Acadia partners with St. Thomas on new psych hospital

Acadia Healthcare CEO Joey Jacobs has been talking about the opportunity presented by joint ventures for the past several years. In addition to private equity deals, transactions between not-for-profit systems and for-profit operators have started to become more prevalent across the industry overall.

In its latest agreement, Acadia has partnered with Saint Thomas Health in Nashville, Tenn. The partnership will include the establishment of a new freestanding psychiatric inpatient hospital, projected to include 40 adult beds and 36 geriatric beds. Saint Thomas is part of Ascension, a large Catholic not-for-profit organization.

According to the announcement, construction would begin in early 2019, pending certificate of need approvals.

Acadia is not new to the structure. In one example, the organization created a joint venture with Ochsner Health System for an 82-bed psychiatric hospital located in the greater New Orleans area in 2016. As of March 31, 2018, Acadia operates 584 behavioral health facilities with approximately 17,800 beds in 40 states, the United Kingdom and Puerto Rico.