Fairview eyes east metro for a new mental health hospital as it winds down inpatient beds at St. Joe's by July

Dec. 16—Fairview Health Services will wind down inpatient mental health beds at St. Joseph's Hospital in downtown St. Paul next summer in advance of opening a new 120-bed mental health and addiction hospital in the east metro.

A site has yet to be determined, but officials said they're considering the former Bethesda Hospital location near the Minnesota State Capitol building in St. Paul.

To launch the $50 million facility, Fairview officials announced on Thursday that they had signed a joint venture agreement with Acadia Healthcare, the largest stand-alone provider of behavioral healthcare in the U.S.

NEW MENTAL HEALTH HOSPITAL TO OPEN WITH 120 BEDS

Through its partnerships with the University of Minnesota and University of Minnesota Physicians, the M Health Fairview brand is the largest provider of mental health and addiction treatment in the upper Midwest, "and we have a responsibility to innovate across the continuum of mental health care and addiction care," said Aimee Jordan, a Fairview spokesperson. "Improving access ... is an important part of that commitment."

The new mental health hospital will open with 120 beds, with the capacity to grow to 144 beds, Jordan said.

The goal is to meet growing demand for mental health services in the east metro, though officials acknowledged there will be a temporary net loss of inpatient care when mental health beds are discontinued at St. Joe's next July. Outpatient services will still be offered at the downtown hospital.

In a written statement, Fairview officials said the new facility will focus on comprehensive inpatient treatment, intensive outpatient and "partial hospitalization" programs for adults who struggle with acute mental health and substance abuse disorders.

EMPATH UNIT LAUNCHED AT SOUTHDALE HOSPITAL

Fairview this year launched EmPATH, a mental health unit at the Southdale Hospital in Edina, where patients are typically admitted for 12 to 48 hours as an alternative to busy emergency departments.

EmPATH, which is staffed by psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses and licensed therapists and other mental health specialists, includes four sensory rooms designed to help soothe patients in crisis with lights and music.

The unit aims to have each patient leave with a safety plan to help them recognize future triggering events and react in ways that promote self-care. Officials have said more EmPATH units are likely throughout the Fairview system.

Plans for a new mental health hospital were submitted to the Minnesota Department of Health, which licenses hospital beds, in November and will also need approval from state lawmakers. Minnesota is one of some 35 states that has a moratorium law that restricts the establishment of new hospitals or the licensure of additional hospital beds.

"We hope to receive full approval of the plan sometime in 2022, and the goal is to be in construction quickly following," Jordan said.

WELLNESS HUB

Also in 2022, M Health Fairview plans to convert most of St. Joe's into a community clinic and "wellness hub," side by side with new pharmaceutical and medical research labs.

The storied St. Paul hospital shuttered its emergency room in December 2020 after Fairview ended most other medical services there beyond mental health and addiction treatment. A COVID unit closed in May.

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