Writer’s note: The article was originally published July 3rd, and was updated July 4th with new and important information.
Source: Justice for NeuroPsychiatric Hospitals Patients Facebook Page
I want to love integrative medicine. What’s not to love about a holistic, integrative approach to care? Nutrition, hormones, lifestyle, natural medicines - I want it all.
We deserve it all.
I want to be excited for an integrative medicine movement.
I want access to intentional integrative providers.
Alongside that optimism, I'm confronted by my own lived experience with what was marketed as integrative healthcare.
After eight days of sub-standard care and medical gaslighting at a hospital marketed as a leader in integrative healthcare, I began searching for answers. That search led me to Farrah Anderson, an award-winning investigative reporter, who has written for the New York Times, and who stands out as the leading investigative reporter on the issue.
Farrah’s article “Trapped Inside the ‘Scariest Place’ - A Psychiatric Hospital in Indiana” documents a decade’s worth of patient and staff complaints, whistle-blower lawsuits, patient lawsuits, and regulatory findings in regard to the hospital chain.
Farrah is a member of the Justice for NeuroPsychiatric Hospitals Patients Facebook Group, which has nearly 700 former staff members, patients, patient families, and advocates.
In her article, Farrah reported that in 2017 Indiana regulators attempted to close the hospital, but instead entered into a private settlement.
Afterwards, Enhanced Healthcare Partners - a private-equity firm - invested in the hospital’s expansion into other states. Based on publicly available records, similar regulatory issues, including CMS immediate jeopardy findings in Texas, followed their expansion outside of Indiana.
The Hospital’s Private-Equity firm, Enhanced Healthcare Partners, positions the hospital as a ‘Leading Provider of Integrative Healthcare’ in their marketing materials:
NEW YORK, NY (September 30, 2020) — Enhanced Healthcare Partners (“EHP”), a leading healthcare-focused private equity firm specializing in middle-market healthcare services businesses, is pleased to announce its investment in NeuroPsychiatric Hospitals (“NPH”), a leading provider of integrated healthcare for patients with acute psychiatric disorders and complex medical and neurological disorders.
https://www.enhancedhealthcare.com/news/2020/9/30/enhanced-healthcare-partners-announces-investment-in-neuropsychiatric-hospitals?
Neuropsychiatric Hospital Locations:
Greenwood, Indiana
Breman, Indiana
Mishawaka, Indiana
Indianapolis, Indiana
Crown Point, Indiana
South Bend, Indiana
Houston, Texas
Phoenix, Arizona
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Dayton, Ohio (Coming soon)
Source: https://www.neuropsychiatrichospitals.net/find-a-location/
Referrals from Family
The hospital’s website mentions that family members can make referrals. While I was visiting the hospital, I met a lady who had been referred there by her son. She had been held there for 22 days, had not been outside at all within those 22 days, had no access to fresh air or sunlight, she did not have clean clothes that fit her, and she was forced to take medications that she did not want to take.
When she refused the medication, she told me that the staff injected her with medications and one of the nurses laughed at her. It’s not too much to ask for healthcare workers who think bodily autonomy and informed consent is a game to spend time in jail, or better yet, be sentenced to a stay in their own facility for their lack of empathy and professionalism.
For anyone who thinks this could never affect them or a family member personally, this hospital accepts referrals from private individuals for a wide range of patient experiences including verbal aggression due to anxiety or depression, non-compliance with medical treatment (whatever that means), and disruptive behaviors. Signs of social withdrawal and isolation are also listed.
Based on publicly documented deficiencies, including a whistle-blower lawsuit in regard to insurance fraud, I am concerned that referrers may not need adequate proof of impairment before having someone involuntarily detained at one of these facilities.
Who Funds This?
In 2025, Enhanced Healthcare Partners raised $521M for their fund, while regulatory non-compliance and complaints continued.
Part of this funding package includes $85M in Public Pension Commitments:
Texas County & District Retirement System ($40M)
https://www.tcdrs.org/globalassets/documents/private-equity-commitments/2025privateequitycommitments.pdfLos Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System ($20M)
https://www.lacers.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/lacers_quarterly_pe_performance_review_q2_2025_v2.pdfIllinois State Board of Investment ($25M)
https://www.ilga.gov/Documents/Reports/ReportsSubmitted/6324RSGAEmail13948RSGAAttachISBI%20Annual%20Diversity%20Report%20PA%2096-0006%202025.12.12%20_Redacted.pdf
Apparently, integrative healthcare sells well in the private-equity space. Private-equity firms capable of raising more than half a billion dollars understand the power of branding.
To be honest, had I not visited this hospital firsthand, I would have believed their marketing copy. The word ‘integrative’ is different, it differentiates from traditional western medicine and provides a container for more holistic approaches, which is exactly what I want as a patient.
I want integrative healthcare to work for our communities, but at the same time, what exactly is going on here?
Dr. Brandon Einstein, who serves on the board of the Hospital, has described his investment approach as combining "margin and mission."
“He - Dr. Einstein - has played a significant role targeting investments like NeuroPsychiatric Hospitals that improve outcomes for patients with a focus on combining margin and mission.”
https://www.enhancedhealthcare.com/news/2022/4/20/enhanced-healthcare-partners-names-brandon-einstein-md-partner-promotes-jeff-chen-to-principal?utm_source=chatgpt.com
In an open-letter to invested public pension plans, I’ve asked the Texas County & District Retirement System, Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System, and the Illinois State Board of Investment to exercise their fiduciary duty in light of extensive investigative reporting, regulatory issues, and patient and staff complaints in regard to the hospital chain that they are invested in.
Their publicly listed emails are:
lacers.invest@lacers.org - LA City Employees
openrecords@tcdrs.org - Texas County & District Employees
info@isbinvestment.com - Illinois State Board of Investment
Public pension beneficiaries did not consent to being passive capital for healthcare governance failures.
There is much discussion on private-equity in healthcare and there are many people who believe that private-equity should not be involved in healthcare at all. However, given my experiences, I must say that there is a novel advocacy component introduced when private-equity enters the chat: we can find their investors and report directly.
Private-equity likes to stay private. A public Facebook group advocating against the hospital’s practices, with nearly 700 members is not privacy. Commitments from public pension funds are not private.
Private-equity - much like the government - can’t move without other peoples’ money.
Enhanced Healthcare Partners’ publicly listed portfolio companies include:
Neuropsychiatric Hospitals; Synergy Health Partners; Eventus Whole Health; Alora Behavioral Health; Hallmark Healthcare Solutions; NextCare Urgent Care; Pharmaceutical Associates; Pryor Health; SCA Pharma; Vytalize; Janus.
We need integrative advocacy for integrative healthcare
Every time a healthcare organization markets itself as "integrative" while failing to meet basic standards of patient care, it damages the credibility of every ethical integrative practitioner working to build trust with patients. Remaining silent allows others to define what "integrative healthcare" means.
It’s not ok when a facility and / or provider markets their services as integrative, while preying on vulnerable patients.
It’s not ok for people seeking integrative healthcare, or investors seeking exposure to integrative healthcare, to be betrayed by marketing copy.
It’s not ok for Enhanced Healthcare Partners to raise $521M for their fund and then have widespread regulatory issues and continued patient complaints AFTERWARDS.
What are they doing with investors’ money if not re-investing in proper staffing and adequate governance?
I’m not an integrative practitioner or a clinician - I’m a writer, advocate and a patient.
I want actual integrative healthcare, and I do not want to be preyed upon by facilities and clinicians who market their services as integrative, yet deliver sub-standard care.
I am discouraged by the hospital's’ attorney statement:
“Asked about complaints from patients, families, and staff, as well as hundreds of regulatory deficiencies, McNally defended the company, saying few other hospitals are equipped to treat patients with both medical and psychiatric needs.
“They don’t really have anywhere to go,” McNally said. “Even if we ran the crappiest facility possible, it’s probably either going to be on par with or slightly better than the next alternative.”
At least the attorney was somewhat honest - unlike the ‘Leading Integrative Healthcare’ pitch used in the marketing copy, he spoke to the lack of healthcare infrastructure as a cause. The problem with this, from my perspective, is that Enhanced Healthcare Partners appears to have had access to the capital required to invest in the infrastructure needed for patients, but chose to invest in expansion instead.
Without strong governance, professional standards, and accountability systems, the words ‘Integrative Healthcare’ are simply becoming a part of the next broken system.
These issues are directly affecting healthcare policy.
Senate Bill 131, authored by Senator Andrea Hunley, has been introduced in the State of Indiana in response, which would create an Ombudsman for patient complaints and add a criminal penalty if the bill is passed. Advocacy is also in the works in the states of Michigan, Arizona, and Texas in response to the same hospital chain.
The new Ohio location is coming soon.
Without intervention, a single hospital chain, marketed as a Leader in Integrative Healthcare, could single handedly change the regulatory landscape in multiple states, and even at the federal level. While new policy may appear as a positive response from regulators, the issue here is that this hospital chain does not appear to be held accountable for existing policy, so why should we believe that they will be held to account for new policy?
The other issue is that other facilities- some with much less capital- may need to comply with regulations that are in direct response to this hospital chain’s predatory actions. This could further increase healthcare costs without a meaningful improvement in patient outcomes, while further limiting competition.
For integrative practitioners, please consider taking action against providers and facilities like this who are operating in your space - as you.
As Leaders in Integrative Healthcare.
Consider calling out clinical predators when you see them so us patients don’t have to. Write letters, file complaints, and please use your voice as Leaders in Integrative Healthcare.
The psychedelics communities have a notable role in mental healthcare, and I’m optimistic that these cycles will not repeat in psychedelic organizations, but to ensure that, we all need to do our part.
Being passive here is an option, but at some point, doing nothing needs to be carefully considered as a conscious action. Not all clinicians care about their patients, and clinicians aren’t better just because they market themselves as Integrative.
Predators exist in healthcare too, and they rely on their staff and patients to keep quiet so that they can continue to abuse. The Neuropsychiatric Hospital has over a decade’s worth of complaints, and the amount of people it took to look the other way while it was happening is incalculable.
I am optimistic that there are enough staff, patients, and advocates with backbones to stand up to these clinicians and facilities: the future of our mental healthcare system depends upon it.
Big Hugs,
Tina