UCHealth said Wednesday it will spend at least $100 million on behavioral health care in the next five years, making it the latest health system in Colorado to invest in such services as officials seek to curb Colorado’s high suicide rate.

Through the investment, UCHealth said in a news release that it will improve access to behavioral health services through its primary care physicians and build a new inpatient behavioral health unit at the University of Colorado Hospital on CU’s Anschutz Medical Campus.

The nonprofit said the behavioral health unit, which will have 20 to 30 beds, could open by late 2023.

“Attending to our patients’ behavioral health needs in a timely manner is critical to their overall health and well-being,” said Dr. Neill Epperson, professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the CU School of Medicine, in a prepared statement. “This comprehensive approach to mental health and substance abuse treatment has the potential to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of Coloradans.”

In Colorado, 1,181 individuals died by suicide in 2017, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

UCHealth’s announcement follows a similar one made by Vail Health earlier this year. Vail Health has pledged to invest $60 million toward behavioral health services in the Eagle River Valley in the next 10 years.

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