FEASIBILITY STUDY

Feasibility Study

Feasibility Study: Mental Health Hospital

Introduction

Amesbury Psychological Center (the Center) is a multidisciplinary behavioral health care practice that offers mental health and substance abuse services to the communities of the Merrimack Valley. Our focus is to provide cost-effective, quality treatment. Our mission is to create, promote, and maintain a positive customer relationship with our clients, Anna Jaques Hospital (AJH), payors, associates and staff, and our community.

The market for behavioral health services is healthy, as will be shown by the growth the existing Center has experienced during the past two and a half years. Massachusetts has recently passed a mental health parity bill that will become effective in month one. The bill requires insurance companies to develop benefits for biologically based behavioral health disorders similar to those provided for health disorders. This should help sustain the anticipated projected growth. Currently, the Outpatient Psychiatric Center is referring approximately four phone calls a day to other providers.

The key to success for this turnkey project includes:

An ability to transfer existing hospital behavioral health contracts to the Center.

Credentialing clinicians in a timely manner.

Obtaining initial working capital.

Contracting with clinicians using reasonable rates.

Developing and implementing a successful billing and collection system.

Listening to all customers and attempting to meet their needs.

Obtaining a medicaid provider number.

Objectives

Goal 1: To continuously develop, strengthen, and improve services offered by the Center.

Strengthen the current payor mix by developing and maintaining strategic alliances with five major behavioral health managed care companies.

Identify and develop strategic alliances with three community human service and addiction agencies.

Identify and foster strategic alliances and networks with eight community medical group practices.

Transfer and/or hire 80% of staff two months before starting date.

Identify and implement a billing system two months before starting date.

Improve the expected receipts rate by 40% over the previous year.

Increase all services offered through the Center by 80% over the previous year.

Arrange working capital for the initial phase of the turnkey venture.

Mission

To promote the well-being of the individuals and families in the Merrimack Valley community by providing accessible, quality mental health and substance abuse/addiction care for children, adolescents, adults, and their families, utilizing a service system that emphasizes trust, respect, confidentiality, and compassion. We are committed to quality mental health care that is provided in a collaborative effort with consumers' overall health strategies and an array of medical services. We are further committed to the philosophy that we exist for the customer/client.

Company Summary

The Amesbury Psychological Center is a for-profit behavioral health company located in Amesbury, Massachusetts. It was founded by the privatization of an existing mental health center that was a part of the Anna Jaques Hospital psychiatry program. The transfer of clients to the Center from the Outpatient Mental Health and Addiction Center was an effort to provide for uninterrupted, continued quality services to its present consumers, and expand its network of providers to ensure further growth. The transition to a privatized center enables the residents of the Merrimack Valley area to have continued access to a quality, accessible mental health ...