Alabama hospital expanding behavioral health capabilities

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North Alabama Shoals Hospital in Muscle Shoals will be expanding on its behavioral health capabilities with an initiative that includes building a new 16-bed adolescent psychiatry unit and adding eight adult psychiatric beds, the hospital announced.

The new program – recently approved by  the State Health Planning and Development Agency's Certificate of Need Review Board – will provide specialized psychiatric care for adolescents and is expected to increase access to adult psychiatric services in the region.

"This expansion will have a meaningful impact on the patients and communities we serve in northwest Alabama, furthering our mission to make our community healthier," said North Alabama Shoals Hospital Chief Operating Officer Braxton Holloway.

WHAT'S THE IMPACT

North Alabama Shoals Hospital submitted a Certificate of Need Application for the planned renovation in June; it's expected to be completed and operational by late 2025. The project will involve construction improvements in three areas, including the relocation of the hospital's two existing psychiatric units. 

Officials said regular patient care operations will take place throughout the process.

Citing a growing demand for mental health services in the region, the hospital said the new units will provide beds for local patients as well as transfer requests from hospitals across Alabama and neighboring states. The hospital expects it will be able to serve a broader range of patients due to a service line that includes geriatric, adult and adolescent psychiatric units.

Currently, the nearest facility offering adolescent psychiatric beds is located in Decatur, Alabama, but according to North Alabama Shoals, that program is often at capacity and unable to meet the increasing demand for services. The addition of the adolescent psychiatric unit is seen as a way to help address the gap in mental healthcare for adolescents in the region.

Mike Howard, market president and chief executive officer at North Alabama Medical Center and North Alabama Shoals Hospital, called the new program an "important addition" and said it would complement the hospital's existing geriatric and acute psychiatric programs, "providing essential mental health services to a broader population in the region."

THE LARGER TREND

North Alabama Shoals isn't the only hospital looking to expand its behavioral health services. Franciscan Health Dyer in Indiana will transition its hospital to a behavioral health services facility by the end of 2027, the health system said last week.

The health system cited the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which reported that more than 22% of Indiana's adults have mental illness. Plus, more than 27% of young adults have mental illness, but only 17% received mental health services in the past year, data showed.

Franciscan cited a study published in October 2023 in the Journal of American Medicine Network on the economic burden associated with untreated mental illness in Indiana, and found it was associated with $4.2 billion in annual societal costs. The Indiana Department of Health also reported that 1,136 suicides occurred in 2022, with Lake County having the second highest suicide rate in the state.

Jeff Lagasse is editor of Healthcare Finance News.
Email: jlagasse@himss.org
Healthcare Finance News is a HIMSS Media publication.