COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - A Mid-Missouri hospital that helped quash a competing effort to build a psychiatric hospital two months ago has proposed a $21 million facility to fill the necessity for more inpatient psychiatric services.
A hearing is scheduled for July 11 on the application of CenterPointe Hospital's proposed 72-bed psychiatric hospital in north Columbia, the Columbia Daily Tribune (http://bit.ly/1Ym0GML ) reported.
CenterPointe CEO Buddy Turner said the proposed hospital, also called Little Hills Hospital, would eventually employ about 200 people. The company expects a payroll of $2.4 million in 2018 that would increase to $5.1 million in 2020.
In March, the Missouri Heath Facilities Review Committee denied Texas-based Oceans Healthcare's proposal for a 60-bed, $12.7 million psychiatric hospital primarily for patients older than 55. The location and the focus on geriatric care drew strong opposition from neighboring residents and the mental health community.
Turner had said his company wouldn't create a new hospital if the Oceans application was approved.
"If there is going to be a new psychiatric hospital built in Columbia, it should be one that serves the community's mental health needs," Turner said. "We know from our experience in Columbia and through studies that children, adolescence and substance abuse services are some of the most needed."
St. Charles-based CenterPointe currently employs four full-time psychiatrists in Columbia to give outpatient mental health services.
The new hospital would have 24 child and adolescent beds and 48 adult beds, which would include substance abuse treatment, a service that was missing from the Oceans Healthcare proposal.
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Information from: Columbia Daily Tribune, http://www.columbiatribune.com