A for-profit psychiatric hospital in Midvale is choosing to shut down after years of discipline and patient safety concerns uncovered by FOX 13 Investigates.
Highland Ridge Hospital is set to close on May 7, 2024.
The decision was made by Acadia Healthcare, the facility's parent company.
Regulators with the Utah Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) have been criticized for choosing not to shut down the facility.
Instead, the state repeatedly revoked Highland Ridge's license — issuing a conditional license as the facility worked its way back into compliance. The facility lost its license four times, often because of the same deficiencies.
Since 2019, just one hospital in Utah has had more assault cases reported to police than Highland Ridge.
2021 - 2022
FOX 13 News first began looking into Highland Ridge Hospital in 2021. We accumulated dozens of police reports from the Unified Police Department, detailing assault cases and sexual assault cases.
Many of the cases involved children. Some officers reported concern with the facility choosing not to report cases to law enforcement when a patient is harmed.
The Utah Attorney General's Office launched an investigation in 2021, referring to Highland Ridge's failures in reporting abuse to the proper authorities as "habitual."
The facility's CEO told investigators in a recorded interview that he does not have enough staff to "keep everybody safe."
By 2022, staff and patients called for the facility to be shutdown.
“I’m hoping by the end of this month they’re going to be closing their doors,” said a UPD sergeant on Feb. 1, 2022.
2022 - 2023
Some investigators and employees began referring to Highland Ridge Hospital as “The Rape Hospital” because of how frequently patients are assaulted and how infrequently the staff report those cases to police.
In many sexual assault cases, documents show victims or their family members called police — not Highland Ridge Hospital employees.
“I was told verbatim not to call 911,” said former employee Emily Rose. “If anything was happening in the building, we were to deal with it ourselves within the building — never outside authority, no matter what. Even if it was an assault, a sexual assault, anything. We weren’t allowed to call 911.”
Just one employee faced a criminal charge, and eventually "a little forgiveness," at the conclusion of the Utah AG's Office self-described “aggressive” investigation in 2023.
Despite multiple documented instances of the facility breaking the law, just one misdemeanor charge was filed against a man named Jeremy Plumb for “FAILURE TO REPORT ABUSE OR NEGLECT.”
Plumb was the director of risk management at Highland Ridge Hospital.
In the end, he was only required to pay a $690 fine for the misdemeanor to be removed from his criminal record.
The Utah AG's Office did not say why it agreed to offer a plea in abeyance.
DHHS revoked Highland Ridge Hospital's standard license in July 2023, optimistic that it would be the third and final time.
The agency also promised it was entering a "new era of enforcement."
"Clearly, the corrective action they are taking is not working," said Nate Crippes, an attorney with the Utah Disability Law Center. "A license revoking isn’t going to solve the problem if we’re just going to give it back to them."
In 2023, lawmakers joined patients and employees in calling for DHHS to shut down the facility.
“This should not be something that gets lost in the shuffle. Lives matter. These children matter,” said Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights. “I am shocked that this is something we are not addressing as a legislature... We should really emphasize making SAFE space, instead of just making space.”
2024
Highland Ridge lost its standard license for the fourth time on January 30, 2024 with amended conditions on March 8, 2024.
Shortly thereafter, FOX 13 News learned the CEO either quit or was fired.
DHHS asked the facility to hire a "monitor" to write progress reports to send into the state on regulator basis.
Governor Spencer Cox mentioned Highland Ridge by name at his April press conference in response to a question about whether he was happy with DHHS oversight of psychiatric hospitals.
At the time, Governor Cox stated DHHS would be following up with Highland Ridge in 2025.
Instead, the facility will shut its doors next month.
DHHS promised to "continue to monitor" Highland Ridge to "ensure client safety" through its closure date.
"Yeah, I knew the time would come," Rose said. "I just didn’t know when. There was plenty that was wrong about Highland Ridge, and I remained optimistic... I’m a little surprised it took longer than I thought, but everything comes to a time, and this was the time."
"Thank you for your continued investigating and dedication to seeing this through," said former patient Courtney Holder-White. "It is unfortunate that Utah has to lose a 'resource,' but that place was not a resource. They were actively and continually inflicting harm."
According to DHHS data, Highland Ridge Hospital has 83 beds.
The facility is currently not admitting new patients. Staff have not yet said where its current patients will go.