Erlanger's plans to build a new mental health hospital are on hold after Parkridge Valley, which operates two behavioral health facilities in Chattanooga, filed an appeal to the state decision approving the hospital.
Erlanger won approval Aug. 24 from the state Health Service and Development Agency for a certificate of need, giving it the go-ahead to build a new 88-bed facility on a site at the intersection of Holtzclaw and Citico avenues, about a mile east of Erlanger's main hospital on Third Street.
The state agency, which must approve any major new health care facility in Tennessee, voted 9-0 in Erlanger's favor.
In arguing for the facility, Erlanger said its emergency room often is filled with patients suffering from mental health issues who cannot be transferred to other facilities because of a lack of beds. Erlanger senior vice president for planning, analytics and business development Joe Winick said Monday the hospital was holding six patients in the emergency room this weekend because staffers were not able to find an available spot in a local behavioral health facility such as Moccasin Bend.
"I'm very disappointed," Winick said of Parkridge's appeal. "They have a right to appeal, but this is not about Erlanger. It is about a need in the community."
While Parkridge was not required to list reasons for its appeal, officials made it clear at the August hearing that they believe the additional beds are not needed.
"This is not an issue of licensed beds," Parkridge CEO Darrell Moore told the health planning board. "It is about a shortage of behavioral health professionals - nurses, social workers, and physicians."
In a statement issued Monday, Moore said "We had hopes of working with Erlanger officials to identify collaborative solutions that could best support the behavioral health needs in our communities. We believe a collaborative approach between our health systems could better meet the needs of all patients by addressing the challenges our behavioral health community is currently facing including staffing, inpatient and outpatient program solutions, and emergency psychiatric assessment and placement."
In the August hearing, Parkridge also pointed out that some of Erlanger's patients, particularly those who are violent, need treatment in a state facility such as Moccasin Bend, which has been reducing the number of its beds over the past few years.
According to state law, an administrative law judge will first attempt to get Parkridge and Erlanger to mediate their differences, but if that fails, a hearing will be concluded within 180 days, and an opinion issued no more than 60 days after the hearing. That means a decision on the new facility would be postponed for at least eight months, if not longer, depending on unforeseen delays in the hearing.
Erlanger CEO Kevin Spiegel denounced the Parkridge action in an email sent to all Erlanger employees.
"We believe this action is futile and without merit," Spiegel said. "They will try to delay this project for six to nine months, deferring critical behavioral health services to those in need."
The new hospital would be a joint venture between Erlanger and Acadia, but Acadia is putting up most of the estimated $25 million construction cost, and Erlanger officials said it is likely that Acadia will end up with the majority control of the hospital. Erlanger will contribute a 12-bed geriatric mental health unit, which it will move from Erlanger North to the new building.
But Erlanger officials emphasized that the board of directors of the new hospital will be split evenly between the two companies.
In response to questions from the state health planning agency, Erlanger officials insisted that even though the hospital will be for-profit, it will follow Erlanger's guidelines to provide charity care to those who need it.
Erlanger is also hoping to work with officials from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine to establish a psychiatric residency at the new hospital, where doctors could be trained to treat mental health patients. That could help to relieve the shortage of medical staff trained to handle mental health cases, Erlanger's Winick said.
Contact staff writer Steve Johnson at 423-757-6673, sjohnson@timesfreepress.com, on Twitter @stevejohnsonTFP or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/noogahealth.