Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Hospital Expansion

UnityPoint Health® – Meriter® announced today that it will invest over $11 million to improve behavioral health services aimed at children and teens in the region. The organization plans to add 10 inpatient beds to the UnityPoint Health – Meriter – Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Hospital, as well as critical outpatient services for kids and teens. The expansion is anticipated to open in Fall 2019. Meriter will move ahead on the project as it works in partnership with UW Health to fully assess community needs.

The current hospital has 20 inpatient beds and turns away hundreds of children during the school year due to the lack of available beds. Meriter intends to improve the functionality of existing space by assigning its current 20 beds to adolescent care and adding 10 new beds specifically for children. It also plans to add key outpatient services in a new wing that can accommodate full-day and partial-day treatment programs for this same patient population, as well as provide evening community space. Meriter plans to break ground for the expansion in Fall 2018. 

UnityPoint Health – Meriter – Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Hospital Statistics:

• 20-bed inpatient hospital serving 65 percent of Dane County’s child and adolescent inpatient behavioral health services.
• 804 children and adolescents were admitted in 2017 from 38 Wisconsin counties.10 additional beds will allow the hospital to increase the number of patients from 804 to 1,473 by the year 2020.
• New partial hospitalization and day treatment programs will permit 3,054 visits by 2020.
• The number of youth needing inpatient treatment has jumped 77 percent in the last 10 years.