Ecu Health And For-profit Giant Acadia Team Up To Open New Psychiatric Hospital

By Taylor Knopf

A caller psychiatric infirmary successful Greenville will statesman serving patients successful eastbound North Carolina later this month. 

ECU Health Behavioral Health Hospital is simply a caller 144-bed installation intended to supply inpatient and intensive outpatient psychiatric services to adults and children; it will unfastened pinch a 24-bed portion designated for pediatric patients. 

The infirmary is simply a associated task betwixt ECU Health, a nonprofit wellness strategy based successful Greenville that serves eastbound North Carolina, and Tennessee-based Acadia Healthcare, a for-profit behavioral wellness supplier pinch 270 accommodation crossed nan United States and Puerto Rico. Since nan plans for nan Greenville infirmary were announced successful 2022, nan for-profit behavioral wellness institution has been investigated by a Congressional committee and nan U.S. Department of Justice complete its billing practices and curen of patients.

Despite Acadia’s troublesome record, section and authorities wellness leaders expressed awesome excitement complete nan caller installation at a ribbon-cutting arena successful precocious August. 

The caller ECU Health Behavioral Health Hospital successful Greenville will statesman accepting patients connected Sept. 24, 2025. Credit: Taylor Knopf

“This caller behavioral wellness infirmary symbolizes our intent astatine ECU Health: expanding access, improving outcomes and treating nan full person, mind, assemblage and spirit,” said ECU Health CEO Michael Waldrum. “It ensures that whether you unrecorded successful a small, agrarian farming town, a coastal community, aliases anyplace successful between, you person entree to world-class behavioral wellness attraction adjacent to home.”

State wellness leaders person been trying to summation readiness of behavioral wellness services and enlistee doctors and speciality providers to rural, underserved areas. They opportunity this caller infirmary will do both.

Filling a wellness desert

There are 31 counties successful North Carolina pinch nary psychiatrist, and astir of those are successful nan eastbound half of nan state. There are moreover less subspeciality intelligence wellness providers. For example, 67 of North Carolina’s 100 counties person nary kid psychiatrist, according to data tracked by nan University of North Carolina’s Sheps Center. 

Patients successful eastbound North Carolina often person to recreation to nan Triangle area for intensive psychiatric services, aliases they are shuttled crossed nan authorities to far-flung disposable beds erstwhile they acquisition intelligence wellness crises.

“Patients person had to return their parents agelong distances to get curen for Alzheimer’s,” said Michael Lang, chair of psychiatry and behavioral medicine astatine ECU Health, during nan ribbon-cutting ceremony. “Parents person had to thrust arsenic agelong distances and hold years to get their children evaluated for Autism Spectrum Disorder. Our neighbors and friends battling constituent maltreatment whitethorn beryllium successful an emergency section for weeks waiting to get to a installation that tin supply them nan wellness they need.”

Health attraction workforce information tracked by nan UNC Sheps Center shows 31 counties successful North Carolina person nary psychiatrists and nan statewide complaint is 1.13 psychiatrists per 10,000 people. Credit: UNC Sheps Center

With a caller psychiatric installation successful eastbound North Carolina, patients won’t person to spell rather arsenic acold for support. Lang said nan scheme is to break crushed connected an outpatient intelligence wellness halfway successful 2026 adjacent to nan caller infirmary for appointments aft patients are discharged from nan infirmary aliases for different outpatient evaluations. 

The caller infirmary successful Greenville will beryllium staffed by ECU Health physicians and beryllium a school infirmary for students and residents astatine East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine. Local wellness leaders dream that by training intelligence wellness providers successful Greenville, much will take to enactment successful eastbound North Carolina — an area pinch a shortage of intelligence wellness providers. Lang said that pinch nan opening of nan caller facility, nan schoolhouse of medicine will beryllium capable to double its psychiatric residency cohort.

“Along pinch galore different areas successful this country, we person struggled to bring nan providers present that tin supply nan attraction basal to springiness these group what they deserve,” Lang said. “These providers will unrecorded here. They will train here. And they will turn present to supply attraction for nan patients of eastbound North Carolina arsenic members of our community.”

The nurses, dietitians and different infirmary unit will beryllium hired by Acadia, according to Lang. Acadia operates several outpatient facilities successful North Carolina, but this joint-venture infirmary successful Greenville is nan company’s first inpatient installation successful nan state. When asked astir Acadia’s troubling record, Lang emphasized that nan building of this business intends that ECU Health physicians will supply attraction to nan patients.

“We will beryllium doing what’s correct for nan attraction of eastbound North Carolina,” he told North Carolina Health News.

Acadia’s troubled past

Last year, Acadia faced waves of scrutiny from aggregate authorities entities and nationalist media.

In June 2024, nan U.S. Senate Finance Committee released a study titled Warehouses of Neglect, successful which it accused 4 of nan nation’s largest behavioral wellness companies, including Acadia, of putting profits supra nan information and curen of children placed successful their care. 

Some children pinch analyzable intelligence wellness needs are placed successful semipermanent psychiatric curen pinch a extremity of receiving specialized intensive care, but nan Senate committee’s investigation recovered that excessively often that doesn’t happen. The facilities, instead, “offer minimal therapeutic curen successful deficient beingness settings pinch thin unit composed of non-professionals, which maximizes per diem margins,” according to nan report.

A group therapy room wrong nan caller ECU Health Behavioral Health Hospital, which will service adults and children. Credit: Taylor Knopf

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), committee chair astatine nan time, said that what children knowledgeable successful these accommodation “reads for illustration thing from a scary novel.” Acadia’s largest competitor, Universal Health Services, was besides heavy referenced passim nan committee study and operates 3 accommodation successful North Carolina. NC Health News has published in-depth reports connected repeated information violations astatine 2 UHS-owned facilities: Holly Hill Hospital and Brynn Marr Hospital.

In September 2024, The New York Times reported that patients were often held successful Acadia accommodation — often against their will — for financial reasons alternatively than aesculapian ones, according to much than 50 existent and erstwhile Acadia executives and unit members interviewed by nan Times.

Acadia said it powerfully disagreed pinch really nan Senate’s study portrayed its facilities. The institution released a statement connected nan media sum and said “reporting connected these issues has not reflected nan galore objective considerations that pass nan due attraction for a personification facing a intelligence wellness crisis, including whether and for really agelong they should person nonstop attraction successful a facility.”

Multimillion-dollar settlement 

Just weeks aft nan New York Times article, nan U.S. Department of Justice announced that Acadia entered a astir $20 cardinal colony statement to resoluteness allegations that it knowingly billed Medicare, Medicaid and Tricare (insurance for subject members and their families) for unnecessary inpatient behavioral wellness services. 

The colony besides resolved allegations that Acadia grounded to sufficiently unit its accommodation and grounded to decently train and supervise its employees, which nan Department of Justice claimed resulted successful assaults, elopements, suicides and different harm to patients. 

The section claimed that Acadia accommodation grounded to supply progressive psychiatric curen — including individual and group therapies — and that Acadia infirmary unit grounded to create and update patients’ curen plans.

The caller ECU Health Behavioral Health Hospital successful Greenville has 5 outdoor courtyard spaces for patients to get caller aerial and sun. Credit: Taylor Knopf

Acadia entered nan colony statement without admitting guilt. In a statement, Acadia CEO Chris Hunter said nan institution was “committed to taking action connected incidents that autumn short of our rigorous standards and are making investments basal to found Acadia arsenic nan starring behavioral healthcare supplier for high-acuity and analyzable needs patients.”

Then successful October 2024, The New York Times reported that nan Veterans Affairs Department launched its ain investigation into Acadia to find if nan institution defrauded national wellness security programs by holding patients longer than medically necessary. 

What to expect successful NC

NC Health News asked Tyler Davis, CEO of nan caller ECU Health Behavioral Health Hospital, astir nan aggregate allegations Acadia has faced successful nan past twelvemonth and what North Carolinians tin expect from nan caller hospital. 

“I’ve been pinch Acadia for 11 aliases 12 years, I’ve ne'er been portion of an statement that did thing questionable aliases negative, truthful I’ve had thing but affirmative experiences,” Davis said. “I’m a caregiver by background, truthful my comfortableness level is caring for patients. And I deliberation if you support that astatine nan bosom of everything that you do, make that nan priority, everything turns retired precisely arsenic it should.”

State Rep. Tim Reeder (R-Ayden) attended nan ribbon-cutting arena for nan caller infirmary arsenic a lawmaker representing his constituents and an emergency section expert pinch ECU Health. From his perspective, this caller installation is captious to patients and nan early occurrence of agrarian wellness care. 

ECU Health Behavioral Health Hospital CEO Tyler Davis and authorities Representative and ECU Health expert Tim Reeder together connected a circuit astir nan caller installation during a ribbon-cutting arena successful precocious August. Credit: Taylor Knopf

“We nonstop excessively galore of our patients, particularly children, distant from their families and their support, and that really is antagonistic connected their expertise to recover,” he told NC Health News. “From nan argumentation and nan legislative side, processing healthcare services successful agrarian areas is vitally important for nan early occurrence of nan state.”

When asked if he was concerned astir Acadia’s past estimation affecting nan attraction patients will receive, Reeder leaned connected his acquisition moving pinch ECU Health.

“I’ve been proud to beryllium portion of ECU Health for a number of years,” he said. “I cognize nan physicians who are going to beryllium moving here, and I person to judge that this is going to beryllium a installation that’s going to present precocious value attraction successful an acquisition environment.”

Similar to nan associated task pinch ECU Health, Acadia has partnered pinch different nonprofit wellness organizations to unfastened inpatient psychiatric facilities. However, these partnerships haven’t ever shielded nan hospitals from nan problems reported crossed for-profit psychiatric facilities. Incident reports retired of an Acadia installation successful Columbus, Ohio, which bears nan sanction Mount Carmel — a Catholic wellness strategy founded by nuns — were truthful concerning that a constabulary sergeant pinch nan section constabulary department’s intelligence wellness and addiction services consequence portion sounded nan alarm past twelvemonth and referred nan infirmary for investigation.  

In North Carolina, leaders astatine nan caller ECU Health Behavioral Health Hospital are ironing retired nan last details, specified arsenic nan Medicaid reimbursement complaint and hiring of support staff, earlier nan infirmary originates accepting patients connected Sept. 24. 

Republish our articles for free, online aliases successful print, nether a Creative Commons license.