The hospital will be the first facility to expand the number of hospital beds in the Twin Cities area in more than 20 years and the first new hospital for the area in nearly a decade, according to the report.
In the mid-1980s, the state issued a moratorium on hospitals due to an increase in the number of facilities that outpaced demand. While HealthEast Care System opened a new hospital in Woodbury, Minn., in 2000, the facility served as a replacement facility for another HealthEast hospital and did not increase the number of hospital beds in the area, according to the report.
The Minnesota Department of Health granted an exception in 2005 for a new facility in the Twin Cities’ northwest suburbs due to population growth. North Memorial Health Care, Fairview Health Services and TriCare — a consortium composed of Allina Hospitals and Clinics, Park Nicollet Health Services and Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota — all sought to build the new facility.
North Memorial and Fairview eventually submitted a proposal to build the hospital together, with North Memorial owning 75 percent and Fairview 25 percent, which was approved by the state legislature, according to the report.
The new hospital will feature 90 beds and five operating rooms; however, the hospital’s opening will occur in stages with only 30 beds opening initially.
Read the Star Tribune’s report on Maple Grove Hospital.
