The University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston opened a new public psychiatric hospital Wednesday, which will bolster the city’s mental health treatment options and expand the state’s overstretched psychiatric resources.
Built in partnership with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, the $126 million, 264-bed facility at the Texas Medical Center is the first public psychiatric hospital to be built in the state in 25 years, the university said. Combined with the adjacent UTHealth Harris County Psychiatric Center, the 538-bed campus is the largest academic psychiatric hospital in the country, the university said.
“Not only are we adding psychiatric beds for the community, but we are planning to improve the patient care we provide in our building,” said Dr. Lokesh Shahani, medical director of the new hospital. “What we want to do is individualize and personalize the level of care, because there is no one shoe that fits all.”
The hospital will accept its first patients in March. A kick-off event was held on Wednesday morning with various state and Harris County leaders in attendance.
As part of the university’s contract with HHSC, the beds will serve the 29 contiguous counties surrounding Houston. One goal of the additional space is to expand subacute care, a more comprehensive, long-term treatment approach that reduces the chance of readmission, research shows.
The new hospital will admit many patients currently discharged by the Harris County Psychiatric Center, which offers mostly acute-care beds and where the average length of stay is about seven days, in part because about 45 patients are waiting. be admitted at all times.
The 2017 Legislative Budget Board and Governor Greg Abbott provided funding for the building, but the university will handle day-to-day operations. Officials hope it will ease the current strain on existing mental health treatment facilities in the Houston area, including the Harris County Jail, long considered the largest mental health facility in Texas.
The strain extends to treatment centers across the state. A Houston Chronicle investigation last year revealed that the Texas mental health system is stretched thin, with long waiting lists and a lack of oversight.
“This new, state-of-the-art facility is a much-needed investment in the community and will have a lasting impact on our ability to provide care for the most vulnerable Texans living with serious mental illness,” Young said in a news release.
In a statement, Wayne Young, executive director of The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD, said the additional capacity will be “transformational.”
“It will also send a powerful message of respect and care when patients see state-of-the-art facilities and additional resources dedicated to improving their mental health and overall well-being,” he said.
The rooms are separated into 11 units, and most are designed to sleep two people. During a tour of the 240,000-square-foot hospital Tuesday, Stephen Glazier, chief operating officer of UTHealth’s Harris County Psychiatric Center, showed off his “therapy mall,” with rooms designed for group therapy and music therapy. The space, which has large windows that open onto a patio, includes a small gym and a hair salon.
“Cutting your hair is not going to make your mental illness go away,” he said. “But if we can create an atmosphere and environment that is peaceful enough, therapy and medication will be more effective.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has further illustrated the urgent need for psychiatric resources in Houston, as social isolation triggers anxiety and depression, said Shahani, an associate professor in UTHeath’s Faillace Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
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“If I have to put it easily into words,” Shahani added, “there is more of a need, and the patients who are presenting have much more severe disease.”
