{"id":135,"date":"2026-05-09T09:01:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T09:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sanantoniomovingreport.com\/?p=135"},"modified":"2026-05-09T09:01:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T09:01:22","slug":"its-coming-like-a-freight-train-bexar-county-scrambles-to-absorb-loss-of-psychiatric-beds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanantoniomovingreport.com\/?p=135","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s coming like a freight train\u2019: Bexar County scrambles to absorb loss of psychiatric beds"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

San Antonio\u2019s mental health system is bracing for a sharp drop in inpatient capacity this week as Laurel Ridge Treatment Center prepares to significantly scale back operations following the loss of its Medicare and Medicaid provider status.<\/p>\n

Read more No \u2018silver bullet\u2019: Bexar County grapples with jail diversion as funding expires<\/a><\/p>\n

The operational changes come as Laurel Ridge also prepares for significant staffing cuts. A filed with the state under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act shows the facility plans to lay off approximately 648 employees, with separations expected to take effect June 26.<\/p>\n

Eric Epley, CEO of the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council (STRAC), a health care coordination organization that tracks hospital capacity, told Bexar County commissioners on Tuesday that the 330-bed psychiatric hospital plans to remain open while it fights the Medicare\/Medicaid determination \u2014 but reduce its patient count from about 86 currently to between 20 and 40 by Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cLaurel Ridge\u2019s commitment is that they\u2019re going to stay open with a very small unit,\u201d Epley said. \u201cThey\u2019re going to reapply for their CMS status because they can\u2019t bill Medicare, Medicaid, and many private contracts without it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the move effectively removes what Epley described as the equivalent of a 330-bed facility from the region\u2019s inpatient psychiatric capacity.<\/p>\n

There were about 759 civil psychiatric beds total across the San Antonio area in 2025, according to STRAC. <\/p>\n

A by the University Health Hospital system recommended that Bexar County\u2019s mental health bed capacity should grow \u2014 not shrink \u2014 in the coming years as the county adds more residents.<\/p>\n

Laurel Ridge\u2019s 330 beds made up roughly 40% of that total capacity. While Laurel Ridge was not always operating at full capacity, the loss of most of its beds affects the system\u2019s maximum capacity, meaning its loss limits how many patients can be treated when demand spikes.<\/p>\n

Epley warned commissioners that the impact of Laurel Ridge\u2019s reductions could be immediate and widespread, affecting psychiatric centers, emergency rooms, shelters and the county jail \u2014 the front-line services that often end up encountering these patients if they don\u2019t have access to a bed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would encourage our health care partners to remember 2015 and 2016 \u2014 that\u2019s where we\u2019re going back to on Friday morning,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to impact every part of our society. And it\u2019s coming like a freight train.\u201d<\/p>\n

The impact also includes publicly supported mental health capacity. Epley said 22 of the 330 beds at the facility are publicly funded \u201ccontract beds\u201d through state funding distributed by the Center for Health Care Services, the region\u2019s mental health authority.<\/p>\n

Jelynne LeBlanc-Jamison, president and CEO of CHCS, said the agency is already working to redistribute those 22 publicly funded beds across other hospital partners in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been talking to our partners and asking them to ramp up and take more of our contract beds,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Hospital partners, including the Methodist Healthcare, San Antonio Behavioral Health, Clarity Child Guidance Center and Cedar Hills have agreed to absorb portions of the displaced capacity, she said.<\/p>\n

Those beds are often used for patients in crisis who rely on publicly funded mental health services, raising concerns about where those individuals will be treated as capacity shrinks.<\/p>\n

Read more Sheriff Salazar says he\u2019s \u2018fine\u2019 after T-boning another car<\/a><\/p>\n

All 22 of those beds are expected to go offline as Laurel Ridge scales back this Friday. An additional eight beds funded through temporary federal pandemic relief dollars are also set to disappear by Friday at midnight.<\/p>\n

LeBlanc-Jamison said most patients in those contract beds at Laurel Ridge had already been discharged or were nearing discharge, with only one remaining patient still awaiting final placement as of Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Even with those efforts, LeBlanc-Jamison warned the loss will add pressure to an already strained system. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis loss of 330 beds exacerbates the need that we identified in 2025 for an additional 148 beds and then an additional over 200 beds by 2030,\u201d she said. \u201cThis just exacerbates the situation that we were already dealing with and were already made aware of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, she acknowledged there is no clear contingency plan to replace the lost capacity in the short term, even as hospital partners work to absorb the 22 publicly funded contract beds previously housed at Laurel Ridge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to have to figure out how we absorb this loss,\u201d LeBlanc-Jamison said. \u201cWe will have to continue to work and collaborate with our hospital partners and our governmental entities to address the needs we have in Bexar County.\u201d<\/p>\n

LeBlanc-Jamison said the reduction could increase pressure on emergency rooms and law enforcement if patients in crisis are unable to access care.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were in crisis mode in 2015 and 2016,\u201d she said, referring to a period when emergency departments were overwhelmed with psychiatric patients. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to go back there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laurel Ridge CEO Ashley Sacriste did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday, but previously said the facility is already pursuing legal action to challenge the federal decision and is working to restore its eligibility to participate in those programs.<\/p>\n

Even with that process underway, Epley said the timeline remains unclear for when the facility could regain compliance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be a waiting period before they\u2019re allowed to reapply,\u201d Epley said. \u201cThey don\u2019t know: It could be three months, it could be six months, it could be a year. \u2026 We\u2019ll know that hopefully next week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Epley emphasized that the federal action did not come suddenly, noting regulators had been working with the facility for months before moving to terminate its provider status.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis didn\u2019t happen overnight,\u201d he said. \u201cCMS takes this action about seven to 10 times a year across the entire United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Federal regulators moved to terminate the facility\u2019s participation in Medicare and Medicaid after inspections found serious safety and oversight failures, including incidents that placed patients in what officials described as \u201cimmediate jeopardy,\u201d the most severe level of deficiency. <\/p>\n

Read more San Antonio should incentivize hiring real people over artificial intelligence. Here\u2019s how.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

San Antonio will lose psychiatric beds this week as Laurel Ridge reduces operations after federal funding cuts over safety violations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018It\u2019s coming like a freight train\u2019: Bexar County scrambles to absorb loss of psychiatric beds - San Antonio moving report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sanantoniomovingreport.com\/?p=135\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018It\u2019s coming like a freight train\u2019: Bexar County scrambles to absorb loss of psychiatric beds - 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