Although the Brightway Adolescent Hospital will close its doors Sunday, the owners hope to reopen it within a few months under new management.
George Dimas, president of the Utah Alcoholism Foundation, the owner of the St. George facility, said having an adolescent treatment facility is a critical part of the organization's mission."Our mission for the past 52 years has been saving lives and putting families back together," Dimas said. "To do that we need an adolescent facility."
Brightway Adolescent Hospital is closing for now so UAF can seek new management, Dimas said. Earlier this week, officials at the hospital said it was closing because it was not able to collect enough money from insurance companies to meet its costs.
Dimas said the foundation decided it would end an agreement with Robert Lichfield, who has managed the facility since 1993, because he shifted the center's focus.
Originally, Brightway Adolescent Hospital was designed to provide immediate, short-term medical and psychological care for teens with drug, alcohol and emotional problems, Dimas said. When the center opened, insurance companies covered approximately 80 percent of the cost of treatment, said Ken Kay, the center's director.
However, as insurance companies began to pay less, the hospital's focus shifted to referring youths to long-term treatment centers, Dimas said. Brightway recommended facilities as far away as Jamaica and Western Europe, which created an international drive that UAF didn't want, Dimas said.
It also drew a critical look from officials in Utah and other states.
Criticism by the Utah State Department of Health did not cause the termination of an agreement with Lichfield, Dimas said.
The center has implemented a plan to comply with all conditions the health department established, Dimas said.
Negotiations are under way with a new management company to take over the adolescent hospital, Dimas said. He would not identify the company.
Even if plans to reopen the adolescent hospital fall through, the foundation could use the buildings to expand the Brightway adult treatment center on the site, Dimas said.
The adult facility is not affected by the closure of the youth hospital, Dimas said.
The admission of some teen-agers and their transfer to residential facilities - including some unlicensed ones - in other countries raised concerns with officials in Utah and elsewhere.
Last November, an Oakland, Calif., district attorney filed a writ seeking the return of a teenager routed from Brightway to Jamaica. A judge denied the writ, ruling in favor of the parents' right to place their son in the program.
"We want to make sure the insurance companies know that kids who go to Jamaica aren't going to a licensed facility," Debra Wynkoop-Green, director of the Utah Department of Health's bureau of licensing, said earlier this week. "It's not clear that information is being shared."
Later in the week, she said, "We're pleased that the Utah Alcoholism Foundation is assuming the control of the facility that we suggested. At this point, they have made the corrections that we requested."