Health systems across the U.S. are turning to large-scale philanthropic gifts, state funding and internal capital investments to address rising demand for pediatric behavioral healthcare. The funding is supporting expanded inpatient capacity and the development of integrated campuses aimed at filling gaps in the continuum of care for children and adolescents.
Here are five major investments in youth behavioral health:
- The University of California San Francisco invested $1.5 billion in a children’s hospital that will include the city’s first inpatient unit for pediatric behavioral care. The UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland is set to open in 2030 and will have 20 inpatient care beds for youth experiencing behavioral and mental health conditions.
- Boston Children’s Hospital received a $100 million donation — the largest in the hospital’s history — to support a $640 million pediatric psychiatric hospital. The project includes 116 inpatient beds and a day hospital with 24 slots for partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient programs, as well as a 14-bedroom, community-based acute treatment program. It will also house a dental suite, a surgical suite with four operating rooms and 10 preparatory and post-recovery slots, a pharmacy and an outpatient rehabilitation space.
- Monterey, Calif.-based Ohana Center for Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health — part of Monterey-based Montage Health — received a $100 million single-donor gift to fund the center. The 55,600-square-foot facility offers outpatient and residential services to youth and their families. The facility includes 16 residential beds, outpatient wing, classrooms and outdoor recreational spaces.
- Apex, N.C.-based NC Children’s received a $25 million gift from Charlotte, N.C.-based Coca-Cola Consolidated to support the development of its new campus in Apex. The campus is expected to include a 570-bed, freestanding children’s hospital with more than 100 behavioral health beds and an outpatient center of excellence It is slated to open in the early 2030s and will offer a range of behavioral health services, including prevention, outpatient, intensive outpatient, partial hospitalization and inpatient treatment.
- Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Health received a $25 million investment from the state of Utah and philanthropic donations to build a 90,000-square-foot pediatric behavioral health center in West Taylorsville, Utah. The Intermountain Health Primary Children’s Hospital Behavioral Health Center offers family-centered mental and behavioral health services, including a 24/7 walk-in crisis center for youths needing support.
