Georgia health company buys SummitRidge

A major behavioral health company in Georgia has added another local psychiatric facility with the purchase of a Lawrenceville hospital.

The deal for the 76-bed hospital, SummitRidge Center for Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine, will give Universal Health Services a wider coverage area in metro Atlanta.

SummitRidge “has never been fully developed,” said Matt Crouch, regional vice president for Universal Health Services, based in King of Prussia, Pa. “It has a lot of potential. We feel SummitRidge can grow its existing services to meet the community’s needs.”

The price of the acquisition, completed this week, was not disclosed. Gwinnett Medical Center said it sold SummitRidge because “it’s not part of our core services anymore.”

“We’re focusing on acute care, diagnostics and outpatient care,” said Adrienne Hollis, a Gwinnett Medical spokeswoman.

With its size, Universal Health Services will bring efficiencies to SummitRidge, she said. “We wanted a company to come in with a strong focus on behavioral care.”

Gwinnett Medical said none of the employees would lose his or her job as a result of the purchase.

The facility opened in 1959 as Button Gwinnett Hospital, a general acute-care hospital that served the county until Gwinnett Medical Center opened in 1984. It reopened as a psychiatric hospital in 1993.

Universal Health Services greatly expanded its presence in Georgia when it bought four facilities in the bankruptcy of Charter Behavioral in 2000.

For more than a year, Universal’s Peachford and Anchor hospitals have been treating overflow patients from Georgia’s public mental hospitals, which are under federal investigation.

UNIVERSAL HEALTH SERVICES’ PRESENCE IN GEORGIA

1. Peachford Behavioral Health System of Atlanta, Dunwoody: Psychiatric hospital; 184 beds

2. Laurel Heights Hospital, Atlanta: Children and adolescent residential treatment facility; 122 beds

3. SummitRidge, Lawrenceville: Psychiatric hospital, 76 beds

4. Anchor Hospital, College Park: Psychiatric hospital; 102 beds

5. Talbott Recovery Campus, College Park: Outpatient program for substance abuse treatment; 0 beds

6. Coastal Harbor Treatment Center, Savannah: Children and adolescent residential treatment facility; 132 beds

7. Turning Point Care Center, Moultrie: Treatment center for substance abuse; 12 beds

Source: Universal Health Services Inc.