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ACUTE is on a mission to further improve access to expert medical stabilization care for all persons affected by the extreme medical complications of eating disorders and malnutrition. Since 2002 ACUTE has made strides in improving eating disorder and malnutrition education and treatment.

Please sign up for our professional newsletter to stay connected with our team for the latest in eating disorder research, unit updates and educational opportunities.

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Unmatched Expertise for Complex Patients. Unwavering Commitment to Referring Providers.

When you refer to ACUTE, you can expect:

  • Unmatched formal medical training in eating disorders and malnutrition
    • Note: Specialized medical expertise in eating disorders and refeeding is exceedingly rare. Consider this: Certified Eating Disorder Specialist (CEDS) designations among internal and family medicine physicians are likely, on average, fewer that two per state!
  • 7 days/week, 365 days/year, rounding by full-time, on-site academic medical doctors, and 24 hrs/day MD phone coverage, with advanced MD skills and expertise in eating disorders, only exists in one US hospital
  • ACUTE leadership team plus MDs have >120 combined years of experience caring for eating disorder patients with extreme forms of the illness
  • Volume = Quality for rare medical conditions; only patients with extreme eating disorders and severely low body weight from progressive malnutrition on ACUTE’s private telemetry unit

Why ACUTE and not the closest medical hospital down the road?

When your patient is experiencing life-threatening medical issues from an extreme eating disorder, or must safely weight restore to qualify for a life-saving treatment or surgery, all medical care is not equal, and specialized understanding of evidence-based treatment can be a matter of life or death. ACUTE has capabilities to handle any patient, no matter how low weight, medically complex or psychiatrically challenging:

  • Safe detox from purging
  • Tube feeding and any refeeding intervention (oral, enteral, parenteral)
  • Involuntary treatment  
  • 24/7 1:1 supervision
  • Substance abuse detox
  • Concurrent medical care on the unit for any co-occurring medical condition (diabetes, cancer, infection, NTM aka MAI, liver failure, etc.)
  • Single, private rooms to accommodate mobility challenges, psychiatric issues and/or uncomfortable, embarrassing symptoms.

We understand the anxiety providers feel when their patients are experiencing a medical emergency, and the urge to seek medical care for eating disorders in your local community. Sadly, too few physicians understand the nuances of medical complications of severe eating disorders and malnutrition, and many patients come to harm in community medical settings. These negative experiences can be deadly, or they can challenge your patient’s motivation for recovery. We are here to help our providers navigate every aspect of assessment, insurance authorization and air ambulance transport to Denver Health Medical Center. Your patient will survive at ACUTE, and we will return them to you medically stabilized and sufficiently weight restored to continue the important work of recovery.

ACUTE Earns Prestigious Center of Excellence Designation from Anthem
In 2018, the ACUTE Center for Eating Disorders & Severe Malnutrition at Denver Health was honored by Anthem Health as a Center of Excellence for Medical Treatment of Severe and Extreme Eating Disorders. ACUTE is the first medical unit ever to achieve this designation in the field of eating disorders. It comes after a rigorous review process.

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