Barring any unforeseen setbacks, the Las Vegas Valley this fall will see its first free-standing private psychiatric facility to open in two decades.

And, despite its private status, the 60-bed Seven Hills Behavioral Institute should ease some of the burden mental health patients are placing on hospital emergency rooms, mental health advocates say.

"In essence, we have always encouraged and advocated any effort to increase the number of psychiatric beds here,'' said Dr. Rena Nora, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Nevada School of Medicine and a member of the state's Commission on Mental Health.

"This should give some relief in terms of the backlog of mental health patients that are causing some overcrowding in the emergency rooms.''

The hospital, which will be located within the Seven Hills Business Park along Seven Hills Drive and Horizon Ridge Parkway in Henderson, will provide psychiatric and substance abuse treatment to adults as well as children age 12 and older.

Bruce Shear, chairman and chief executive officer of Pioneer Behavioral Health, which held a groundbreaking for the hospital on Wednesday, called the youth component an important one because such services are limited in Southern Nevada.

Pioneer Behavioral Health, which is based in Massachusetts, contracts with national insurance companies, the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs and transportation and gaming companies to provide inpatient and outpatient mental health and substance abuse treatment. In Nevada, it already operates Harmony Healthcare, which has two locations in Las Vegas.

"If we can treat children early, they have a better chance of doing well and may not become part of this ongoing mental health system,'' Shear said. "We will also have an adjudicated unit for kids who have gone through the juvenile justice system. This is an effort to stop their cycle.''

To date, Southern Nevada has 141 public and 140 private psychiatric beds, according to the state's Department of Health and Human Services. Shear said that's not quite enough for a population of about 1.8 million.

But the issue of not having enough psychiatric beds isn't just a Las Vegas problem, said Robert Boswell, senior vice president of Pioneer Behavioral Health.

According to federal statistics, the number of psychiatric beds in the U.S. has been cut in half since 1970.

Since 2000, the Las Vegas Valley has lost more than 100 beds.

"This is a huge national problem,'' Boswell said. "And, for us, this was a good business move. It gives us a bigger presence in town and it prevents some of our patients from having to go out of state for treatment. But, it also provides Las Vegas with some additional beds. We will serve some patients who do not have insurance.''

Shear said the hospital will have three units and a total of three or four psychiatrists. The plan is to staff about 100 employees with psychiatric backgrounds.

Boswell said the hospital also plans to work with surrounding health care providers in case some of their patients need medical treatment.

Although Nora and other mental health officials operating in the public sector say this new private facility is a plus, they also say better reimbursements from federal health care programs in terms of treatment for the mentally ill would be a huge benefit.

"We are trying to catch up with our mental health services and our programs but we're still falling behind the nation in terms of access and availability of services,'' she said. "Having better insurance reimbursements would help out a lot. Then hospitals might be more willing to open up psychiatric beds.''

Jonna Triggs, director of Southern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services, which will open a 150-bed psychiatric facility in June, said what the area needs is for one or two of the general hospitals to open a psychiatric unit.

The Rawson-Neal Hospital is under construction at Jones and Oakey boulevards. It will expand to 190 beds by August, Triggs said.