ABOUT READING HEALTH SYSTEM – READING HOSPITAL BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SERVICES
Founded in 1867, Reading Hospital is a nonprofit network of 46 healthcare locations, centered around a 711-bed hospital based in West Reading. The hospital offers psychiatric services in West Reading and Wyomissing as well as a Behavioral Medicine Center in Wyomissing, providing care for adults, adolescents, and children who are struggling with a wide range of mental and behavioral health disorders, including substance use disorder and dual diagnoses.
Services include medical detox, short-term inpatient care, and outpatient programs. The facility provides one of just 18 hospital-based inpatient programs for addiction in the state of Pennsylvania.
TREATMENT & ASSESSMENT
Clients who require medical attention for withdrawal symptoms typically begin their stay with inpatient-based, medically monitored detox. Once stabilized, clients may move on to the center’s inpatient program, which uses a multidisciplinary, trauma-informed approach to treating addiction.
Inpatients typically stay for one week, during which they might participate in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), sensory integration therapy, nature therapy, and art therapy. Specialized modalities include animal-assisted therapy and group counseling for those who are at an increased risk of suicide.
Outpatient options for adults include a partial hospitalization program (PHP) and standard outpatient care, which includes a track specifically for clients with co-occurring disorders. All programs include individual, group, and family therapy, as well as psychiatric evaluations, medication review, and medication management.
STAFF CREDENTIALS
According to the facility’s website, the treatment team includes psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, therapists, and social workers. The two alumni polled by Best-rehabs.com to date on the staff’s level of training and experience gave it a three-star rating and a four-star rating.
ACCOMMODATIONS & AMENITIES
Behavioral Medicine Center’s inpatient facility can house up to 40 individuals at a time. There is currently no further information provided by the facility regarding its living arrangements and related offerings; however, the two alumni surveyed by Best-rehabs.com at the time of this writing gave the facility a three-star rating and a four-star rating for its accommodations and amenities, but gave more polarized ratings of two stars and five stars for its cleanliness.
WHAT ALUMNI SAY
Both of the alumni polled by Best-rehabs.com to date gave the facility lukewarm feedback. Despite giving the center’s treatment effectiveness a four-star rating and a five-star rating, one reported that they would not recommend the center, and the other remained neutral on this question. The center’s counseling options and ability to treat co-occurring disorders seem to have been adequate if not impressive, since each metric received a three-star and a four-star rating. However, the single alum who rated the degree of family participation in the program gave it just two stars. “Cheap, food wasn’t the best. was ok,” one anonymous reviewer wrote in the most descriptive of the two comments.
Secondary sites yield no coverage of the behavioral health department at the time of this writing, and mixed feedback on the hospital as a whole, which has average ratings of 3.8 stars based on 597 reviews on Facebook (where the facility can manage its own page), 3.1 stars based on 76 reviews on Google, and two stars based on 24 reviews on Yelp, plus 10 reviews ranging between one and five stars that are “not recommended” on Yelp.[1] [2] [3]
The negative reviewers repeatedly cited long wait times and misdiagnoses, though some reviewers praised the center’s staff: “Every housekeeper, nurse, imaging tech, lab tech and doctor (nephrology and infectious disease teams) was professional, kind and completely on top of their game,” Amelia wrote in one such comment on Yelp.
FINANCING
According to the facility’s website, most major insurance plans are accepted, and financial assistance is available for qualifying clients. Reading is also one of the 25.8 percent of addiction programs in Pennsylvania that accepts Medicare, and one of the 79.2 percent that accepts Medicaid. Both of the individuals polled by Best-rehabs.com to date commented on the center’s low cost, and they rated its affordability with scores of three and five stars.
[1] Facebook
[2] Google Reviews
[3] Yelp