<\/p>\n
Laurel Ridge Treatment Center on the far North Side plans to lay off 648 employees starting in June, after the federal government terminated its Medicare and Medicaid coverage.<\/p>\n
Laurel Ridge Treatment Center<\/p>\n
After losing its\u00a0Medicare and Medicaid funding<\/a>, San Antonio\u2019s Laurel Ridge Treatment Center <\/a>is planning to lay off hundreds of employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAs a result of this regulatory action, we must implement a workforce reduction,\u201d Laurel Ridge CEO Ashley\u00a0Sacriste said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The \u00a0hospital is \u201cdeeply disappointed by this outcome and recognizes the significant impact it will have on our dedicated team members and the communities we serve,\u201d she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n The psychiatric hospital sent a letter to employees, notifying them that it plans to lay off\u00a0 \u201capproximately 648\u201d workers from its facility at 17720 Corporate Woods Drive on the far North Side, starting June 26. The letter was shared online<\/a> by media outlets<\/a>\u00a0KABB-TV and\u00a0KSAT-TV.<\/p>\n \u201cNone of the employees who are losing their jobs has a right to claim another job at Laurel Ridge,\u201d the letter reads.<\/p>\n San Antonio Express News Logo<\/p>\n Make us a Preferred Source on Google to see more of us when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n READ MORE:\u00a0Feds cut off Medicare, Medicaid funding to Laurel Ridge in San Antonio<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cSupport resources are being provided to impacted employees during this transition period, including career fairs.\u201d Sacriste said. \u201cThe organization is committed to treating all affected patients and employees with dignity and respect throughout this transition. Laurel Ridge is committed to continuing to provide services to individuals in the greater San Antonio region and will be pursuing the process of regaining deemed status with CMS.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n On April 15, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services\u00a0notified Laurel Ridge<\/a> that it would be terminating its Medicare provider agreement on April 30, stating the hospital \u201chas failed to substantially comply with Medicare and Medicaid health and safety participation requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n Sitting on 29 acres, Laurel Ridge is described as \u201cone of the largest freestanding psychiatric hospitals in the United States,\u201d according to its website.<\/p>\n The 330-bed facility, owned by Fortune 500 company Universal Health Services Inc.<\/a>, has had several federal inspection reports filed over last year, raising concerns regarding its patient safety.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Public Health Watch reported<\/a> that three patients died inside the facility in 2025 alone, yet in the previous four years, it had only one reported patient death, according to police, state and federal records reviewed by the publication.<\/p>\n Several inspection surveys from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services last year revealed the facility\u2019s failure to follow patient safety protocol.<\/p>\n RELATED:\u00a0Laurel Ridge to build $30 million psychiatric center in San Antonio for vets, first-responders<\/a><\/p>\n A May CMS survey<\/a> stated that a 44-year-old man with a mild intellectual and developmental disability died while sleeping in seclusion in March. The patient was admitted with an observation level of every five minutes, yet \u201ccontinuous observation when the patient was locked in the seclusion room did not occur per policy and procedure,\u201d according to the report. Ahead of his death, there was a 23-minute gap between patient observation rounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n In October 2025, a 26-year-old woman who was experiencing heroin withdrawal died. The medical examiner ruled that she died of natural causes, but Laurel Ridge staff did not check on her regularly throughout the night. \u00a0<\/p>\n There also have been several reports of inadequate staffing and failure to appropriately screen patients for contraband, for which the facility received \u201cImmediate Jeopardy\u201d citations, after \u201cplacing all patients at a significant risk of harm, serious injury, or potential death,\u201d according to\u00a0CMS surveys from May and August<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2024, Jacob Cuellar, who had been the facility\u2019s CEO,\u00a0was arrested on charges of sexually abusing a juvenile<\/a>. As of the day after his arrest, he was no longer listed as the CEO. Current CEO Ashley Sacriste took over shortly afterward.\u00a0<\/p>\n MORE LAUREL RIDGE NEWS:\u00a0Former CEO of mental health center accused of sexual assault<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Universal Health Services also owned Austin Lakes Hospital, which permanently closed in 2022 amid criticism of patient safety and quality of care.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2020, the company and Turning Point Care Center, one of its Georgia facilities, paid $122 million to \u201cresolve alleged violations of the False Claims Act for billing for medically unnecessary inpatient behavioral health services, failing to provide adequate and appropriate services, and paying illegal inducements to federal healthcare beneficiaries,\u201d according to\u00a0the Department of Justice<\/a>.<\/p>\n Universal Health Services operates more than 340 inpatient behavioral health facilities, making it one of the largest providers of behavioral health services in the U.S. and the U.K.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Laurel Ridge Treatment Center on the far North Side plans to lay off 648 employees starting in June,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":613743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":["post-613742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n