Published on 21 Dec 2021 on Zacks via Yahoo Finance
Acadia Healthcare (ACHC) Buys Real Estate to Expand in Chicago
Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc. ACHC acquired the real estate of three non-operational facilities with cash in hand. The list of operations includes a 101-bed adult hospital, a 60-bed children’s hospital and an outpatient facility, situated on the north side of Chicago, Illinois.The children’s hospital and outpatient facility are anticipated to open in the summer of 2022 while the adult hospital that will cater to geriatric services is expected to open in early 2023.The latest move helped ACHC penetrate deeper into the greater Chicago region. The buyout aided the currently Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) hospital organization to enter a new market for the acute care business line. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.Acadia Healthcare also has plans to enhance its infrastructure so that patients can get improvised behavioral healthcare. This new structure will operate as Montrose Behavioral Health Hospital.The deal is in line with Acadia Healthcare’s commitment to identify the underbedded markets for new facilities.In September, Acadia Healthcare started building a new 96-bed inpatient behavioral health facility named Geisinger Behavioral Health Center Northeast in Pennsylvania.Acadia Healthcare is a pure-play provider of behavioral healthcare services and is well placed in a market for mental health illness, which is set to expand further.To this end, in February 2021, ACHC inked a deal to acquire the hospital and behavioral health services of Adventist Health Vallejo.According to a 2019 survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 20.6% of adults in the United States, aged 18 years or older suffered mental illness, in 2019 while 5.2% experienced serious mental illness. The market for behavioral services is further driven by the COVID-induced mental sickness. With heightened rates of isolation and loneliness as well as financial, housing and food insecurities, the pandemic took a toll on the mental health of Americans.The market for behavioral services will continue to grow owing to a spike in awareness of mental health, substance abuse conditions and treatment options.To expand its market reach, Acadia Healthcare is resorting to several strategies, such as a national marketing strategy to attract patients and referral sources, increase the volume of out-of-state referrals, provide a broader range of services to new and existing patients and clients as well as selectively pursue opportunities to extend its facility and bed count through acquisitions, de novo facilities, joint ventures and bed additions in the current facilities.
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