MINNEAPOLIS, January 22, 2008—The Minnesota Medical Association has written to the Minnesota Department of Health expressing concerns about the current proposal by Prairie St. John’s to build a psychiatric hospital in Woodbury.

Although the MMA supports and encourages an increase in psychiatric beds, and created a task force in 2007 to address the problem of mental health access, the MMA declines to support the Prairie St. John's proposal until certain conditions are met.

Those conditions include:

• Prairie St. John’s must accept all patients regardless of insurance status or type.
  According to its proposal, the Prairie St. John's does not intend to accept adult Medicaid patients, who constitute a large portion of patients with inpatient needs who can be found in emergency rooms waiting for beds.

• Prairie St. John’s must provide 24-hour emergency access for psychiatric evaluations and admission.
  Although Prairie St. John's will provide a needs assessment department staffed 24 hours, seven days a week, this is much less useful than a psychiatric emergency room.

• Prairie St. John’s should provide medical care for psychiatric patients with stable medical illness at the Prairie St. John’s facility, and work with nearby medical facilities to provide acute care psychiatric services for patients with unstable medical illness.
  Prairie St. John’s does not plan to admit patients with unstable medical co-morbidities. Their policy states that patients who are medically unstable will be transferred to an appropriate facility for care. Since patients with psychiatric illness commonly have active and concurrent medical diseases, this is a major drawback.
  
  "The MMA understands the scope of the problem of psychiatric bed availability and its impact on emergency and general medical resources," the letter states. "However, we also realize that open beds that do not have the capability to take the breadth of patients who need admission hurts rather than helps the issue of access to psychiatric services."
  
  Although the Prairie St. John’s hospital would add beds to the region, which the MMA appreciates and applauds, the Prairie St. John's plan would adversely affect existing facilities in the metro area, forcing them to take the sickest and poorest patients.
  
  The letter was signed by Robert K. Meiches, M.D., MBA, chief executive officer of the MMA; and by Roger G. Kathol, M.D., and Steve P. Sterner, M.D., co-chairs of the MMA's Psychiatric Bed/Patient Diversion Task Force.
  
  Text of the MMA letter