Jenna Pacini

MOOSIC — Geisinger and Acadia Healthcare Company have named Jenna Pacini as chief executive officer for Geisinger Behavioral Health Center Northeast, a new 96-bed inpatient behavioral health hospital being built through a joint venture partnership between Geisinger and Acadia in Moosic. In her new role, which she begins on Aug. 15, Pacini will oversee the development of the facility including staff recruitment and training, clinical programming design and oversight of all key functions leading to the opening of the new hospital.

“I am honored to be selected for this role,” said Pacini. “This is a tremendous opportunity build an organization that brings the best of both joint venture partners to meet the need for quality behavioral healthcare in this area of Pennsylvania. I look forward to building a culture of compassion and clinical excellence, with an unwavering commitment to caring for our patients.”

According to data from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 1 in 5 U.S. adults experience mental illness each year and over 1.8 million adults in Pennsylvania have a mental health condition. Geisinger anticipated the need to offer behavioral health services for its patients needing care. As further evidence of the need for additional inpatient capacity, 26% of adult discharges and 62% of pediatric discharges are patients that are leaving their home communities within Geisinger’s service area to seek inpatient behavioral health care. This is even more important with the recent news of closure of community capacity for inpatient psychiatric services.

Geisinger Behavioral Health Center Northeast is the first of two hospitals that the joint venture plans to build to bring high-quality inpatient behavioral health services in central and northeastern Pennsylvania. The second new freestanding inpatient behavioral health hospital — Geisinger Behavioral Health Center Central — will be constructed Danville, Pennsylvania. Both hospitals will serve adult and pediatric patients.