Old Vineyard is assigned interim chief

Universal Health Services Inc. has tapped a veteran executive within its ranks to serve as interim chief executive at Old Vineyard Behavioral Health Services.

Charlene Arnett took over the duties yesterday, according to the company that owns Old Vineyard. The for-profit company said it plans to recruit a full-time chief executive.

Universal said that Arnett has 17 years of experience as chief executive of psychiatric hospitals, including appointments as interim chief executive. She served in that role last summer at Two Rivers Psychiatric Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., according to The Kansas City Star.

During Arnett's 3 1/2 -year term as chief executive and managing director of the Pavilion at Northwest Texas in Amarillo, the state of Texas conducted at least three investigations into incidents in which young patients were found with multiple bruises and other injuries, according to the Amarillo Globe-News. Universal owns the 85-bed psychiatric hospital.

Neither Arnett nor Joe Crabtree, a regional manager for Universal, could be reached for comment. Crabtree had been in charge of managing Old Vineyard after the resignation of Rob McCartney as chief executive for health reasons last month, according to Betty Taylor, the director of CenterPoint Human Services, which oversees Old Vineyard.

According to the Amarillo newspaper, Arnett left the Pavilion in late 2008. It reported that in 2008, the state of Texas fined the Pavilion $30,000 after a 12-year-old boy was found with bruises and other markings on his neck, chest and jaw in October 2007.

The hospital also paid at least $57,000 to settle a lawsuit in late 2008 brought by the family of a then-16-year-old boy. According to the lawsuit, the boy, a patient in July 2007, obtained keys to the hospital from a staff member and was allowed to escape. The boy jumped over a ledge of the Pavilion's exterior and fell about 40 feet, breaking both ankles and an arm.

Over the past six months, Old Vineyard Youth Services has been the subject of investigations by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and state regulators regarding its operations.

On Jan. 13, Medicare said that Old Vineyard was back in good standing. Old Vineyard also appears to have corrected most of a long list of deficiencies identified by state health officials.

rcraver@wsjournal.com

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