Carrier Clinic Expansion Enhances Pediatric Behavioral Health Care Access

The Hackensack Meridian Children’s Health pediatric and adolescent behavioral medicine team will soon have expanded access to inpatient beds at the Hackensack Meridian Carrier Clinic main campus in Belle Mead, NJ.

Carrier Clinic recently received approval from the state of New Jersey to expand inpatient care to include children ages 7-12 and increase the number of available pediatric and adolescent beds from 36 to 52 — making it the largest pediatric and adolescent inpatient behavioral health unit affiliated with a children’s hospital in the state.

“This expansion will improve access to care for children and teens who need behavioral health services,” said Stacy Doumas, M.D., MBA, chair of Psychiatry, Southern Region, Hackensack Meridian Health, and chair, Department of Psychiatry, Jersey Shore University Medical Center. “In addition to providing comprehensive inpatient care delivered by a team of child and adolescent psychology and psychiatry experts, we will be able to reduce boarding rates in our Emergency Departments and provide therapeutic care more quickly to support children and families in crisis.”