients needed to stay longer for the adjustment, and persuading insurers to cover longer patient stays, a 2024 New York Times report found.

In response, Acadia published a statement noting that “these experiences are completely inconsistent with Acadia’s policies and protocols. Furthermore, reporting on these issues has not reflected the many clinical considerations that inform the appropriate care for a person facing a mental health crisis, including whether and for how long they should receive direct care in a facility. These are complex medical decisions, and all decisions on patient care, including whether treatment is necessary and for how long, are made by licensed physicians, and in accordance with stringent state, federal and other regulations.”

Still, Acadia underscores that patients who receive care at its facilities “experience significant clinical improvement and also report high patient satisfaction scores,” citing incident rates that consistently fall below industry benchmarks, and 50 quality metrics that are “refreshed daily in most cases and is reviewed by facility leadership in various daily, weekly and monthly performance-focused meetings.”

In 2023, a jury ruled against Acadia in a civil lawsuit involving sexual abuse of a minor at a now-closed facility, requiring the company to pay $405 million. Later that year, the company agreed to pay $400 million to settle three cases regarding abuse at the now-closed facility.

As of this week, Acadia Healthcare Company’s stock has fallen 11.71% according to reports.