I am trying to read an article about a former job i had that got closed down by the state and really do not need a subscription just for one article, If someone can print it up for me. Thanks its for Jan 6, 2022 — Strategic Behavioral Health and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services signed the agreement Dec. Thanks
Is this what you are looking for? You can easily get past their paywall by just stopping the loading of the page halfway into it. Garner psychiatric facility shuts down after repeated violations A psychiatric hospital in Garner that has been cited for numerous license violations is closing after reaching a settlement agreement with the state. Strategic Behavioral Health and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services signed the agreement Dec. 17 that required the center to transfer or discharge all of its patients by Dec. 31, 2021, or as soon as is clinically appropriate. The center operated 60 licensed residential beds and 56 licensed acute beds, including 32 for child or adolescent patients and 24 for adults. Along with the patients, the closure affects 150 jobs, according to the N.C. Department of Commerce. As a result of the settlement, the company will voluntarily terminate its participation in Medicare and Medicaid on Feb. 1 and pay all outstanding administrative penalties, which total $175,000. As part of the agreement, Strategic has the opportunity to find an unrelated, third party to take over as operator of the facility. That new operator must apply for its license through the department by June 30. The company, which is based in Memphis, Tennessee, opened its center on Waterfield Drive in Garner 2012 and in 2016 announced plans for a $2 million expansion at the facility. The company also operates a facility in the town of Leland, just outside of Wilmington, and previously operated a facility in Charlotte that closed in 2018. A representative from the company did not return a phone call requesting comment. The closure of Strategic's facility in Garner is the culmination of years of license violations cited in surveys conducted by the Division of Health Service Regulation within the state's DHHS. The problems included physical violence, inadequate training of staff, inadequate supervision of patients and a failure to provide therapeutic services to patients, said Corye Dunn, the director of public policy for Disability Rights North Carolina, a legal advocacy organization focused on the rights of people with disabilities. A survey from May 26, 2020, details a situation in which two adolescent patients used a key card they found on the ground to escape the facility before being picked up by the police five hours later at a gas station. The survey also outlines a situation in which one patient accuses another of sexual assault. The patient who allegedly committed the assault was under physician's orders to be observed at all times due to "sexualized or unsafe behaviors." "Locking away vulnerable kids in congregate settings with poorly trained staff is a good way to cultivate the environment that's described in the surveys," Dunn said. The settlement agreement mentions the survey from May 2020 and other subsequent violations for which Strategic was cited. In November, the state's DHHS suspended Strategic from admitting new patients to the facility. The company initially appealed the suspension before eventually reaching an agreement with the state, the company said in a Worker Adjustment Retraining Notification (WARN) notice it sent to the Town of Garner, Wake County and the N.C. Department of Commerce. In the letter, the company states the center's employees would be separated by Dec. 31, or until all patients have been transferred or discharged. The letter also states that "no additional notice was possible given the unforeseeable business circumstances," such as the state's ban on new admissions and the company's inability to have the ban lifted. As part of the agreement, the state issued Strategic a 2022 license to allow the company to find a new operator for the facility. But rather than licensing another operator who could potentially run the center in a similar way, Dunn said, the state should invest more in services that address the needs of children before they escalate to needing institutional care. "We aren't addressing their needs before they reach crisis level, and then out of desperation, we send them to places like Strategic," Dunn said. "We've been pouring tens of millions of dollars into institutional care for children, which everyone agrees is not where we should be focusing our investment."
