Prisma Health Announces $138 Million Behavioral Health Hospital Opening in Pickens County

Prizma Health announced Thursday it will spend $138 million on a new 112-bed inpatient psychiatric hospital in Pickens County.

Prisma will partner with the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and use $100 million in state funding for the new facility. It will replace the 65-seater Marshall I. Pickens Psychiatric Hospital located on the campus of Memorial Hospital in Greenville.

The facility will take about two years to build and will quadruple the number of beds for children receiving inpatient mental health care, according to Prisma.

Prisma President and CEO Mark O’Halla said the project would not be possible without government investment.

“This project is a shining example of what we can achieve through public-private partnerships and represents a significant and much-needed step forward for our communities and the state,” O’Halla said in a statement. “As a safety net provider, Prisma Health is committed to providing care to all patients regardless of their ability to pay, which means the facility will operate at an annual financial loss. This project is only possible because of government investment that allows us to meet the growing need for behavioral health care in our communities.”

The company hopes to begin work on the site in the spring.

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The number of patients hospitalized for mental health treatment has increased nearly 50% in Pickens, Oconee and Greenville counties over the past six years, according to Prisma.

MIPH opened in 1969 and serves approximately 1,500 patients annually. Prisma said about 1,200 patients presenting to emergency departments in the Upstate area must be transferred to other facilities.

The MIHO facility has only 10 beds for children and adolescents. The new facility will have a capacity of 40 people, which will provide more opportunities for inpatient treatment. Prisma is the only hospital in the Upstate that accepts psychiatric patients ages 12 and younger.

The hospital will have private and semi-private rooms and staff will provide specialist care for people of all ages, including adults requiring intensive care.

South Carolina House Representative Bruce Bannister (R-Greenville), chairman of the House Budget Committee, said the project is “long overdue.”

“Prisma Health’s Marshall E. Pickens Psychiatric Hospital has served families in Greenville and the Upstate well for decades, and I am thrilled that this public-private partnership will not only expand those services, but also expand access in the state-of-the-art environment it deserves.” our community,” Bannister said.

Gov. Henry McMaster also expressed support for the new hospital.

“South Carolina is no stranger to the behavioral health crisis plaguing our country, and our state’s inpatient and outpatient services to support our citizens are woefully inadequate,” McMaster said. “This project is an important step forward in meeting the state’s need to expand mental health services when and where possible.”

In addition to the new hospital, Prisma has committed to spending $7 million on mental health services, including expanding its intensive outpatient program on the Greenville Memorial Hospital campus.

Prisma is the largest health care organization in the state, serving approximately 1.5 million patients annually in 21 counties.

Sarah Swetlik covers business, growth and development for The Greenville News. She has previously covered environmental issues and climate change. You can reach her at [email protected] or via X at @sarahgswetlik..

This article originally appeared in the Greenville News: Prisma to build new behavioral health hospital in Pickens County