The company that owns Riveredge Hospital is expected to get a new corporate parent this year.
The 210-bed psychiatric hospital at 8311 Roosevelt Road is owned by Tennessee-based Psychiatric Solutions Inc. In mid May, Pennsylvania-based Universal Health Services, another giant in the hospital industry, announced that it would be acquiring Psychiatric Solutions Inc. in a $3 billon transaction.
Riveredge, the largest psychiatric hospital in the state, is one of three psychiatric hospitals in Illinois that Psychiatric Solutions Inc. owns. The others are Lincoln Behavioral Hospital in Springfield and Streamwood Behavioral in Streamwood.
The change in ownership must be approved by the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board, which has a meeting tentatively scheduled for Oct. 13 to consider Universal Health Services’ application to take control of Riveredge.
Universal Health Services is one of nation’s largest hospital management companies. It owns acute care hospitals, behavioral healthcare facilities and ambulatory centers according to a corporate press release. Psychiatric Solutions Inc. is the largest operator of free-standing psychiatric hospitals in the country.
A public hearing on the application of Universal Health Services to take ownership of Riveredge will be held if someone submits a written request for a hearing to the state board by this Friday, Aug. 13.
As of Monday, no one had requested such a hearing, according to Mike Constantino, supervisor of the Project Review Section of the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board.
Riveredge was investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice and state regulators in 2008 after The Chicago Tribune uncovered cases of abuse and unreported violence at Riveredge.
The disclosures included cases of assault and sexual assault. According to the Tribune reports, a 27-year-old pregnant patient died in 2007 shortly after she was rushed out of Riveredge.
Regulators determined that the hospital failed to monitor the patient’s vital signs even though she was taking a risky antipsychotic drug.
The Tribune reported that the state Department of Public Health charged that Riveredge didn’t adequately monitor patients.
In 2008, the Department of Children and Family Services stopped sending state wards to Riveredge, a ban that remains in effect.
“DCFS has not utilized this facility since July 9, 2008,” Jimmie Whitelow, a spokesman for the Department of Children and Family Services, said on Monday. “DCFS placed this facility on ‘intake hold,’ due to instances that occurred at that time based on the safety and security of our children.”
Carey Carlock, who became chief executive officer of Riveredge Hospital in June 2008, declined to talk with the Review about the pending deal.
“She is respectfully declining to comment,” said Karen Lindsey, Carlock’s executive assistant.
Calls to representatives of Universal Health Services and Psychiatric Solutions Inc. weren’t returned by press time.
