Nevada’s overdose deaths are climbing even as fatalities fall dramatically across the rest of the country, and a new hospital in Henderson is betting it can help reverse that trend by treating addiction and serious medical conditions under the same roof.
Las Vegas Recovery Hospital, a 68-bed, 32,000-square-foot facility on the Dignity Health St. Rose Dominican Rosa de Lima campus, is the region’s first acute-care hospital focused on both medical and addiction treatment, aiming to catch patients who are too medically fragile for traditional rehab but not well served by crowded emergency rooms.
Drug overdose deaths in Nevada rose slightly in 2024, bucking a national trend that saw fatalities drop 27% across the country, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nevada was one of just two states — along with South Dakota — where overdose deaths increased that year. More recent provisional data suggest that Nevada’s numbers may have declined in 2025, though final figures have not yet been released.
“Our mission is simple: Provide a safe, supportive, stigma-free environment where individuals can receive care and, most importantly, hope so they can take the next step in their recovery journey,” Stacey Zierath-Campa, CEO of Las Vegas Recovery Hospital, said last week at the ceremonial ribbon-cutting. “If this hospital changes the life of just one person, then we will have succeeded, because when you help one person, you help a family, and when you help a family, you strengthen the community.”
The hospital marks the first foray into Southern Nevada for Lion Health System, which operates similar facilities across the United States. A few years ago, the company set its sights on the Las Vegas area after seeing “a significant gap” in care for patients with co-occurring medical conditions and substance use disorders.
At Lion Health’s recovery hospitals, patients receive 24-hour care seven days a week under the supervision of addiction-certified physicians, nurse practitioners, psychiatrists, social workers and recovery specialists.
Individualized treatment plans tailored to each patient’s specific needs — including necessary medications and dietary restrictions — are part of the treatment.
Along with substance use recovery support, Las Vegas Recovery Hospital can treat patients with various conditions such as serious infections, respiratory complications, cardiovascular instability, neurological conditions, organ disease and other issues that require hospital-level care.
One aim of the facility is to reduce the strain on hospital emergency rooms by providing informed care to patients needing long-term support, which in turn can reduce readmission rates, repeat 911 utilization, street dischargesand patient decline from receiving inappropriate care in the wrong setting.
Dr. Edsel Iway, a medical director at Las Vegas Recovery Hospital, said many people “fall in between the gaps” at emergency rooms, jails, shelters or other facilities that aren’t equipped to handle serious medical and psychiatric-risk patients.
Traditional rehabilitation centers often lack the medical infrastructure needed to care for patients with comorbidities, while acute care hospitals aren’t meant to provide extended rehabilitation services, explained Dr. Fred Ceppa, a representative from Lion Health System.
The rapidly changing landscape of synthetic drugs within the illicit drug supply has also created a problem — one that requires treatment centers to adapt their protocols and continuously stay up to date on the latest in substance use treatment.
Las Vegas Recovery Hospital “is uniquely positioned” to meet that challenge, Ceppa said.
The recovery center will work with local emergency departments, shelters and other community providers to identify those who could benefit from the services they offer. The facility accepts Medicare, Medicaid and most private insurance plans to ensure that financial barriers don’t impede access to care, hospital officials said.
“Our patients often arrive at their sickest and lowest points. Stabilizing them in every aspect of their health is challenging, but also profoundly rewarding,” Ceppa said. “By providing up to date, compassionate and comprehensive care, Las Vegas Recovery Hospital benefits not only our patients, but the entire medical community here in Las Vegas and throughout the entire state of Nevada.”
In Southern Nevada alone, overdose deaths from all types of drugs rose by almost 32% from September 2024 to August 2025, according to the Southern Nevada Health District.
Nevada also ranked last in Mental Health America’s 2025 State of Mental Health in America report. The group measured data ranging from the rate of adults with any mental illness reported in the past year to mental health workforce availability.
Mental Health America wrote that Nevada largely struggled with youths who reported at least one major depressive episode (roughly 23%), adults with substance use disorder (22%) and the percentage of youths who didn’t receive any preventive care in the past year (about 38%).
That’s why the recovery facility is important for providing patients care for their substance use and medical conditions “holistically without any shame and without having to wonder where their next appointment will be,” said U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev.
Henderson City Councilman Jim Seebock echoed those thoughts in labeling the facility a “game changer” for the city.
“Recovery is a team effort,” he said. “It affects each and every one of us when your family member (is) going through it, and they need family, they need a supportive team, and today, you’ve given them hope.”