To keep money-losing St. Joseph's open, Fairview wants help on mental health
Saint Paul Pioneer PressFeb 16, 2020
Leaders of the nonprofit health system spent weeks last fall brainstorming ways to eliminate an anticipated
As of October, according to an internal email, plans included closing both
In December, Fairview laid off 340 people and reduced its beds at Bethesda to 50, from 89, while also closing some pharmacies and sleep centers.
But community outcry over the potential loss of
In a recent interview, Fairview CEO
However, "The status quo is unsustainable. We're losing
Fairview will issue a request for proposals in the coming weeks for a consortium to help them maintain hospital beds for the mentally ill. Hereford has discussed the idea with
Because reimbursement rates for the services are so low, he said, "There's no reason for us as a community to compete in mental health."
Hereford said there are dozens of examples of communities banding together to preserve mental health beds.
They include a 107-bed mental health center in
Allina said it shares Fairview's concern about ensuring a "continuum of care, including hospital services" for mental health and chemical dependency.
HOUSING
Hereford is interested in using that space for transitional housing; he named
"I think the notion of partnership as a way to find some solutions here is going to be helpful," she said.
"I'm glad they're responding to the outcry ... because it would literally crush our system," she said.
However, if
"I want to make sure that this is going to work," Abderholden said.
"We would work these through if there is a partnership. We are in the very early stages of discussing possible partnerships with other care systems to serve the community and working out details to provide care to all, regardless of payor," a spokeswoman said by email.
REACHING OUT
Besides holding onto hospital beds,
Hereford said he wants to expand primary care for the homeless and undocumented and make urgent care more accessible to reduce the reliance on emergency rooms. And he's exploring ideas for extending services out to people rather than bringing them in.
"If you're thinking of mental health only as inpatient, you're probably not doing a very good job of caring for people," he said.
There are three hospitals downtown, but the city hasn't "been taking full advantage" of their expertise outside the hospital walls, Spencer said.
Ohmann, of
"If we had more of the health professionals closer in ... that's always more beneficial," she said.
NAMI's Abderholden has no objection to better serving people "upstream," but she said there always will be a need for hospital beds, too. She notes other health systems in the state lose even more money on mental health than
"It doesn't mean you close down beds that people need," she said.
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