Minnesota blocked a proposal two decades ago for a mental health hospital in Woodbury, arguing that the state needed lower-cost outpatient services more than higher-cost inpatient psychiatric beds. The organization behind that request later became known as PrairieCare and successfully petitioned to build and then expand a psychiatric hospital in Brooklyn Park for children and young adults.
Minnesota has granted hospitals licenses to operate 16,223 beds in total, according to the most recent publicly available state data, but hospitals were using only 11,518 beds in 2023. The number of beds in use has trended downward in the past decade because of staffing and financial challenges but also because of improvements in surgeries that allow for more outpatient procedures in clinics.
Mayo Clinic in Rochester is licensed for more than 2,000 beds but is using only about 1,300. United Hospital in St. Paul is operating well below its licensed capacity of 603 beds.
Regions, by comparison, was using 542 of its 554 licensed beds in 2023. The hospital is operating routinely at 95% capacity, which is well above the ideal of 85%, HealthPartners said in its public request. Research has found delayed care of stroke, traumatic injuries and heart attacks when hospitals operate above that threshold.
Minnesota needs more places to transfer patients to continue their recoveries when they are stable enough to leave hospitals, Blomberg said in a statement. But the state needs more hospital beds for its aging population, too.
Regions will be “severely constrained” without the expansion, she said, adding “overcrowding will be the norm if we are not able to expand capacity and care for those in need as well as prepare for future needs.”