The first state psychiatric hospital in Dallas will open next summer under the direction of the UT Southwestern Medical Center, a national leader in mental health care, after months of state-driven delays, university and state officials said Wednesday.
Construction on the 292-bed acute care behavioral health facility, with an adult wing and a pediatric wing, is nearly completed in Dallas’ Southwestern Medical District at the southwest corner of Medical District Drive and Harry Hines Boulevard. It will have 200 beds for adults and 92 beds for children.
The decision clears the way for a long-awaited facility meant to relieve chronic shortages of inpatient beds, long waitlists and mounting spillover into emergency rooms and jails across North Texas. It also advances the state’s broader push to expand mental health capacity and close one of its most persistent gaps in care.
The 505,000-square-foot safety-net facility on the corner of Harry Hines Boulevard and Medical Center Parkway – to be known as the Texas Behavioral Health Center – was authorized by lawmakers as part of a multiyear, multibillion dollar investment into expanding access to mental health services throughout Texas.
Breaking News
Texas Health and Human Services operates nine state hospitals and one residential youth center for people with mental health issues. Several expansion and new construction projects are underway, including the Dallas hospital.
Local officials and community leaders in Dallas have led the charge for the new hospital, forming a coalition in 2021 to plant the seeds for the idea that the region needs its own safety net psych hospital. The nearest state hospital is in Terrell, and serves the psychiatric needs of 25 counties – among the most populous in the state.
“Texas has benefited greatly from the vision and commitment of our Legislature and its leaders, who have made significant investments in programs and facilities across the state to address behavioral health needs,” said Dr. Daniel K. Podolsky, president of UT Southwestern Medical Center, said in a statement. “UT Southwestern stands ready and eager to assume responsibility for operating this state-of-the-art facility and delivering essential behavioral health services to Texans.”
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, who advocated for UTSW to run the hospital, said Wednesday that he was thrilled with the decision.
“I’m so happy for the benefits the UTSW contract will bring to the overall quality of life and public safety,” Jenkins told The Dallas Morning News. “And I’m especially thankful for the way the UTSW model will transform individuals and families.”
Measuring quality and cost
With more than 25,000 employees and an annual budget of $6.4 billion, providers with UTSW deliver care each year to nearly 1 million patients, oversee 5 million outpatient visits, attend to 140,000 hospital patients and treat 360,000 emergency room visitors, officials said.
The decision to allow UTSW to operate the facility it helped design and build comes after nearly a year of wrangling, with state lawmakers deciding several months ago to halt the initial plan, years in the making, to contract the Dallas-based medical center. Instead, they directed state human services officials to seek other bids.
At the time, Senate Health and Human Services Committee Chair Lois Kolkhorst said lawmakers needed to balance quality care with cost as the state invested $384 million in the Dallas psychiatric hospital, with another $261 million from Children’s Health for the pediatric wing.
During spring budget talks, lawmakers led by Kolkhorst reopened the operating contract after UT Southwestern’s projected bed rates exceeded those paid at other state hospitals and what it would cost the state to operate the facility itself, she said. Kolkhorst said UT Southwestern could rebid but that the proposal required further review.
“My responsibility is to ensure state-funded services are cost-effective,” Kolkhorst told The News, citing concerns about property taxes and state spending.
The bids closed in mid-November. Without an operational entity in place, Texas HHS was poised to begin actively recruiting the hundreds of people, from doctors to support staff, they would need to run the facility, a process that would take months.
UTSW was formally selected this week and is expected to start taking patients in mid-2026.
Two other bidders were reviewed. Recovery Solutions, the nation’s largest public-sector inpatient behavioral health provider, operates in 11 states and runs a facility in Montgomery County, north of Houston. Desiree Williams Consulting sought only a subcontracting role.
Answering a shortage
UT Southwestern’s work in the region highlights both its footprint and the depth of the mental health shortage:
- UTSW runs the adult psychiatric unit at William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital, and faculty provide psychiatric care at several other institutions, including Parkland Memorial Hospital, Children’s Medical Center Plano, Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Texas Health Dallas. UTSW previously staffed the pediatric psychiatry unit at Children’s Medical Center Dallas.
- UTSW faculty staff 155 licensed behavioral health beds across North Texas and provide intensive outpatient care to thousands more patients. The medical center also operates four schools, including UT Southwestern Medical School.
- Texas has invested nearly $3 billion from its 2023 budget surplus to expand mental health care, launching seven new projects statewide, including the Dallas psychiatric hospital.
- Workforce shortages remain acute: all but eight Texas counties are designated mental health professional shortage areas, and Texas has just 10 child psychiatrists per 100,000 children, far below the recommended 47.
- Demand continues to outpace capacity, with an average of 1,222 people statewide waiting for a psychiatric hospital bed in December 2024, according to the Health and Human Services Commission.
- Roughly 57% of last year’s Dallas County jail population had received state mental health services.
The adult wing of the new facility will reserve 75 beds for forensic patients. UTSW officials said the center will be a hub for innovation as well as high-quality care.
The center plans to roll out new treatment approaches, including interventional psychiatry, aimed at expanding access and improving outcomes, interim CEO Dr. Hicham Ibrahim said.“These services are designed to expand access, improve outcomes, and strengthen the continuum of behavioral health care for North Texas and the state,” he said.
CLOSING THE CARE GAP
OPERATOR CHOSEN: UT Southwestern will operate the nearly finished 292-bed Dallas state psychiatric hospital, clearing months of uncertainty that left the facility idle.
SYSTEM RELIEF: The hospital is designed to ease severe shortages in inpatient beds, long waitlists and spillover into emergency rooms and jails across North Texas.
STATEWIDE PUSH:The facility is a key piece of Texas’ multibillion-dollar effort to expand mental health capacity statewide.