| Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc. | |
| Type: | Public |
| Num Employees: | 28,600 |
| Num Employees Year: | 2020 |
Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc. is an American provider of for-profit behavioral healthcare services. It operates a network of over 225 facilities across the United States and Puerto Rico.[1]
The company is headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee.[2] As of 2024, Acadia operated over 50 inpatient psychiatric hospitals in 19 U.S. states, including Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, and Wisconsin.[3] [4] [5] [6] It is one of the country's largest hospital systems.
Acadia was founded as a private corporation in 2005 by Reeve B. Waud and went public in 2011.[7]
Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, which requires U.S. insurers to cover mental health care, Acadia has partnered with non-profit U.S. hospital systems such as Henry Ford in Michigan, Geisinger in Pennsylvania, and Nebraska Methodist.[7] [8] [9] The for-profit partner typically operates facilities under the names of its non-profit partners, such as Mount Carmel Behavioral Health in Columbus, Ohio, which Acadia operates for Mount Carmel Health System.[10]
Acadia markets directly to consumers to encourage them to "skip the ER" at their local not-for-profit hospital and come directly to an Acadia facility with mental health issues. It develops relationships with first responders to encourage them to bring people experiencing mental health issues directly to an Acadia facility and with emergency room staff to encourage referrals.
Acadia operates facilities for patients with behavioral problems, PTSD, trauma, eating disorders and substance abuse.[11] In 2022, it had about 22,500 employees and a daily patient census of about 70,000 patients and was said to be the largest pure-play behavioral health company.[12] Also in 2022, it opened a children's hospital in Chicago, a joint venture facility in Knoxville, and two comprehensive treatment centers. Revenue for the third quarter of the year was $666.7 million, an increase of 13.5% over the third quarter of 2021. It had a network of 242 behavioral healthcare facilities with approximately 10,800 beds in 39 states and Puerto Rico. 300 new beds were planned to be opened during the year.[13]
In June 2014, Acadia bought Partnerships in Care, a British provider of mental health and social care services, and acquired the mental health assets of Care UK in May 2015.[14]
The company has been investigated by the Competition and Markets Authority in the UK because of concerns about the impact of its acquisition of Priory Group on competition. It sold 22 behavioral health facilities for £320 million to BC Partners in October 2016.[15]
In July 2023, Acadia was ordered to pay $405 million in a judgment on a lawsuit filed by the guardians of a New Mexico minor.[4] In October 2023, the company settled a $400 million suit for three other cases at the same facility, which has since been shut down.[2]
In January 2024, Utah's Department of Health and Human Services ordered Midvale's Highland Ridge Hospital to hire an independent monitor for ten hours a week to oversee safety compliance.[16] After another series of safety violations in February, licensing officials required Highland to increase oversight to 40 hours per week. In April 2024, Acadia announced plans to close the facility the following month.[17] [18]
In June 2024, Acadia and fellow for-profit United Health Services were found by the Senate Committee on Finance and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions to have endangered the welfare of children in their facilities as a result of a business model that optimized revenue instead of optimizing care.[3] [19] [20] The committees' report stated the problems "occur inevitably and by design: they are the direct causal result of a business model that has the incentive to treat children as payouts and provide less than adequate safety and behavioral health treatment in order to maximize operating and profit margin".
Acadia has been criticized for detaining patients in its facilities against their will, even when holding them was not medically necessary.[7] Patients have been held under mental health laws designed to protect them from being a danger to themselves or others, thus increasing payments to the company.[7] Some were released only after a formal complaint or a lawsuit.[7]
In September 2024, Acadia settled with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for multiple alleged violations, including a $19.85 million settlement for false billing for medically unnecessary inpatient services[21] and $1.39 million for preventing whistleblowers from coming forward.[22]