MetroWest Medical Center Opens New Center for Behavioral Health

By Susan Petroni (Patch staff)

The MetroWest Medical Center, headquartered in Framingham, celebrated the opening of the Center for Behavioral Medicine at Leonard Morse in Natick on Monday.

The Center will offer a variety of behavioral health services including partial hospital programs, intensive outpatient programs, traditional outpatient, and emergency services. The Center will begin services and start treating patients on Wednesday, Oct. 1.

“Mental illness should be treated in the same way as diabetes and heart disease because that is what it is.” said MetroWest Medical Center CEO Barbara Doyle. “MetroWest is here to provide for the needs of our community.”

For more than three years, MetroWest Medical Center has continuously seen occupancy rates in the behavioral units exceeding 90 percent and this year alone, occupancy rates have been hovering over 97 percent to date.

Through a dedicated partnership between MetroWest Medical Center and Saint Vincent Hospital physicians, the hospitals have been able to provide high-quality care, at low cost for the communities they serve.

“Tenet Healthcare, our parent organization, has been focused on providing a solution to the growing need for behavioral health services in Massachusetts,” said Doyle. “Last year a community needs assessment proved these services were a top priority for the MetroWest area and Tenet is fully supportive of investing to address a community need.”