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St. in Phoenix Luke’s asylum may reopen under new operator

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St. in Phoenix Luke’s asylum may reopen under new operator

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A California-based healthcare management company is working on the troubled St. John’s building in Phoenix. He will be the interim operator of St. Luke’s Behavioral Hospital.

Federal bankruptcy judge Christopher Lopez on October 22 approved The company, Santa Fe Springs, Calif.-based College Medical Center Phoenix (also referred to in court documents as “College Health”), will be the interim administrator of Luke’s Behavioral Health Center in Phoenix, which includes a 127-bed psychiatric hospital and 1800 E. Van Buren St. Outpatient behavioral health clinic at.

The hospital and outpatient clinic were previously managed by Dallas-based Steward Health Care, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas in May and is now in the process of selling or closing 31 hospitals. operated multiple clinics in eight states.

College Health agreed to assume “certain operating obligations” while seeking to reinstate the license and resume operations at the behavioral facility, according to a proposed settlement filed in Steward’s bankruptcy case.

State says they will work with College Health on safety concerns

The psychiatric hospital closed in August after state health officials suspended its license following a site visit that found substandard conditions for patients, including a broken air conditioning system when outside temperatures were above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. According to court documents, St. Luke’s outpatient behavioral health clinic is also not open.

Commissioner on 1 October The state was notified Under the federal WARN Act, St. Luke’s employees (250 in the hospital and four in the outpatient clinic) may be laid off in the next 60 days, and it is unknown whether these employees will be rehired by College Medical Center. Phoenix Company officials say more than 200 St. Luke said they placed his employee on leave Aug. 26, after license suspension.

Arizona Department of Health Services officials confirmed with The Arizona Republic on Thursday that they expect to work with College Health to address ongoing infrastructure concerns and bring the hospital (St. Luke’s Behavioral Hospital) into compliance with state and federal health and safety standards. safety standards.”

Once the hospital’s sale is finalized, the state health department “will work to ensure the hospital provides an appropriate and safe environment for patient care,” officials wrote in an email.

State health officials say the name of the company they work for University Health EnterprisesIt appears to be the same as or related to College Medical Center Phoenix. Patrice Koch, both registered businesses with the same principal address in Santa Fe Springs, Calif., with the California Secretary of State’s Office, could not immediately be reached for comment, nor could anyone from the company.

College Health Enterprises is listed with the California Secretary of State as both an LLC and a corporation. The first application for LLC was made in 2016, and the first application for joint stock company was made in 1986. College Medical Center Phoenix is ​​listed as an LLC formed on October 3.

College Health Enterprises was founded in 1986 and is a privately held healthcare management company specializing in the “operation and management of psychiatric and medical/surgical hospitals as well as partial hospitalization programs,” according to its website.

St. Fifty-two beds at Luke’s are reserved for involuntary psychiatric treatment

Some families with loved ones in the local behavioral health system are visiting St. Louis in Phoenix. Luke’s impedes already limited care for people with serious mental illness in Arizona, the Arizona Department of Health Services said in a statement, saying it has no restrictions in that regard. St. Indications that Luke’s closure has led to problems accessing psychiatric beds.

“However, we understand the value that St. Luke Behavioral Health Hospital brings to our psychiatric treatment process and are committed to ensuring that all Arizonans have access to care that addresses their physical, mental and emotional needs,” the statement says.

St. in Phoenix Fifty-two of the adult beds at St. Luke’s are used for involuntary psychiatric treatment; Patients who are court-ordered to be hospitalized, according to Arizona’s Medicaid agency, called the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, or AHCCCS (pronounced ”). access’). St. Luke beds represent approximately 14% of the 371 psychiatric beds in Maricopa County that are licensed as Level I beds for psychiatric patients receiving court-ordered treatment, according to AHCCCS.

St. Luke’s Behavioral Hospital also cared for children and teenagers. During the state health department’s first visit on Aug. 9, nearly a third of the 72 patients at the hospital were children and teenagers aged 17 and under.

St. in Phoenix Luke’s behavioral health facilities are located on a campus owned by Alabama-based Medical Properties Trust, which owns Steward facilities and land.

Also on campus is the now-defunct St. Louis Museum, which closed in 2019 after a century of operations. Luke’s Medical Center. The abandoned hospital operated by Steward at the time of its closure still remains on the site. Signs were blacked out and many of the hospital’s windows were boarded up or broken. College Health Enterprises’ plans for St. It is unknown whether that includes reopening St. Luke’s Medical Center.

Scottsdale-based HonorHealth last month announced It will take over most of Steward’s Arizona operations: three hospitals (Florence Hospital, Tempe St. Luke’s Hospital and Mountain Vista Medical Center in Mesa), plus a freestanding emergency room in Mesa and 15 clinics in the Valley. However, HonorHealth, St. He did not take over the operations of St. Luke’s Behavioral Health Center.

Last month, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. Steward hospitals across the country suffered from years of lack of investment and understaffing while corporate leaders reaped huge profits, according to testimony before a U.S. Senate subcommittee chaired by the Senate Committee on Management Examining how management decisions are made. Steward impacted patient care.

Steward CEO Ralph de la Torre was summoned to attend the hearing but did not show up. Sanders sought civil and criminal sanctions against him, and de la Torre later resigned.

You can get free mental health support by calling the Arizona statewide crisis hotline at 1-844-534-HOPE (4673) or the national suicide and crisis hotline at 988.

Reach health reporter Stephanie Innes at [email protected] or follow her on X (formerly Twitter: @stephanieinnes).

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