Taylor Knopf

A for-profit psychiatric hospital in Raleigh is expanding its services to military members and partnering with local police after a yearslong record of state and federal sanctions. At the same time, its parent company reports record profits. Full story ➡️ buff.ly/FCyxV4H

Today we published part 2 of our investigative story on Holly Hill.

The for-profit psychiatric facility is expanding to serve more patients, including veterans, despite years of safety violations. www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2025/08/21/d...

“Repeat noncompliance at this level of severity is troubling,” said a state health official who is exploring options for what to do about hospitals with repeat problems.

Even as health officials debate what to do next, Holly Hill is expanding. More on that — coming Thursday.

The hospital CEO says these are "sporadic incidents that required the creation of action plans to address deficiencies."

Despite these correction plans, regulators continued to find some of the same issues at Holly Hill — year after year.

State records detail years of serious shortcomings at Holly Hill including:
patient escapes
sexual and physical assault allegations
missing treatment plans
medication errors
contraband on patients
issues in medical charts
unsafe patient discharges
unsanitary living conditions

Holly Hill under scrutiny again: State finds repeated failures after violent patient uprising A dangerous incident involving at least a dozen patients and employees at Raleigh’s Holly Hill Hospital late last year has reignited scrutiny of the for-profit psychiatric facility, which has a yearsl...

During a violent patient uprising, patients ripped down ceiling tiles, destroyed equipment & wielded syringes as weapons.

New report describes the chaos inside Holly Hill Hospital in Raleigh and why regulators once again sanctioned the psych facility. www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2025/08/18/h...

These grants were created after the Uvalde school shooting where 19 children were killed had huge bipartisan support.

Trump admin says they’re not in the best interest of the government.

Scathing new report details North Carolina’s involuntary commitment problem Disability Rights NC spent a year investigating the state’s overuse of the legal procedure, which leaves patients locked up at a high cost with few rights.

NEW REPORT: Disability Rights NC found that a legal tool used to hold psych patients against their will is frequently misused — violating patients’ rights & causing harm

It includes 30+ recommendations to fix NC’s broken involuntary commitment process www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2025/05/27/s...

RFK Jr.'s HHS Orders Lab Studying Deadly Infectious Diseases to Stop Research NIAID's Integrated Research Facility is one of the few federal facilities charged with studying Ebola. Tuesday afternoon, all of its work was put on indefinite pause by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s departm...

RFK Jr. ordered the NIH’s Integrated Research Facility in Frederick to stop all research on serious infectious diseases yesterday at 5:00 PM.

They study pathogens like Ebola there. You may be familiar with it from The Hot Zone.

www.wired.com/story/hhs-ni...

Former employees say short-staffed NC psych hospital rife with violence, abuse More than a dozen former employees say understaffing at Brynn Marr Hospital contributes to what they describe as a dangerous place for patients and employees. Hospital officials say allegations of vio...

Read the two-part investigation and the story on the U.S. Senate committee's report on UHS.
Pt 1: www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2024/05/06/f...
Pt. 2: www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2024/05/07/f...
Senate report: www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2024/06/27/u...

My investigation added to the larger narrative building around Brynn Marr's parent company, Universal Health Services, which has a reputation for prioritizing profits over patient care and has faced federal scrutiny & substantial fines. My reporting was also cited in a U.S. Senate committee report.

Through extensive interview with former Brynn Marr employees and patients, I was able to document a litany of concerns, including fights, sexual assaults, untrained staff, overmedication leading to emergency room visits, and widespread falsification of patient records and insurance manipulation.

Honored to be recognized alongside the NYT for this award. These stories are the product of years of digging into NC's involuntary commitment practices, which often land mental health patients in facilities like Brynn Marr Hospital, where many say they are harmed instead of helped.

The crisis services are free to all patients. So Medicaid is covering it as a benefit (but GOP-led Congress could cut Medicaid funds)

Then state dollars pay for those without insurance and those WITH private insurance. (now the state senate wants to claw back some crisis funds)

Let's talk about funding for these.

The state got the bulk of the money to establish the expanded crisis services through the Medicaid expansion sign-on bonus delivered by the Biden Administration.

Private insurers say they don't have to cover the crisis centers...

‘A Safe Place to Go’: New Alamance crisis hub provides free mental health services that keep people out of jails, ERs The center offers walk-in behavioral health urgent care and a no-barriers peer living room and diverts people from jails and the ER.

North Carolina has been opening mental health crisis centers and services around the state, diverting people who would have otherwise gone to the ER or jail. But will they be sustainable in the long-term? There are many unknowns right now.
www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2025/04/21/a...

The NC senate's budget plan also cuts funds that state-run psychiatric hospitals use to hire contract workers to fill vacancies because they have such a difficult time recruiting full-time workers. This could impact the psychiatric hospitals' future abilities to take as many patients. #ncpol

NC Senate budget plan filled with health care policy initiatives Provisions in the senate budget would repeal NC’s hospital capacity regulation laws, trim vacant state jobs and increase child care subsidy rates.

North Carolina state senators propose cuts to mental health funds because they say communities are getting money from the national opioid settlements and don't need as much.

The settlement funds were never supposed to replace existing funding. #ncpol www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2025/04/18/n...

Wilson County installs naloxone kiosks to fight opioid overdose deaths Repurposed newspaper racks are giving residents free, discreet access to supplies that can reduce their risk of overdose and death.

free naloxone kiosks in Wilson County, North Carolina to prevent opioid overdoses www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2025/04/14/w...

RFK Jr.’s federal health department cuts sow confusion, uncertainty and fear in North Carolina Federal workers, grant recipients worry as they await details of a restructuring plan promoted by US DHHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

After last week’s HHS cuts, N.C. advocates for the aging, domestic violence victims, substance users & more are struggling w/ uncertainty over the slashing of staff, blockages to funding streams and the delivery of care to the state’s most vulnerable. www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2025/04/09/r...

Are you in NC and affected by the federal DHHS, CDC cuts and restructuring?

Are you a federal worker, contractor or recipient of federal funds in North Carolina who has been affected by recent cuts to the federal department of health and human services?

@nchealthnews.bsky.social wants to hear from you:
www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2025/04/01/a...

inbox: BILL CASSIDY and BERNIE SANDERS are jointly asking RFK Jr to testify on today’s health department cuts

Heard from a source at SAMHSA that they’re dismantling the department and Reduction in Force notices went out today.

Source says no supervisors were notified and there’s extra security in the building. They say all leaders at Center for Mental Health are gone except one.

Hearing from all corners of HHS this morning about a total bloodletting — firings of scientists, analysts and many more as delayed RIFs take effect.

Many folks didn’t see early AM email and showed up, only to be turned away when badges didn’t work. Was sent this photo of long lines at one HHS site.

HHS starts layoffs of thousands of workers across its agencies Layoff notices began arriving early Tuesday for thousands of employees of HHS and its subsidiary agencies, with as many 10,000 workers potentially expected to be hit by the cuts.

#Breaking: HHS starts layoffs of thousands of workers across its agencies www.statnews.com/2025/04/01/h...

RFK Jr. forces out Peter Marks, FDA’s top vaccine scientist Marks, an architect of Operation Warp Speed, warned that a recent measles outbreak shows how confidence in science and public health is being “undermined.”

Breaking: RFK Jr. has forced out PETER MARKS, the nation’s top vaccine regulator.

In his resignation letter, obtained by the Post, Marks said he was willing to work with RFK Jr on his vaccine concerns — but said Kennedy wishes “subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.”

The high cost of clean creeks: Who should pay for the mounting litter problem?

Health legislative roundup this week at the #NCGA

#ncpol

As the Texas outbreak grows, how contagious is measles, really? Vaccination eliminated measles from the U.S. 25 years ago. But it can still spread in pockets where vaccination rates are low, like the west Texas county with a current outbreak. Here's how fast.

Vaccination eliminated measles from the U.S. 25 years ago. But it can still spread in pockets where vaccination rates are low, like the west Texas county with a current outbreak. Here's how fast.

This not only eliminates much transparency for HHS, this democratic process was one small check against inappropriate use of executive powers that is now gone