February 18, 2008 Regions Hospital to open new inpatient behavioral health unit Grand opening event is Feb. 19 St. Paul, Minn., Regions Hospital this week will open a new 16-bed inpatient behavioral health unit - a first of its kind in the region - with an innovative way of caring for patients. Psychiatrists on the new unit will work a seven-day-on/seven-day-off schedule, providing improved continuity and a better experience for patients. The new care model involves four psychiatrists who will provide care for patients from the time they arrive in the emergency department and throughout their stay in the new unit. The new unit - 3 behavioral health (3BH) - is a short-stay unit where patients will be hospitalized from one to five days. "This unit will help patients who we believe will benefit from various kinds of treatment options including group and individual counseling, as well as motivational interviews," said Craig Coenson, M.D., the lead psychiatrist on 3BH. "Although 3BH is only one piece of a much larger puzzle to resolving the behavioral health crisis, it's an important step toward helping patients needing short-term care. It also exemplifies the importance of partnerships between hospitals and community resources that provide behavioral health care." Regions emergency department treats more than 6,000 behavioral health patients each year. One-third of these patients wait in our emergency department more than 12 hours before an inpatient bed becomes available. The new unit at Regions will allow patients to be moved through the emergency department more quickly therefore freeing up space for other patients needing behavioral health care. Across the river, Hennepin County Medical Center recognizes the vital role Regions plays in the east metro and has supported Regions' expansion by transferring 27 beds to Regions. "We have continued to respond to mental health needs in the west metro by doubling the size of our acute psychiatric emergency department and we are opening 15 new inpatient beds to bring Hennepin's inpatient psychiatry capacity to 102 beds," said Lynn Abrahamsen, CEO of Hennepin County Medical Center. "At the same time, we're pleased to be able to support the work of Regions to expand capacity in the east metro." As the largest provider of inpatient behavioral health care in the east metro, Regions' newest unit increases the number of behavioral health beds from 80 to 96. Overall, Regions is utilizing 426 licensed beds. The additional 27 beds from HCMC brings Regions' total licensed bed capacity to 454, providing short-term relief to the increasing demand for hospital services. The grand opening event for the new 3BH unit is Tuesday, Feb. 19, with brief speeches and a ribbon-cutting ceremony at noon. St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and HealthPartners President and CEO Mary Brainerd will be among the speakers. A tour of the new unit is also part of the grand opening. Regions Hospital is a Level I Trauma Center and teaching hospital serving Minnesota and western Wisconsin for more than 130 years. Regions is a private, non-profit hospital providing outstanding care in womens health, heart, cancer, surgery, orthopaedics, neurosciences, burn, emergency care and more. Regions is part of the HealthPartners family of care. Additional information is available at regionshospital.com. Jennifer Kovacich 651-254-4726 651-629-0411 pager |
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