Multiple Sexual Assault Cases Reported at Acadia Healthcare Facility, Company Denies Systemic Issues

More allegations about Acadia Healthcare (Nasdaq: ACHC) have surfaced in the press, this time reporting sexual assault at one of the company’s behavioral health hospitals. A male patient at Acadia-owned Options Behavioral Health Hospital raped another patient with severe mental illness, according to reporting by Mirror Indy. A nurse had reported to higher-ups that the […]

Why Rogers Behavioral Health Added AI to Its ‘Front Door’ With Limbic Deal 

Limbic, raised $14 million in March to expand into the U.S. market. Now it has done so. The London-based mental health artificial intelligence (AI) company has clinched a partnership with the nonprofit behavioral health system Rogers Behavioral Health. Through the deal, Rogers Behavioral Health is changing its “front door” screening system from primarily phone-based to […]

Sabra Health Care Cools on Behavioral Health, Prospective Partners are ‘Rarely of Institutional Quality’

Sabra Health Care REIT (Nasdaq: SBRA) is less enthusiastic about doing deals in the behavioral health space. Leaders of the Tustin, California-based health care real estate investment trust (REIT) said they no longer see the same opportunity to diversify portions of their portfolio to behavioral health uses. The company has also identified few prospective behavioral […]

Going Nuclear: In Suing NIMBY Cities, Behavioral Health Providers Face Major Dilemma

Earlier this year, the city commission of Stuart, Florida, said “no” to a zoning variance requested by Behavioral Health Centers LLC, which sought to repurpose an existing building into a mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) center. The commission, and residents of the Florida Treasure Coast town, feared that the clinic’s patients would cause […]

Senate Finance Chair Demands DOJ Investigation of Youth Treatment Centers

Youth behavioral health residential treatment facilities could face more scrutiny following additional public pressure by a powerful federal lawmaker. On Wednesday, Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) publicly called on the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate four major behavioral health providers to determine if their youth residential treatment programs committed Medicaid fraud. […]

SUD Provider Guardian Recovery Aims to Double in Size Without Compromising ‘Boutique’ Identity

The substance use disorder (SUD) treatment industry has a history as a scattered network of small cash-pay providers. It remains largely fragmented. Delray Beach, Florida-based Guardian Recovery has experience evolving from a founder-led, boutique provider to an expansive network of 17 physical facilities and virtual care options. The challenge for the provider now is to […]

‘Missing an Opportunity’: Why Behavioral Health Providers Should Treat Sleep Disorders

Lack of sleep can increase a person’s chance of developing hypertension, diabetes, heart attack and stroke. There’s an intrinsic link to mental health and well-being, too. Sleep loss and behavioral health conditions can lead to a feedback loop in which lack of sleep worsens behavioral health conditions, and behavioral health conditions lead to lack of […]

Universal Health Services Looking to Get Behavioral Health Margins Back to Pre-COVID Levels

Universal Health Services (NYSE: UHS) is looking to get its behavioral health margins back to pre-COVID times. Reductions in labor costs, enhanced productivity and a bump in patient volume are among the factors that will support that goal, according to Steve Filton, the company’s chief financial officer. “We had originally set a target for [2024] […]

Senate Finance Chair Pressures Biden Administration on Oversight of Residential Treatment Facilities

Sen. Ron Wyden, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, is calling on the Biden administration to use existing authority to beef up regulations on residential treatment facilities that care for vulnerable youth. The lawmaker did so via a Sept. 3 letter addressed to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Administration […]

Outpatient Care Takes Center Stage in PE-Backed Mental Health Investments

Industry insiders anticipate that health care private equity deal activity will increase in the second half of 2024. In the behavioral health sector, sluggish deal flow could be picking up. Several notable transactions have crossed the finish line as investors increasingly focus on outpatient care rather than full continuum care, according to a new report […]