MINNEAPOLIS, March 27, 2008—According to the Pioneer Press, Prairie St. John's may present a new plan after a state Senate committee declined last week to vote on a larger Woodbury facility for children and adults.

The new plan would call for a 66-bed psychiatric hospital just for children.

The child-only hospital niche addresses key criticisms. It would decrease competition with mainly adult metro hospitals. And it would eliminate a funding problem forcing the state pay more for adults.

Prairie's original idea of a 96-to-144-bed psychiatric hospital was opposed by the Minnesota Department of Health.

Although the MMA supports and encourages an increase in psychiatric beds, and created a task force in 2007 to address the problem, the MMA declined to unconditionally support the original Prairie St. John's proposal.

Twin Cities hospitals opposed the original Prairie idea, saying that that it would take the most profitable insured patients and that it couldn't handle psychiatric patients with unstable medical conditions. 

But families testified in favor of the Prairie hospital, describing the problem of waiting days for psychiatric beds.

Pioneer Press article