Skip to main content Skip to office menu Skip to footer
Capital IconMinnesota Legislature

Regions Hospital 100-bed expansion not needed, state officials say

Members of a joint meeting of House and Senate health and human services committees listen to testimony Wednesday during an informational hearing on potential changes at Regions Hospital. Photo by Andrew VonBank
Members of a joint meeting of House and Senate health and human services committees listen to testimony Wednesday during an informational hearing on potential changes at Regions Hospital. Photo by Andrew VonBank

Department of Health officials on Wednesday told lawmakers a new hospital expansion plan is not in the public interest.

They were reacting to a proposal for 100 new beds at Regions Hospital, just down the street from the State Capitol.

The department’s presentation came as the House Health and Human Services Reform Committee is considering the expansion as an exception to a law banning the construction of new hospitals in the state. No action was taken.

Sponsored by Rep. Joe Schomacker (R-Luverne), the committee chair, HF3202 would allow the expansion. If approved, the bill would mark the 28th exception in the 34-year history of the moratorium.

Together with their counterparts in the Senate Health and Human Services Finance and Policy Committee, House members’ task Wednesday was to listen to a presentation from Health Department officials on a report that analyzed to what extent the Regions project was in the public interest.

In a May 1 letter to legislators, Diane Rydrych, director of the department’s Health Policy Division, said that while Regions “plays a critically important role in the community” the expansion was unnecessary in part because it would occur in a market already with a capacity surplus.

“This means the proposal would add considerable resources to the health care system, likely in the range of several billion dollars to create and operate additional excess capacity in the market,” she wrote.

The department found that Regions Hospital officials overestimate the need for new beds and the project could take market share away from other hospitals in the east metro. That financial pressure, in turn, could prompt those hospitals to cut low-revenue services like inpatient mental health care, Rydrych wrote.

She cautioned the department’s assessment is preliminary, but said it wasn’t likely to differ when a final review is submitted on or near May 31.

State Health Economist Stefan Gildemeister told legislators the forecasted period of need growth Regions put forward was too long to be very accurate. The moratorium exists in the first place because the state was concerned about creating an overcapacity of hospitals, he said.

Gildemeister also gave suggestions for the Legislature that may improve the proposal, which include having a specific number of medical/surgical care and obstetrics beds in order to address overcapacity concerns and ensure mental health beds would be part of a new expansion. 

 

Regions rebuttal

Regions CEO Megan Remark said it was “misleading” the department found more beds were not in the public interest.

“We’re not asking for favoritism, we’re asking for an equal playing field,” she said.

Remark said the expansion would benefit their patients, and pointed out Regions was the east metro’s only Level 1 trauma center. That meant Regions could not transfer its patients to lower-level hospitals. She said the hospital is also uniquely qualified to respond to a mass casualty incident. Remark also highlighted Regions’ role as a teaching hospital.

Regions was doing more than its fair share of uncompensated care, she added – and it needs to grow financially in other areas in order to remain viable. She said the 100-bed target is the result of analysis in future demographic trends.

“Everything we do, we believe is in the public interest,” she said.

Remark said Regions has a robust inpatient mental health operation, and the idea of constricting patient beds “will have very dire consequences for patients.”

Sen. Michelle Benson (R-Ham Lake), who chairs the Senate health committee, said that if a bus full of schoolchildren crashed near the Capitol the only hospital that could treat them would be Regions. It is imperative for a suitable alternative for the 100 bed-proposal to be found before the end of session, she said.

Benson sponsors the companion, SF2892, which awaits action by the full Senate.

A packet of letters in support for the expansion was distributed to legislators. It included letters from the City of St. Paul, the Saint Paul Fire Department, the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners, St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell and Ramsey County Sheriff Jack Serier.


Related Articles


Priority Dailies

Minnesota’s projected budget surplus balloons to $3.7 billion, but fiscal pressure still looms
(House Photography file photo) Just as Minnesota has experienced a warmer winter than usual, so has the state’s budget outlook warmed over the past few months. On Thursday, Minnesota Management and Budget...
Legislative leaders announce 2024 committee deadlines
(House Photography file photo) Legislators and the public officially know the timeline for getting bills through the House committee process during the upcoming 2024 session. Here are the two deadlines fo...

Minnesota House on Twitter