Disability Futures

A for-profit company that runs group homes for the developmentally and intellectually disabled has changed its name from AdvoServ to Bellwether Behavioral Health, following ProPublica articles on three teenagers’ deaths and staff’s frequent use of physical holds and mechanical restraint devices.

In response to questions from ProPublica, the company said that the name was not the only facet of the company to change.

“Over the past year, a completely new leadership team, with a different management philosophy, initiated a series of transformational changes designed to fundamentally alter the trajectory of the company,” company executives said March 17 in an emailed statement from a spokesman, Brian Burgess. “The new name — Bellwether Behavioral Health — is just an outward reflection of the fundamental changes designed to deliver better outcomes for the individuals in our care.”

Burgess said that the company would not elaborate on the changes in the company’s operations or management philosophy. Reflecting the shift in leadership, all but one of the six top executives listed on its website were hired last year. A New York private equity firm, Wellspring Capital Management, owns the company.