Competing Psychiatric, Addiction Centers Go for Glitz

Splashy dedication ceremonies were the order of the day at two psychiatric and chemical-dependency treatment centers opened recently by for-profit corporations.

There was something for everyone last Saturday when Macon, Ga.-based Charter Medical dedicated its $6.5-million psychiatric and substance abuse hospital in the Carmel Mountain Ranch area of northern San Diego.

Entertainer Suzanne Somers, who recently described her childhood with an alcoholic father in “Keeping Secrets,” was on hand to sign autographs for the crowd of about 200 that attended the widely advertised dedication.

Garfield, the popular cartoon cat, entertained the children, each of whom was given a cuddly “Charter Bear.” There were complimentary refreshments and tours of the facility.

Increasingly Crowded Market

On Feb. 17, Irvine-based Comprehensive Care brought Edd Byrne, best known for his role as Kookie in the old “77 Sunset Strip” TV series, to San Diego as part of its dedication of the company’s 23rd psychiatric and chemical-dependency unit.

Byrne, who will re-create his TV role in an upcoming movie, told the audience gathered in a large tent on the facility’s parking lot that before successfully undergoing treatment of the kind offered by Comprehensive Care, he rarely ventured out of his house without a cache of wine.

The two stars obviously used the dedication ceremonies to bolster ticket and book sales. But they also helped Charter and Comprehensive Care--two of the nation’s leading for-profit providers of mental health and chemical-dependency treatment--to differentiate their services in an increasingly crowded market.

By mid-1989, such care providers will add about 300 psychiatric and chemical-dependency beds to the more than 800 now available in the San Diego area. Most of those beds will come from hospitals built by out-of-town, for-profit companies:

Charter’s 80-bed facility will specialize in the treatment of chemical dependency and the mental and emotional disorders of children and adolescents.

Comprehensive Care in February opened its 92-bed “CareUnit” facility near San Diego State University.

During 1989, Psychiatric Centers at San Diego, a partnership created by a group of San Diego psychiatrists and Austin, Tex.-based Health Care International, will open a 96-bed acute psychiatric facility near La Jolla.

Vista Hill Foundation, a nonprofit organization that has provided mental health care in San Diego County since 1957, will add 31 beds to an existing psychiatric hospital in Chula Vista. It also plans to open a 17-bed residential facility to treat chemical dependency.

The explosion in available beds is occurring at a time when San Diego’s central Yellow Pages already include eight full pages dedicated to alcohol and drug treatment centers and programs, three pages to psychiatrists, eight pages to psychologists and two pages to social workers.

The new facilities ensure that San Diegans will face a continual barrage of advertising and marketing campaigns, according to Charles Ewell, whose La Jolla-based consulting firm advises hospital boards of directors.

“And it’s not just in San Diego, it’s all across America,” Ewell said.

But the Hollywood approach being taken by Comprehensive Care and Charter does not appeal to Vista Hill, which will stick with its more traditional, “community-oriented” advertising campaigns, according to Keith Dixon, vice president of marketing for Vista Hill Foundation.

The company won’t unveil a glitzy ad campaign, but it will respond to the increased competition in mental health care by forging stronger relationships with insurers such as Greater San Diego Health Plan, Dixon said.

He said Vista Hill hopes to bolster its market share by signing exclusive-care contracts with insurers because “we see this business as being increasingly driven by the third-party payers”--not by consumers who might respond to advertising.

The nonprofit organization, which reported $37.5 million in 1987 revenue, is also bolstering its outpatient care: In 1983, just 9% of its revenue came from non-hospitalized patients; in 1988, the figure will swell to about 23%.

Mental health experts tend to disagree on how best to advertise, but they do agree that traditional methods are not effective when it comes to promoting a specific psychiatric and chemical-dependency program or center.

“The basic theory is that, given enough information, a person has the ability to make a rational choice,” Dixon said, but few consumers in need of psychiatric treatment are able to make rational choices.

Consequently, advertising is usually directed toward “the significant other,” according to Ken Estes, a spokesman for Comprehensive Care.

“For example, very few alcoholics ever respond (to advertising),” he said. “Typically, it’s the one or two people who know the alcoholic best.”

Health care providers also must market their programs to educators, the clergy, members of the judicial system and other professionals who regularly refer potential patients to psychiatric centers.

The crowd that gathered at Comprehensive Care’s dedication in February included many social workers, psychologists, counselors and other professionals who regularly refer customers to hospitals for treatment.

The dramatic increase in psychiatric and chemical dependency treatment suppliers is being driven largely by San Diego’s growing population.

Charter, which recently closed a money-losing psychiatric hospital in Los Angeles, decided to open the facility in Carmel Mountain Ranch because of the rapid growth expected in North County, according to Mike Safran, San Diego-based administrator for Charter.

North County might now have too many hospital beds dedicated to other care specialties, but “it’s the right time to get a facility in place . . . (for) when that growth occurs--especially in the area of child and adolescent care, where, in large part, there are not now sufficient services,” Safran said.

San Diegans also are benefiting from a growing national awareness that relatively few people who need psychiatric help are receiving it.