VALLEY, Ala., Feb. 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ --

• A new mental health and substance abuse treatment facility in Chambers County, Alabama faces opposition from the Birmingham-based Bradford Behavioral Health - a leading substance use disorder ("SUD") treatment provider in the Southeast.
• Coast to Coast Charitable Corporation, a veteran-focused 501c3 Organization that coordinates mental health and substance abuse services to Veterans and their family members around the United States, is supporting the new facility.
• Behavior Health Programs, backed by Coast to Coast aims to obtain a Certificate of Need (CON) from the State of Alabama, where suicide rates, substance abuse, mental illness and alcoholism diagnoses continue to rise, and more treatment programs are desperately needed to combat the burden.
• The proposed 30-bed program in Valley, Alabama, would specialize in Veteran Care (among whom rates of suicide, mental illness and addiction are higher) and serve all adults.
• In support of the Application for adjustment to the state plan more than 2-dozen community members, mental health practitioners, church leaders and civic organizations voiced their support in writing. In particular, supporters noted the addition of a crisis residential unit to the region, which is included in the plan.
• Bradford Behavioral Health Services has filed public opposition to the project.
• Bradford Behavioral Health Services enlisted the services of Burr and Forman, (the same law firm that brokered the acquisition of Bradford Health by Lee Equity in 2022) to draft a 150-page opposition to the application, which would add 30 CON-authorized beds to an unserved area of the state where they have a large majority stake.
• Of the statewide total of 305 CON-authorized inpatient substance use disorder treatment beds, 266 are currently operated by Bradford.
• In their opposition letter, Bradford identified themselves as having "adequate capacity" to offer the same services as the proposed project, citing the existence of their own veteran programs, and pointing out that 37 patients from Chambers County opted to make the 3-hour drive to a Bradford Clinic.
• In Chambers County, where the proposed facility would be located, there are currently zero CON-authorized beds for substance abuse treatment. Residents of Chambers County, including the 37 who were treated by Bradford last year, currently have no other choice.
• The nearest substance abuse disorder treatment beds are located 133 miles (or two hours) away. These services are in Crenshaw county and there are only 5 beds.
• Next to that, the Bradford Behavioral Health Services Warrior Campus is 150 miles (or almost 3 hours) from the proposed service location.
• Presently, 58 of Alabama's 67 counties are categorized as "completely medically underserved," by the State Health Planning Agency.
• This chronic lack of health services is a primary reason that Alabama is ranked 45^th of the 50 states for healthcare.
• Numerous Alabama Codes illegalize the monopolization, or the attempt to monopolize the production, sale, or control of a commodity. In Alabama, the planning agency has the mission "To ensure that quality health care facilities, services, and equipment are available and accessible to the citizens of Alabama…"
• On March 11^th, the planning agency will hold a public hearing to determine whether the new facility in Chambers County will have it's application approved and be granted the opportunity to receive a Certificate of Need from the Governor's Office, or whether to heed Bradford's opposition to the project, allowing them to maintain their majority control of the market in an overwhelmed, underserved community.

*Source: Alabama Department of Mental Health. (2023). FY 2023 Annual Report [Dataset]. ADMH. https://mh.alabama.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Annual-Report-FY23-Finalweb.pdf

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SOURCE Coast to Coast