Chris Hunter, Acadia Healthcare has led the nation’s largest stand-alone behavioral health provider since his appointment as chief executive officer in April 2022 (company announcement. His executive profile is listed on Acadia’s senior executive team page.
Under his stewardship, Acadia operates roughly 250 to 260 behavioral healthcare facilities across the United States and Puerto Rico, employing about 23,000 to 22,500 staff who serve more than 70,000 to 75,000 patients daily across inpatient, specialty, residential and outpatient service lines.
Hunter arrived with more than two decades of senior healthcare experience, including leadership roles at Humana, TriZetto and BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. At Humana he served as President of the Group and Military business and as Chief Strategy Officer, overseeing strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, and a $7 billion revenue segment serving nearly 20 million members. His prior experience in health IT and provider markets, combined with an undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MBA from Harvard Business School, has informed his growth-focused mandate at Acadia, which aims to double revenue by 2028 through joint ventures and facility expansion. More on his background can be found on his LinkedIn profile (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrishhunter, a BizJournals profile, and his Crunchbase entry.
The company completed its largest-ever bed expansion in 2024, adding about 1,300 beds, with another approximately 1,200 beds under construction. Management has disclosed elevated start-up costs tied to that buildout and expects those costs to peak in 2025 before declining in 2026 as new beds ramp. Acadia projected capital expenditures of $550 million to $595 million for expansion, with the majority allocated to increasing bed capacity. Executives reported $3.1 billion in revenue in the first nine months of 2024, sourced primarily from Medicaid, commercial insurance and Medicare.
Hunter has emphasized quality initiatives and external validation of Acadia’s clinical practices even as the company navigates heightened regulatory and public scrutiny. In 2024 Acadia faced investigations and critical reporting, including a Senate Finance Committee review, New York Times exposés and an inquiry by the U.S. Department of Justice into billing and admissions practices. Company leadership says ongoing legal and operational responses are part of broader efforts to stabilize performance and sustain long-term growth.