Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACHC) today announced that it has formed a joint venture with ECU Health (formerly Vidant Health), eastern North Carolina’s premier health system. The new partnership anticipates building a 144-bed behavioral health hospital in the medical district of Greenville, North Carolina.

This new facility will be a center of excellence, providing North Carolinians with important access to behavioral health services and treatment from specialized clinical teams in a carefully designed environment. The hospital will include 24 inpatient beds specifically for children and adolescents with mental health needs. These beds will be the first of their kind in ECU Health’s service area.

Slated to open in the spring of 2025, the hospital will be operated through the joint venture between ECU Health and Acadia. Together, the organizations will invest approximately $65 million in expanding behavioral health resources in eastern North Carolina. The new hospital will also serve as a teaching hospital, training students and residents from the Brody School of Medicine.

“Acadia is proud to be partnering with ECU Health to provide critical behavioral health services,” said Chris Hunter, chief executive officer of Acadia Healthcare. “This joint venture – our 18^th such partnership with a leading health system in the U.S. – expands our acute service line into the North Carolina market. This joint venture will support the development of the next generation of behavioral health care workers and clinicians as our society battles the ongoing behavioral health and substance use epidemic. We’re excited to begin this important work with such a dedicated, patient-focused partner.”

“This hospital will be a tremendous resource for our patients and our state, and we’re thrilled to partner with a national leader like Acadia,” said Dr. Michael Waldrum, chief executive officer of ECU Health and dean of the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. “Acadia has an established track record of providing high-quality, compassionate care in communities across the country. Together, we will strengthen our level of expertise, implement proven best practices and enhance the quality and number of behavioral health services available to patients.”

About Acadia Healthcare

Acadia is a leading provider of behavioral healthcare services across the United States. As of March 31, 2022, Acadia operated a network of 238 behavioral healthcare facilities with approximately 10,600 beds in 40 states and Puerto Rico. With more than 22,500 employees serving approximately 70,000 patients daily, Acadia is the largest stand-alone behavioral health company in the U.S. Acadia provides behavioral healthcare services to its patients in a variety of settings, including inpatient psychiatric hospitals, specialty treatment facilities, residential treatment centers and outpatient clinics.

About ECU Health

ECU Health is a mission-driven, 1708-bed academic health care system serving more than 1.4 million people in 29 eastern North Carolina counties. The not-for-profit system is comprised of 13,000 team members, nine hospitals and a physician group that encompasses over 1,100 academic and community providers practicing in over 180 primary and specialty clinics located in more than 130 locations. The flagship ECU Health Medical Center, a Level I Trauma Center, and ECU Health Maynard Children’s Hospital serve as the primary teaching hospitals for the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. ECU Health and the Brody School of Medicine share a combined academic mission to improve the health and well-being of eastern North Carolina through patient care, education and research. For more information, visit ECUHealth.org.

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