Houston-based Texas Children's Hospital has seen an 800% increase in emergency visits since 2019 due to mental health issues. To meet the increase in demand, Nexus Health Systems, also in Houston, is partnering with local pediatric hospitals like Texas Children's to treat higher acuity patients with both medical and behavioral diagnoses.
Before the pandemic, Texas Children’s previously told Becker’s it was seeing around 50 patients for mental health emergency visits each month. Now, that number sits between 400-450 on a monthly basis.
Most of the patients needing this type of care are between 13 and 30 years old, according to a Dec. 11 news release.
Nexus Children's Hospital – Shenandoah — about 39 miles away from Houston — is hoping to be part of the region's solution by expanding its services. It is equipped to treat the growing number of mental health patients with psychiatry, pediatrics, physical medicine, neurology and formal rehabilitative therapies. The hospital has 50 post-acute patient beds and a 16-bed ICU.
The hospital admits patients from across the U.S., but right now amid the increase in mental health patients seen across Houston's pediatric care landscape, it is serving as "a welcome addition to local patients and caregivers who would otherwise be unable to receive post-acute complex care due to limited bed availability in Houston," according to the news release.
"Prior to the recent name change and expansion of services, Nexus' Shenandoah location (formerly Nexus Specialty Hospital) primarily treated adults recovering from severe brain and spinal cord injuries," a spokesperson told Becker's. ""The rising demand for complex care (exemplified by the 800% increase in mental health visits from 2019 to 2022 at three Texas Children’s Hospitals) was part of the impetus to change the hospital's focus in order to meet the needs of the Greater Houston area."