BayCare Acquires Tampa Mental Health Center, Plans More Services

BayCare Health System plans to acquire a major behavioral health center in Tampa and expand its services, hospital leaders announced this week.

Effective January 1, BayCare assumed ownership of the nonprofit Northside Behavioral Health Center. The center provides counseling to low-income individuals and operates, among other programs, two group homes and his 20-bed Crisis Stabilization Unit.

BayCare, a health care system of 15 hospitals, previously managed the center for seven years.

The hospital system is the region’s largest behavioral health care provider. BayCare’s vice president of behavioral health, Gail Ryder, plans to maintain Northside’s current offering and expand it in the future to meet the growing demand for mental health care in the region. says that

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“There is no difference for patients,” says Ryder. “Their doctors will be the same.

All Northside Employees — See More More than 100 — accepted jobs at BayCare, she said.

The center’s main building is located off Bruce B. Downs Boulevard near the University of South Florida’s Tampa campus and the James A. Haley Veterans Affairs Hospital. It is now called the BayCare Northside Behavioral Health Center. (BayCare didn’t buy his Northside, he took over ownership, Ryder said.)

Northside services include outpatient counseling for adults and therapy for children. Access to counseling will not be denied due to inability to pay. Northside offers discounts or sliding fee schedules for those struggling to serve.

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The center is also a Baker Act Reception Facility with beds funded by the state for the Crisis Stabilization Unit, which provides short-term psychiatric care to adults in mental health emergencies.

Northside also offers a referral-based housing program with a total of 69 beds for individuals diagnosed with mental illness, according to BayCare spokesperson Lisa Razler.

On average, Northside treats about 25,000 patients a year, Ryder said.

According to the annual tax return, revenue exceeded $10.8 million in 2019-20.

“We are preserving a very important asset to the county,” Ryder said. “Our commitment to preserving it and growing it as a community mental health center is important to Hillsboro. .. demand is spiraling out of control and we need to expand.”

Related: Florida’s mental health care system is “messed up.” The group proposes reforms.

Last year, Florida was ranked 46th in the United States for access to mental health care by the national advocacy group Mental Health America. The nonprofits created rankings based on access to insurance, treatment, special education, cost and quality of insurance, and number of mental health care providers.