A twice-closed psychiatric facility in northern Colorado, which patients repeatedly sued for allegedly holding them longer than necessary, has reopened under new ownership.<\/p>\n
SierraVista Behavioral Health passed its initial state inspection in April, allowing the facility to begin accepting patients for inpatient mental health and addiction treatment. The facility, at 4770 Larimer Parkway in Johnstown, southeast of Loveland, previously operated as Clear View Behavioral Health and Johnstown Heights Behavioral Health.<\/p>\n
SierraVista and parent company NewVista Behavioral Health didn\u2019t respond to repeated requests for an interview about the Johnstown facility.<\/p>\n
NewVista operates seven facilities in Ohio and one in Indiana, with locations listed as \u201ccoming soon\u201d in St. Louis and Colorado Springs. The Colorado Springs location has the same address as Parkmoor Village, a nursing home that closed in 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n SierraVista\u2019s initial inspection, in April, didn\u2019t identify any problems, leading the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to grant a license.<\/p>\n The only other state record was a \u201creportable incident\u201d in May when one patient choked another who had allegedly used a slur toward him. The victim had a neck fracture, but returned to SierraVista and completed treatment. The facility increased the assailant\u2019s medications, put him under stricter supervision and determined he couldn\u2019t have a roommate. The inspectors didn\u2019t say if those measures prevented further aggression.<\/p>\n Searches for NewVista\u2019s facilities in other states returned mixed results. In most cases, inspectors didn\u2019t find major problems. They did, however, cite Ethan Crossing Addiction Campus of Indianapolis<\/a> for failing to regularly check on patients in 2024, after someone who had checked in for help with drug withdrawal died in the facility.<\/p>\n A patient at a sister facility, River Vista Health and Wellness<\/a> in Columbus, Ohio, also stopped breathing because of apparent withdrawal complications after staff didn\u2019t ensure she continued to receive methadone. Inspectors who visited in January 2025 didn\u2019t state if the patient sustained any brain damage or lasting harm.<\/p>\n The Johnstown facility has a troubled history.<\/p>\n At least five patients sued Clear View before it closed in 2020. The state had suspended Clear View\u2019s license, but didn\u2019t go through the revocation process because the owners voluntarily surrendered it.<\/p>\n While the details in the lawsuits varied, the common thread was that patients alleged they were kept against their wills even though they no longer presented a danger to themselves or others. In at least one case, a patient said he never had suicidal or homicidal thoughts.<\/p>\n After Clear View closed, the facility reopened as Johnstown Heights. At least four patients sued, making similar allegations that they were held against their wills without legal grounds.<\/p>\n The state also cited Johnstown Heights for improperly discharging patients, including in April 2023 for bodily carrying an unresisting patient out of the building when she objected to a plan to discharge her to a homeless shelter rather than a friend\u2019s house.<\/p>\n In November 2024, inspectors cited Johnstown Heights for discharging a 13-year-old who remained unstable enough to need constant supervision. The patient attempted to jump out of their grandmother\u2019s car on a highway, but apparently wasn\u2019t hurt.<\/p>\n The final inspection, in January 2025, found the facility had corrected problems identified two months earlier.<\/p>\n Johnstown Heights closed in March 2025, apparently voluntarily. A statement at the time attributed the decision to trends in admissions and reimbursement, as first reported by Denver7<\/a>.<\/p>\n