Strategic Behavioral Health: Company Behind New Wisconsin Psych Facility Has Troubled Past

July 7, 2021

Willow Creek Behavioral Health opened in Green Bay in 2017. It is run by Strategic Behavioral Health, which is opening a similar psychiatric hospital in Middleton.

Strategic Behavioral Health, the company opening a psychiatric hospital in Middleton, in May 2020 closed a similar facility in Las Vegas after regulatory problems. In September, authorities in Colorado shut down another hospital run by the company after numerous violations.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services has also issued dozens of citations to the company's facility in Green Bay, Willow Creek Behavioral Health, which opened in 2017. Most of the violations don’t appear to be as serious as some at the company’s hospitals in other states, but one last year involved a lack of supervision in connection with an adult patient charged with sexual assault of a juvenile patient.

“The facility has a history of non-compliance, including multiple investigations that resulted in immediate jeopardy to patient’s safety,” the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said when it closed Clear View Behavioral Health in Johnstown, north of Denver.

“In addition to those findings, the facility was unable to make systemic changes to resolve systemic issues and improved patient care,” the Colorado agency said.

Mike Garone, the company’s vice president of development, and president Blair Stam declined to comment to the Wisconsin State Journal or make other company officials available for comment. Alison Denil, CEO at Willow Creek, didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.

In April 2018, before the city of Middleton approved the building of 72-bed Miramont Behavioral Health, the State Journal reported on nine immediate jeopardy citations and other serious actions taken against facilities owned by Strategic Behavioral Health, a for-profit company based in Memphis, Tennessee.

At the time, the company had 10 hospitals in six states. Garone has repeatedly declined to say how many facilities the company has now. One opened last year in Bettendorf, Iowa.

In February 2020, when the State Journal wrote about delays in construction of the Middleton facility, Garone said the company’s track record had improved after changes in top leadership.

“An in-depth evaluation of operations and care systems has resulted in significant personnel changes, both at the corporate and hospital levels, as well as refining processes and procedures to ensure they meet best practice standards,” Garone said in a statement at the time.

Hospital closures

In March 2020, the company said it was closing Montevista Hospital in Las Vegas the following May.

The State Journal’s report in 2018 noted two serious citations Montevista received in 2017. State officials said staff failed to prevent or properly investigate: alleged sexual contact between two girls, ages 6 and 8; sex involving two teenage male-female pairs; and physical abuse by staff, including a worker hitting a patient.

Investigators also said staff failed to prevent a 9-year-old boy from escaping and did not notify police.

The hospital subsequently had additional violations and lost its Medicare and Medicaid funding in August 2019, according to the Nevada Current and Nevada Public Radio. After being closed, the facility was sold to a new operator, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported in March.

Clear View, in Colorado, had more than 40 citations in the past two years for violations including failure to keep dangerous items away from suicidal patients, leaving patients in isolation too long and failure to administer time-necessary drugs at the proper intervals, the Coloradoan in Fort Collins reported in September.

A key finding from the state’s latest inspection included a lack of infection prevention for COVID-19, Colorado officials said. “Staff found that the latest deficiencies, in addition to the regulatory history of Clear View Behavioral Health, were reason to issue a summary suspension,” they said in September.

Willow Creek citations

Willow Creek, in Green Bay, received citations from Wisconsin inspectors in late 2017 for failing to do full background checks on employees and not properly caring for a patient with an open wound and three patients at risk for falls, including one who fell, as the State Journal reported in 2018.

The 16-bed geriatric unit at Willow Creek Behavioral Health in Green Bay has a central nursing station to help staff see residents' movement, officials said in 2018. From left to right are Barb Gerarden, a mental health officer with the Green Bay Police Department; Teena Ahuja, regional vice president of operations for Strategic Behavioral Health; and Dave Bertrand, director of business development at Willow Creek.

A recertification inspection at Willow Creek in January 2020 resulted in 28 citations, many related to paperwork but some for clients not getting mental health assessments by psychiatrists or clinical psychologists and not receiving at least three hours a week of individual or family therapy.

Some of the citations involved inadequate staffing, such as not having a psychiatrist present weekly and not having a full-time occupational therapist. Willow Creek told the state it was addressing the problems.

Another inspection the following month yielded two citations, including one for not telling patients there is not a doctor present in the hospital at all times.

In July 2020, the facility was cited for not having a safe physical environment after an adult patient and a juvenile patient were left unattended in an assessment area and the adult forced the juvenile to perform oral sex, according to an inspection report. Green Bay police arrested the adult, who was charged with two counts of second-degree sexual assault of a child, a felony.

The facility said a staff member would monitor the hallway if more than one patient was in the assessment area.

This May, Willow Creek was cited again for a lack of physical safety after groups of patients were found unsupervised. Another citation said the facility was providing detox services without approval. No response from the facility was available from the state.

Source: David Wahlberg, “Company behind Middleton psychiatric hospital has troubled history,” Wisconsin State Journal, July 6, 2021, URL: https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/health-med-fit/company-behind-middleton-psychiatric-hospital-has-troubled-history/article_9aa172ec-7bf2-551c-9318-ac8f34be9801.html