Report: Hospital Chain Wrongs Psychiatric Patients

The for-profit hospital chain that is partnering with Lancaster General Health to build what would be the biggest inpatient psychiatric facility in the county wrongfully admitted and detained patients against their will to profit from their insurance, according to a Buzzfeed investigative report.

The online publication said employees from "at least a dozen" hospitals run by Universal Health Services, said the company "tried to keep beds filled even at the expense of the safety of their staff or the rights of the patients they were locking up."

One staffer said Universal Health ran intake operations "as if we were car salesmen." The goal, she and others said, was to generate as many inpatient admissions as possible, regardless of whether it was appropriate for the patient.

Strategies included holding patients against their will, they said. After Universal Health took over one hospital in Florida, involuntary commitment petitions filed by the facility rose more than 470 percent, from 238 to 1,362, court records show.

Former hospital managers said Universal Health systematically cut staff to boost profits and kept patients as long as their insurance lasted "in order to get the maximum payment."

Conversely, the company discouraged admission of patients without insurance, former executives said.

Lancaster General and Universal Health plan to build a 120-bed behavioral health hospital on Harrisburg Avenue near West Liberty Street.

The two will split construction costs, estimated at $30 million. Universal Health will run day-to-day operations and will receive an ongoing management fee.

Universal Health responds

In a statement emailed to LNP, Universal Health said Buzzfeed's article "misses the mark" and is an "inaccurate portrayal."

The company scores high on patient satisfaction and evaluations by independent accreditors, it said. It did not address any of the article's specific allegations.

Lancaster General has previously said it has full faith in Universal Health and its ability "to fulfill all of its obligations to us and to our community." The nonprofit did not respond to LNP queries regarding Buzzfeed's allegations.

Based in King of Prussia, Universal Health operates the nation's largest chain of psychiatric hospitals, with more than 200 facilities.

As LNP previously reported, the federal Justice Department is investigating Universal Health for alleged billing fraud, and 44 of its facilities have been cited for "dangerously poor or unsafe conditions."

Universal Health's stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange. It dropped 12 percent Wednesday following the release of the Buzzfeed report.

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