ACUTE Center for Eating Disorders — Eating disorder treatment center in Denver, CO

Three weeks at this facility gave me more trauma than fifteen years with anorexia nervosa. The so called physicians that work at this hospitals real speciality is not treating eating disorders; it's perpetrating psychological abuse. I was accepted for admission at a bmi of 12.8, with their published reports stating that the average admission bmi is 13.1. Despite being close to--and in fact, below this threshold, two different attending told me literally that I was not "sick enough" and scoffed at me when I asked for more support and to stay at acute an additional 24 hours as I was worried I would relapse with purging in the day I'd have to spend in a hotel between my discharge and admission to the step-down facility. A nurse commented to me that she was surprised they kept me for the three weeks they did, stating that other patients were "much worse." When I asked her to clarify, she point-blank said "skinnier." When I asked the doctor why she felt it was appropriate to compare patients, given HIPAA guidelines and how competitive eating disorders are by nature, she told me that "all medicine is comparison." I was not offered tube feedings when I had difficulty completing the 4000 calorie a day meal plan because the doctor said she wouldn't "give me the satisfaction" Despite tube feeding having been a helpful tool in past treatment stays. I am in my 30s and wanted to move on my eating disorder. Little therapy was offered, and the cnas documented by every move. The chart, viewable upon discharge, was full of spelling errors and other mistakes, such as listing my height differently three separate times, my age incorrectly twice, and even misspelling my legal name. ACUTE used to be the gold standard for severe patients but now it's just a patient mill. Dr staggs and Dr. Puckett were both verbally abusive towards myself and my husband. Anyone reading, I encourage you to exhaust all other options before sending yourself or your loved one to this program. They provide punishment, not care. You will constantly be pathologized for having any human emotion whatsoever. Your medical concerns will be miminized and your refeeding process will be excruciating. I question who *is* "sick enough" for these providers if a 30-something with a bmi below 13, critical potassium, and hyooglycemoa does not meet the mark as i am not the only individual who has been told this. A treatment facility should not be encouraging patients to get sicker. A treatment facility should be a place where patients are celebrated when they improve. This review is for anyone who was made to feel inadequate by the providers at ACUTE. You are sick enough and you deserve medical care that makes you feel heard, seen, and safe. I was stabilized for residential on paper but my symptoms are more severe than ever after this experience. I would give them zero stars if I could.

Do you want to see honest opinions about Acute? Check their Yelp reviews. My 1 star review on Google was deleted a several times, at the same time as fake 5 star reviews pushed to the top.

I wanted the post this because I want potential patients to get a comprehensive view of the services at ACUTE. I was a patient (ED) at ACUTE for 3 weeks in the fall of 2024. Like any place, it has it's good and bad employees. That said, overwhelming, they fell under the column of good. I think part of the confusion comes from the expectation that ACUTE is an inpatient treatment center. To be clear, ACUTE is a medical ICU. The goal at ACUTE is to refeed and stabilize you so you are able to go on to participate in a treatment program elsewhere. You're going to have ZERO privacy. Does that suck? Absolutely! But most patients are very unwell (average admission BMI is 13.2) and staff are there to ensure that said patients are safe. While ACUTE is meant for medical stabilization only, you will be offered some individual (3-5x per week) and group therapy (1-2x per week). Did I wish it was more, yes. Was I in a position to do more, probably not. Positives: You have complete freedom to use electronic devices such as cell phones, laptops, and tablets. This is a refeeding program; however, staff understands the level at which you're starting and gradually increases caloric intake every 2 to 3 days. You will not believe how hard staff will work on your behalf with your insurance company! After pre-approving my stay at ACUTE, United decided to only pay for my first 10 days of treatment. The staff at ACUTE (on their own) negotiated with my insurance company for 14 months, eventually getting 98% of my treatment covered! I cannot stress how grateful I am to their phenomenal staff for their incredible efforts!!! You have a large, private hospital room with your own bathroom. Negatives: Besides the obvious drawbacks of being in a medical ICU for refeeding (watched 24/7, having to eat, no privacy, etc.)... I'm a survivor of childhood sexual abuse - unfortunately, staff didn't informed me that I had the ability to refuse to be assigned male staff until I had been on the unit for a WEEK. Having a man watch me use the restroom was extremely upsetting. I did have a CNA make a comment to me about another patient who was refusing to eat which I found very unprofessional. When I informed him that most of us were there because we had problems eating, he made another snide comment. I had one nurse (and let me be clear, I do mean just ONE) who said to me - 3 days before I discharged - "I'm surprised you're still here." She was referring to the fact that, in her opinion, my weight was high enough to have discharged earlier. She didn't mean to upset me, it wasn't said with a tone, but as you can imagine, it was extremely, extremely triggering to my eating disorder. Lastly, I had one nurse that on THREE separate occasions, retook, and retook, and retook my blood pressure until it was high enough to be in a moderately acceptable range. I think she was *trying* to help me out?? It was just... not good. Overall, if you need help with refeeding, ACUTE is the place to go! Do I wish I would have been left alone when using the bathroom? Absolutely! Would I probably have purged? Absolutely! Would I rather of been left to eat the amount that I wanted to eat? Absolutely! Would I probably have continued to lose weight then? Yes. Let's face it, you're not going to a spa. This is a medical condition and you're going for medical treatment. It's not going to be fun or enjoyable.

I’d been debating posting this because I want to stay as anonymous as possible, but I want to do anything I can to prevent someone having the same experience i did…or at least help someone feel less alone. Firstly, they now advertise a program for medical malnutrition not due to EDs, but this is NOT accurate. You will be put on the eating disorders program, will be watched 24/7, denied ability to leave your room or walk around the unit if you do not finish your meals (because, you know, you have trouble eating due to the GI issue they supposedly admitted you for?), and you will be unable to go outside. For weeks. It was beyond dehumanizing. I felt I was consistently being punished for my abdominal pain and when I tried to tell the doctor that I came because I was in too much pain to eat, she said “well everyone here has GI issues so I don’t know what you want me to do”. You admitted me for GI pain!! The same doctor told me, quite literally, that I was not “sick enough” to be there and refused to talk to my outpatient team or support people including a rather renown ED physician as she “knew better.” This doctor, when admin finally forced her (!) to actually talk to these supports, told them all I had a personality disorder she had somehow diagnosed through daily five minute checks of my heart and lungs. I actually love working with people with personality disorders and I’m sorry for the mistreatment they often get…but I was never assessed or met criteria for a single symptom (don’t think they even specified which of the dozen or so disorders it was, I don’t think this doctor actually knew a single thing about psychopathology). My notes were filled with inaccuracies. I am in the mental health field and if I wrote phrases like “poor judgement” with NO evidence, my supervisors would think I’d lost my mind. I still have no idea why they said these things about me, since I never expressed disagreement with the psychologist or denied the severity of my symptoms and I am pretty shy and didn’t talk a whole lot. But I found ANOTHER PATIENT”S notes inside my notes!! So clearly accurate documentation is not a priority. Actually, that’s a SERIOUS violation of HIPAA. This one doctor controlled everything and she took every opportunity to talk down to, invalidate, and scold me for being sick. She even literally teased me about a feeding tube and brought my clients into it, saying “well you wouldn’t want a therapist with something on their face, would you?” I never even asked for a feeding tube, but she tried to say I was pretending to be sick and that meant she could say whatever she wanted. You brought my clients into this—-that’s beyond crossing the line. I’m sorry, being in the field and loving my work as I do, I try to be professional. But that doctor’s behavior was disgusting and that’s the best way I can put it. Due to feeling so trapped, talked down to, shamed and punished, I actually have avoided doctors since ACUTE because I’m so scared. Acute can be lifesaving and necessary, unfortunately. But if you can go anywhere else for GI related malnutrition, do anything you can to arrange that instead. For anyone with an ED who is here or considering coming or reading these reviews to try to make sense of your own awful experience…you deserve all the dignity and hope people can offer. You are human, valued, brave for asking for help, and deserving of care. You may have to come because you have no other options for ED treatment, but that doesn’t mean you deserve ANY mistreatment. Please remember this, especially if you find yourself on the other end of any of this kind of behavior. At some point in your recovery, I hope you find a therapist who would move heaven and earth to advocate for your full recovery. They are out there I promise ❤️

Re-writing my experience, as it's now been over a year and I've seen many conflicting reviews. I had a wonderful combination of pneumonia caused by severe anorexia back in 2023ish, and at my home hospital, doctors didn't know how to re-feed me while treating my lung infection. My mom looked into malnutrition treatment centers and luckily found Acute. I was flown out here after 6 days at home. I stayed between Acute and the main hospital, Denver Health, while they waited for my pneumonia to clear up as well as gain more weight. I wish that I had stayed mainly in the main hospital until my body was ready for less monitoring, as I think it would have avoided some medical issues that occurred. However, the care I had received at both Denver Health and Acute was full of compassion and it was clear that they wanted me to get better safely. I understand that coming to a treatment center, especially in a hospital, can be traumatizing, it was for me. However, it should NOT hold you back from looking for higher care. Without coming to Acute/Denver Health, I would be dead. I owe my life to this hospital, and no number of stars can express how grateful I am. Autonomy is taken away, but for a reason. At the state I was in, it was clear I could not be trusted to manage my own health, and giving up that control to doctors and medical professionals was a relief. I felt safe and cared for, and while at times it was frustrating, the bigger picture was that it was necessary. Yes, people watch you while you eat, yes, you have to eat more, and yes, you're expected to finish everything, but there are explanations as to why they set those expectations. Also, they plan your diet so it's a gradual increase and you have time to get used to it, and you can always ask your dietitian for alternatives if you're struggling such as a supplement or feeding tube. I know that everyone's experience is different, but for me, I felt like it worked. The CNA's were all lovely people, I wish them all luck in their lives. The staff and doctors were great, I felt like they were knowledgeable and wanted the best for me. While there were some frustrations on my end, I was able to work through them and voice them when needed. Acute was able to help me get back to a safer body weight and then discharge me to a lower level of care, which is the whole goal. As of now, I'm able to navigate life okay, and while there are days that I struggle, I remember my experience here, and all the people that worked so hard to help me. Cheesy, but it definitely gives me strength and reminds me to keep fighting.

This place truly saved my life. When I came in, I was 60 lbs and today I’m 130 lbs and living free from eating disorder behaviors and symptoms. I committed fully to the treatment plan they recommended, and I can honestly say it worked. I know there are some negative reviews out there, but in my experience, those often come from people who weren’t ready or still struggling. For me, this program went above and beyond. They discovered two medical diagnoses that no doctor in the entire Boston area—despite having concierge, out-of-pocket specialists—was able to find. At Acute, I finally got the proper care. I wasn’t thrilled about every step at the time, but I trusted my parents, who had a clearer and healthier perspective, and they guided me to follow through with aftercare. Looking back, I’m forever grateful they did. If you’re struggling with an eating disorder and your insurance will cover it, go. You’ll be in the best hands, with a team that truly won’t let you down. They can even safely detox you from laxatives and help with complications like constipation and edema. I couldn’t be more thankful for the second chance at life this place gave me.

My experience as a patient here was extremely traumatizing. Despite being accepted as a patient, and having a critically low body weight, multiple doctors and CNAs asked why I was there. This facility leans hard into the eating disorder narrative of "sick enough" and will not be shy to tell suffering patients that they still come up short, sometimes even comparing you to others. I was forced fed nearly 5000 calories a day, almost never allowed outside, and the cnas recorded every word I said to my family on the phone in my chart, adding their own nasty comments and assumptions. Every concern or symptom I expressed during refeeding was met with an eye roll or dismissed. I had a fever one day and they refused to retake my temperature in case I enjoyed the "sick role." I had multiple accidents because once I got to level Breckenridge they were too short-staffed to let me into my locked bathroom. I was mocked for having accidents. Dr. Nemani verbally abused me on multiple occasions, and my plan was never made clear to me or my family. We were given less than 24 hour notice prior to discharge and were scrambling for a flight. The social worker, Libby, was rude and unprofessional. She dismissed any concerns of my family. Nobody one sent a discharge summary to my home treatment team which is all just as well because there were multiple lies and inconsistencies in my chart, not to mention sloppy grammar and spelling mistakes. When I tried to file a complaint to the denver health patient advocate my cna immediately notified the doctor I was complaining about who then came in my room to berate me. I have never been treated so badly anywhere for any reason in my life. This facility used to be the gold standard of ed care, now all they care about is filling beds and making profits at the very real cost of patient experience. I would give zero stars if I could and would not reccomend this place to anyone.

I have been to ACUTE multiple times. Back in 2021 I would have recommended them 100%, now I absolutely would not. They lie, they gaslight and you or your loved one will be treated subhuman. Some of the trauma I suffered here I’m not sure people ever recover from. They wanted me to walk half a mile from a hotel to be admitted when it was 100 degrees outside so my partner had to wheel me in a wheelchair the whole way in the heat. I was told altitude sickness isn’t real at the altitude Denver is. It is. I have peer reviewed studies stating that it is. My doctor tried to say I wasn’t completing because I used supplement even though they say that counts as completion. Back in 2021 the food was good, this time it was terrible. They have gone downhill drastically. You will be asked to lick butter from a container. You will be asked to slurp up crumbs like a dog. You will be confined to a room that is boiling in temperature with no reprieve. They will bully you every chance they get. Half the time the internet was having issues so I couldn’t even watch Netflix or anything to distract from the emotional and physical torture they put me through. And they will find ANY excuse to hold you against your will. It’s a prison not a hospital. The lack of empathy is astounding and incredibly harmful. If you have ANY other option, take it. Edit: also my medical record is full of lies and inaccuracies as well.

Beware: This place, like so many other eating disorder treatment options, is a scam. It's designed simply to trap you, so that they can bill your insurance company for as long as they possibly can. There's nothing they do here that can't be accomplished at home by seeing a combination of a PCP and dietician. If you come here, be prepared to say goodbye to any and all personal freedoms. This place is run like a prison. You will be monitored 24/7, a nurse will be in your room with you day and night nonstop. Want privacy in the bathroom or to shower? Too bad, that's against their rules. Even patients in the ICU aren't monitored as heavily as you are here. They run things via a leveled system--You're constantly treated like you're being punished, and you have to 'earn' back your freedoms and privacy (of which you still won't get much). The second you do or say anything they don't like, they'll revoke said 'freedoms', and place you on a mental health hold. Therein lies the scam. It's your word versus theirs, and the court will side with them every time. The 'treatment' here is designed to make you as uncomfortable as they can legally get away with, and once you complain about it, they've got you trapped, or as they put it while I was there, 'detained'. Save yourself the trauma, and don't come here. You won't be treated like a human, won't get an ounce of respect, and more importantly, they won't accomplish anything here that can't be done just as easily with a small team from home without sacrificing your basic human rights.

My experience at Acute was nothing short of deeply traumatic. While they may be medically capable, their complete disregard for patient autonomy, dignity, and basic human decency makes this place anything but healing. I came in seeking help and am leaving far worse than when I arrived. From the very beginning, there was no communication. Decisions were made about my care without my knowledge or consent. I was manipulated, lied to, and backed into a corner where I had no voice. They use certifications to enforce involuntary treatment, stripping away any sense of control, and they do it with cold indifference. My concerns were dismissed entirely—rather than being treated as a person in need of support, I was treated as an inconvenience. This facility is the opposite of trauma-informed. The bedside manner was not just lacking; it was harmful. Some staff showed no compassion, no effort to understand, and no willingness to work with me. I barely saw providers as much as they say, and when I did, the interactions were rushed and impersonal. My wishes were ignored, my records withheld, and I was left feeling completely powerless. On top of the emotional damage, the physical conditions were just as unbearable. The food was horrible, and I was confined to my room with no freedom to go out. It felt like punishment, not care. This experience has been traumatizing in ways I can’t even fully process yet, and I would never recommend this place to anyone. If anything, I would warn people to stay away or seek treatment elsewhere first.