UTHealth Houston opens new public psychiatric hospital, the first in Texas in 25 years

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston on Wednesday opened a new public psychiatric hospital, doubling the number of inpatient beds at its existing mental health hospital and expanding the state’s overburdened 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 psychiatry beds for the community, but we’re planning to improve the patient care that we provide in our building,” said Dr. Lokesh Shahani, the new hospital’s chief medical officer. “What we want to do is individualize and personalized the level of care, because not one shoe fits all.”

The hospital will accept its first patients in March. A ribbon cutting event was planned for Wednesday morning with a number of county and state leaders expected to attend, including Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, state Sen. Borris Miles, state Rep. Ann Johnson and HHSC Executive Commissioner Cecile Young. As part of the university’s contract with HHSC, the beds will serve the 29 contiguous counties around Houston. One of the goals for the additional space is expanding subacute care, a more comprehensive and long-term method of treatment that reduces the chances 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, partly because roughly 45 patients are waiting to be admitted at all times. The 2017 Legislative Budget Board and Gov. Greg Abbott provided funding for the building, but the university will run the day-to-day operations. Officials hope it will alleviate the current strain on existing mental health treatment centers in the Houston-area, including the Harris County jail, long considered the largest mental health facility in Texas.