MN Health Department approves new mental health hospital at Bethesda
Saint Paul Pioneer PressSep 12, 2022
While acknowledging “significant concerns” with the lack of emergency services for patients in crisis, the
Approval from state health officials was one of the final hurdles facing
The state review found that most of the increased patient load from the closure of St. Joe’s emergency department, among other mental health beds lost at St. Joe’s, had already been absorbed by surrounding hospitals, “though it is placing a strain on emergency rooms and inpatient mental health units,” according to a statement from the state’s leading public health institution.
“The public review of this proposal shows how much need there is for additional mental health beds in Minnesota,” said
MDH, however, found that the new stand-alone mental health hospital “will not replace the comprehensive services previously offered at St. Joseph’s Hospital,” which Fairview closed in July, according to the statement. “There will be significant inpatient care gaps remaining after the establishment of the facility that other providers will need to fill.”
Among the state’s concerns, the new facility will lack both an emergency room for receiving patients in mental health crisis and “a full complement of medical care,” so it will “only serve a subset of mental health patients.” And the new site will operate under a “leaner staffing model than is the norm nationally and in Minnesota.”
Fairview officials have insisted for months that rather than cherry-picking the wealthiest patients, no patient will be denied care at the new hospital based on insurance or their ability to pay.
CATHOLIC CHARITIES IN FAVOR, PSYCHIATRIC SOCIETY OPPOSED
State health officials said public comments received during a state-led public meeting held
Among the public comments received was a letter from
“These individuals require — and are worthy of — comprehensive and dignified mental health supports such as those that could be offered at the proposed hospital by Fairview and
Among those opposed to the proposal, according to MDH, the most common concern was that the facility would not serve all patients in need “based on limited medical capabilities and limited access with no emergency department.” Others questioned the quality of
“It is critical to maintain care delivery regardless of a patient’s ability to pay, including in this new facility,” said
“We have seen in our community how that lack of ability to provide emergency assessment allows the hospital to cherry pick which patients they will accept, since they do not have the immediate responsibility for the patient,” reads the letter from the psychiatric society. “That leads to denying acceptance to some patients who have insurance that does not pay well and denying to accept some patients with more challenging and often more expensive care needs.”
In short, they wrote, “other hospitals … must pick up a disproportionate amount of the more expensive and less well reimbursed care.”
MDH said the
Based on the same state legislation this year that allows the hospital to move forward under a conditional exception to the state’s hospital construction moratorium, MDH will monitor both the patient mix and payer mix, as well as patient transfers and patient flow throughout the state.
In addition to granting the conditional exception this year, the Legislature altered the moratorium by creating a process for establishing additional inpatient mental health beds without a public interest review.
The process includes additional oversight, as well as a report on the impact of any expanded inpatient mental health capacity in 2027.
The initial proposal from Fairview and Acadia, among other materials associated with the state’s public interest review, are online at tinyurl.com/Bethesda2022Review.
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