Elements Behavioral Health has been actively expanding as evidenced by the purchase of Park Bench Group Counseling in New Jersey and the opening of Brightwater Landing in Pennsylvania right outside Harrisburg and Hershey.
Elements portfolio are also ramping up programs to meet increased market demands. Centers in Texas and Tennessee are adding new services, and a detox program in Florida launching in the first quarter of the year.
On The Market?
Within all this activity, observers are reporting that Elements is for sale. Reuters reported in December 2014 that private equity and venture capital firm Frazier Healthcare is potentially looking to sell Elements, and that investment bank Jefferies Group LLC has been retained to facilitate the next steps. Across the entire industry, valuations are up, and the market is ripe for activity.
Elements has been estimated to be worth $30 million in EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) and get 10x more in actual negotiations.
Acquisitions!
Founded by two clinicians in 2006 the newly acquired Park Bench in New Jersey provides day treatment and intensive outpatient services, including an individualized aftercare program (…often a big missing piece in substance abuse treatment).
Elements was targeting the Northeast for some time, particularly in the New York/New Jersey Tristate area because of population density and the need for young adult treatment. The services they’re providing, which are addiction and co-occurring disorders, fit with the Elements family of programs.
Elements has an existing property in York, Pa., and this month, it added a new location, Brightwater Landing in Lancaster County – west of Philadelphia. The center is on a 150-acre campus that lends itself to treatment interventions that require more outdoor space as well as landscape features appropriate to experiential and adventure-based therapies.
Treatment at Brightwater will include equine therapy and a ropes course to enable clients to process the emotional and behavioral parts of their addiction. The experiences will address not just the substance-use disorders but also the underlying trauma that contributes to using. The center will offer primary psychiatric and active mental health models of care – early on-ramp for those seeking treatment for the first time.
Elements Behavioral Health is part of a trend within the industry where small mom and pop outpatient and treatment centers built over the last few decades are being gobbled up by some big players. We expect more merger and acquisition activity in 2015.