The number of U.S. specialty behavioral health hospitals rose to 667 in 2024, an increase of 22 since 2020, according to the American Hospital Association’s 2026 Fast Facts: Behavioral Health infographic.
Specialty behavioral health hospitals made up 11% of all U.S. hospitals. The figures come from the AHA Annual Survey Database for fiscal 2020 through fiscal 2024.
Psychiatric hospitals made up most of the sector, with 597 facilities, or 89.6% of the total. There were also 43 children’s psychiatric hospitals (6.4%), 24 substance use disorder hospitals (3.6%) and three hospitals for patients with intellectual disabilities (0.4%). The AHA classified the hospitals by primary service.
Community hospitals also provide a range of psychiatric services. In 2024, 39% offered consultation and liaison services, 37% offered emergency psychiatric services and 31% offered suicide prevention services.
Thirty percent of community hospitals provided inpatient psychiatric care and 29% provided outpatient care. One in five offered medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder. Fewer offered intensive outpatient (15%), partial hospitalization (11%) or pediatric (11%) psychiatric services.
The AHA also found that hospitals are integrating more behavioral health care into acute inpatient, emergency, extended care and primary care services. Data for 2021 and 2022 was unavailable.
According to the AHA, hospitals often offer a variety of behavioral health treatment programs outside the inpatient setting.
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