CHARTER BEHAVIORAL HEALTH TO CLOSE T.O. HOSPITAL.Byline: R.A. Hutchinson Daily News Staff Writer Falling victim to the rapidly changing health scene, Charter Behavioral Health Behavioral health was first used in the 1980's to name the combination of the fields mental health and substance abuse. As an example, an organization serving both mental health and substance abuse clients might refer to its practice as behavioral health or Systems Inc. will close its Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. facility to patients effective April 15, officials said Friday. Joel Weiden, a spokesman for the New York-based hospital chain, said Charter will continue to operate facilities in Covina, Corona and Mission Viejo Mission Vi·e·jo A community of southern California southeast of Irvine. It is mainly residential. Population: 96,300. while closing hospitals in Thousand Oaks, Long Beach and Yorba Linda Yorba Linda (yôr`bə lĭn`də), city (1990 pop. 52,422), Orange co., S Calif., in a region of citrus fruit; inc. 1967. The city has grown tremendously along with the southern California area; its population increased fivefold between . ``Charter reviews the performance of all facilities on an ongoing basis. Southern California, in general, has too many psychiatric hospital psychiatric hospital n. A hospital for the care and treatment of patients affected with acute or chronic mental illness. Also called mental hospital. beds,'' Weiden said. ``This consolidation will be more cost-effective for Charter.'' Weiden said the decision did not reflect on the capabilities of the 94 employees at the hospital nor on its quality of care. The employees will be offered the opportunity to apply for positions at Charter's 99 remaining hospitals throughout the country, or to accept severance packages and outplacement out·place·ment n. The process of facilitating a terminated employee's search for a new job by provision of professional services, such as counseling, paid for by the former employer. assistance. New admissions were stopped at the Thousand Oaks hospital about two weeks ago. Weiden said the timing will allow patients enrolled in programs to finish their treatment by mid-April. All operations at the hospital will end in June. Monty Clark, a Ventura County spokesman for the Healthcare Association of Southern California, said Charter has become a victim of managed care, which emphasizes outpatient treatment as a less costly means of providing health care. ``A lot of this is a reflection of managed care. The trend these days is to keep people out of the hospital and do treatment on an outpatient or partial hospitalization basis,'' he said. In addition, he said all types of health care insurance plans have drastically reduced the amount of coverage allotted al·lot tr.v. al·lot·ted, al·lot·ting, al·lots 1. To parcel out; distribute or apportion: allotting land to homesteaders; allot blame. 2. for mental illness or substance abuse problems. The loss of the 80 beds at Charter, however, will not leave the county underserved, Clark said. There are more than 200 acute psychiatric beds in Ventura County. |
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