Main Line Health Invests in Innovative Psychiatric Care by Opening New Inpatient Unit—Doubling in Size and Services—as Behavioral Health Crisis Escalates

The Newly Expanded 40 Bed Unit Creates a New Treatment Model and is part of the System's Comprehensive Care Approach for Those Suffering from Behavioral Health Issues.

Today Main Line Health opened its doors of the newly expanded Inpatient Psychiatric Unit at Bryn Mawr Hospital. As a comprehensive community health system with locations across Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties, the System is investing even more in its behavioral health services across diverse populations to bring greater access, options, and innovative treatments for those suffering from mental health issues.

Part of a $35 million investment and priority, the expanded 44,000 sq ft Inpatient Psychiatric Unit provides the continuum of care for adults (ages 18 and older) struggling with the full range of psychiatric conditions such as mood disorders, substance abuse, addiction, and other behavioral issues. The behavioral health crisis has been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic as one in four residents in the Greater Philadelphia Region live with a mental illness. Multiple community hospitals with inpatient psychiatric units across our region have closed or consolidated which have led to an increase in behavioral health-related visits in Main Line Health's Emergency Departments and EDs around the region.

The newly expanded Inpatient Psychiatric Unit is designed, in part, to help reduce the pressure on emergency departments, offer greater access and options to patients and their families grappling with the disease. The System's new inpatient unit and outpatient behavioral health services together provide patients and their families the time, attention and support needed for successful treatment and outcomes. In March 2020, Main Line Health expanded the Women's Emotional Wellness program to King of Prussia, PA specifically to serve the escalating and unmet needs of women's emotional and behavioral health.

"We are delivering on our promise to our families, friends and neighbors that they will be seen when they walk through our doors," says Jack Lynch, FACHE, President and CEO, Main Line Health. "The investment we're making in behavioral health is significant and underscores our belief that health care is human care."

The new, two-floor Inpatient Psychiatric Unit includes 40 private rooms, spaces for individual and group therapies including art therapy, music therapy, co-occurring treatment and dialectical behavioral therapy, medication management, and special light rooms to help with depression. The System's behavioral health team also integrated evidenced-based, complementary wellness programs into the care such as exercise, yoga, meditation, reiki and other integrative therapies that are paramount to a lasting and successful transformation. The spacious, modern rooms and unique design of the unit have noise-cancelling floors and ceilings, ambient music, circadian lighting and 24-hour supervision to address sensory input issues and other behavioral health factors. The programs created will establish feelings of connection, purpose and meaning not just through medication, but emotionally, spiritually, clinically, and socially to fully support patient experience and positive outcomes.

"We're focused on creating an ecosystem comprised of the highest quality psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, counselors, addiction specialists and more, with the intent of offering treatment for every segment of the population across all levels of care," says John Schwarz, President of Bryn Mawr Hospital. "We envision Main Line Health as a premier destination for all levels of emotional, psychiatric and behavioral wellbeing for every member of the community we serve."

Bryn Mawr Hospital's Inpatient Psychiatric Unit is now open.