RED BANK — Erlanger Behavioral Health Hospital's new 48-bed inpatient psychiatric facility for adults is on track to start treating patients Dec. 12, officials said following a ribbon-cutting Tuesday.
The new facility is housed within what was once the acute care side of Erlanger North Hospital on Morrison Springs Road and represents the first expansion for Erlanger Behavioral Health since the venture's first hospital, a 96-bed facility on Holtzclaw Avenue, opened in June 2018.
Robin Weagley, chief executive officer of Erlanger Behavioral Health Hospital, said during Tuesday's ceremony that the behavioral health hospital has admitted patients nearly 15,000 times and served more than 800 individuals as outpatients since it opened more than five years ago.
"We've been growing our service line every single year — and privileged to do so — because our community needs are growing and changing, and so must we," Weagley said, noting after the ceremony that the main behavioral health hospital runs at "very high capacity."
While the main Erlanger Behavioral Health Hospital treats both adolescents and adults, the new satellite facility will serve only adults, with a focus on people who have more complex medical needs, Weagley told reporters after the ceremony.
The facility will start with 34 staffed beds with plans to conduct additional hiring to expand bed capacity and services, she said.
Weagley anticipates many patients will have mood and thought disorders, such as anxiety, depression or schizophrenia. Those could be coupled with other conditions, such as dementia, diabetes or kidney failure, that the other location isn't equipped to handle, she said.
Most patients will access the facility after being discharged from a local emergency department, while others could be sent there from a crisis center or walk in, Weagley said.
Erlanger Behavioral Health is a joint venture. Franklin, Tennessee-based Acadia Healthcare owns 80%, and Erlanger Health owns 20%. Officials from Erlanger Health, which still operates an emergency room and medical offices at the front of Erlanger North, paved the way last fall to convert and lease the back of the facility to the joint venture.
(READ MORE: Erlanger moves to convert Red Bank hospital into psychiatric facility)
Tyler Winks, CEO of Erlanger East Hospital and Erlanger North, said during an interview the decision to convert the northern facility and close the general acute care beds came during the pandemic — when a combination of workforce shortages and demand drove the need for more resources at Erlanger's flagship facility in downtown Chattanooga.
"Most health systems have to look at ways to do more with what we have, and so we decided to move those beds downtown, so we can ensure that we're able to meet all the needs of our communities — including Red Bank — but also to meet the growing need for mental health services," Winks said, noting that 24/7 emergency services are still offered at the Red Bank facility, and Erlanger's main hospital is just 10 minutes away.
Acadia, a publicly traded company with roughly 250 facilities across the nation, began operating Erlanger Behavioral Health when the facility opened in 2018.
At the time, the venture was touted as a means to increase the number of desperately needed beds for the area's psychiatric patients, but it historically failed to live up to expectations.
That's because Acadia favored accepting patients with commercial insurance, leaving many low-income and uninsured psychiatric patients to wait in Erlanger's emergency department until a bed opened up at another facility, members of Erlanger management and trustees said during a public hospital board meeting last fall. Erlanger officials said during that meeting that those issues were being addressed.
On Tuesday, Weagley said she wasn't sure what percentage of patients at the new facility would be uninsured but a variety of insured and uninsured patients would be treated there.
Contact Elizabeth Fite at efite@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6673.