Demand for addiction, mental health services keep hospital near full

BECKETT SPRINGS HOSPITAL

What: Hospital offers inpatient and outpatient addiction and mental health treatment services for adults

Where: 8614 Shepherd Farm Drive, West Chester Twp.

Phone: 513-942-9500

Chief Executive Officer: Paul Sheridan

Website: www.beckettsprings.com

Employees: Approximately 161

When Beckett Springs Hospital completes its 24-bed expansion later this year, it still probably won’t be enough room to meet the demand for its adult addiction and mental health treatment services.

That’s because on any given day now, the hospital runs at 90 percent or above capacity, said Chief Executive Officer Phil Sheridan. There are also days where it’s effectively full, Sheridan said.

“In the first 60 days of my tenure, I think we experienced somewhere around a 30 percent volume surge, which for the most part, has been sustained,” said Sheridan, who became chief executive in July last year.

Beckett Springs, part of a for-profit network of hospitals owned by Springstone Inc., opened in mid-2013 at 8614 Shepherd Farm Drive, in West Chester Twp. During 2014, the first full year of operations, the hospital admitted 1,635 patients and saw 6,270 visits to its outpatient programs such as partial hospitalization, according to Kim Guy, director of business development.

“I suspect the volume was always out there but because we’re a new entity into this health care market, this specialty market, it took us a while to both establish our presence and to differentiate what we have to offer,” Sheridan said.

Construction work started in October on an approximately $4 million expansion, which will grow the hospital from 48 inpatient beds to 72 beds. Also, up to 50 jobs could be added due to the growth, Guy said. Beckett Springs currently has 161 employees.

The hospital’s overnight patients now are split about evenly between chemical dependency treatment and psychiatric treatment, Sheridan said.

“The way that we have ourselves currently configured appears to match the community need,” he said. “Those demands aren’t diminishing, those demands are continuing.”

“We’re still looking at community need in terms of whether or not we make any specialty designation for these beds” to be added, he said.

Beckett Springs does not offer emergency services, but has intake services around-the-clock. Patients or referring medical professionals can call 513-942-9500. The facility specializes in inpatient detoxification services for drugs and alcohol; psychiatric services including depression, anxiety and psychosis; and services to treat co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders.

Beckett Springs is one of eight hospitals serving Butler County along with: Middletown’s Atrium Medical Center, Fort Hamilton Hospital, Mercy Health — Fairfield Hospital, Oxford’s McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital, Hamilton’s TriHealth Bethesda Butler Hospital, West Chester Hospital and Cincinnati Children’s Liberty Campus.