July 1, 2009

Minnesota 2009 Legislative Session Fast Facts: Changes Affecting Chemical & Mental Health Services

The 2009 Minnesota Legislature approved a plan to restructure the Department of Human Services' state-operated community mental health facilities into a statewide specialty health care system. The system will offer a broader array of services including residential, partial hospitalization, and outpatient care. The state's 10 new 16-bed community-based psychiatric hospitals, which have been operating at half capacity for 18 months, may be repurposed into a residential service continuum that includes acute care hospitals for crisis stabilization, hospitals with stays of 10 to 45 days, and long-term care hospitals with stays of 60 to 120 days. The plan also requires the development of additional community-based mental health services in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area to facilitate restructuring of the Anoka-Metro Regional Treatment Center.