Maimonides Medical Center is building a new psychiatric unit for adolescents at its Borough Park campus in New York City, according to an Oct. 27 report from Crain’s New York Business.
The 20-bed unit will increase the hospital’s inpatient psychiatric capacity by more than 25% and cost nearly $12 million to develop. More than 85% of the project will be funded by the New York State Office of Mental Health and an insurance company grant program.
The unit would be the second of its kind in New York City, joining Kings County Hospital Center also in Brooklyn. Maimonides projects 80,000 psychiatric visits across all services this year, up from 55,000 in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic. The number is expected to reach 100,000 next year, including teens ages 13 to 17 treated in the new unit.
The hospital has expanded its behavioral health services over the last three years, adding 50 staff members and keeping psychiatric beds open during the pandemic’s first wave.
Maimonides received a total of $17 million from the grant program, including $5 million to open a pediatric outpatient center. The state also awarded the hospital $11 million, with $6 million designated to develop a comprehensive psychiatric emergency program.
