Greenville, N.C.-based ECU Health and Franklin, Tenn.-based Acadia Healthcare plan to build a 144-bed behavioral health hospital in Greenville.
The jointventure hospital aims to be a Center of Excellence for behavioral health services, according to a July 19 news release. The organizations said they will invest about $65 million combined to expand behavioral health services in eastern North Carolina.
The facility will include 24 inpatient beds for children and adolescents with mental health needs and serve as a teaching hospital for students and residents from the Brody School of Medicine in Greenville.
"The needs of behavioral health patients differ from other patients and vary widely even within the same diagnosis," Syed Saeed, MD, an ECU Health psychiatrist, said in the release. "This state-of-the-art hospital will allow us to fully meet our patients' unique needs in a safe, patient-centered environment and ensure clinicians have the resources and training needed to deliver excellent care."
Construction is expected to begin in 2023, pending state and regulatory approvals and a certificate of need. To facilitate the development of the hospital, ECU Health will transfer 80 of its current behavioral health beds.
The facility is slated to open in 2025.