New mental health and addiction treatment hospital opens in south Reno

Reno Behavioral Healthcare Hospital officially opened its doors April 12. It's the first newly built hospital of its kind in Reno in more than 35 years.

The 80,000 square feet hospital, offers 124 beds and inpatient and outpatient programs for psychiatric and addiction treatment for all ages.

The hospital, located near Target in the Meadowood area of south Reno, opens after Reno's previous addiction treatment center WestCare, abruptly closed April 6.

Related: WestCare closes doors on Reno detox, mental health crisis center

“For them to abruptly close services without any notice to the community is really disheartening," said hospital CEO Steve Shell.

Shell said he is working with community leaders to decide if the new hospital should take over services for WestCare or create a completely new program to address the emergency addiction services it provided.

Nevada ranks 50th in mental health and Northern Nevada in particular, is woefully underserved, Shell said.

During the 2017 Legislature, Gov. Brian Sandoval proposed significant cuts to state mental health funding. Ultimately, state legislators stopped some of those cuts, but slashed funding and employee positions for outpatient medication clinics.

Lawmakers also added a psychiatric caseworker position to direct patients to community programs.

Related: Key lawmakers reject bulk of Sandoval's proposed mental health cuts

More: Nevada is still housing mentally ill clients in filthy conditions despite promise to fix

"A lot of time, psychiatric and addiction issues go hand and hand and we can address that," Shell said.

We’re looking forward to having another option that people haven’t had before."

Reno Behavioral Healthcare Hospital is privately funded and takes Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance.

Shell said the state cuts don't effect the hospital, which opened its first Las Vegas location in 2013. Signature Healthcare Services, LLC, the parent company, is based in Corona, California, and operates 16 hospitals in six states.

"Our goal is to raise the standard of care in the community that we feel has been lacking here for so many years," Shell said. "I think that’s why so many people have chosen to go out of state for treatment.”

Shell said many patients go to Sacramento or the Bay Area and said the Las Vegas location sometimes receives Reno patients, too. He hopes this new facility will alleviate some of that commute for people.

"We hired a really strong team of clinicians who are skilled in figuring out what a patient needs whether at our hospital or at another community resource," Shell said. "We want to encourage people to call us and even if they’re referred elsewhere."

The number to call for assessments and referrals is 775-393-2201. More information about Reno Behavioral Healthcare Hospital can be found at Renobehavioral.com.