Capsules

PrairieCare Opens 30,000 Brooklyn Park Inpatient Hospital Expansion

More than a third of young adults struggle with mental illness and yet there are currently fewer than 200 psychiatric hospital beds for youth and only 590 total in Minnesota (not including state-run facilities), a state with 5.7 million residents. PrairieCare, one of the nation’s most innovative, fastest-growing psychiatric health systems, has responded by adding 30 inpatient psychiatric beds, the largest expansion of mental health beds for adolescents and young adults in Minnesota in decades. The new facility will serve 1,000 teens and young adults annually who have mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, trauma and mood disorders. The 30,000 square-foot expansion is part of PrairieCare’s Brooklyn Park inpatient hospital. “As mental health care leaders in this region, we have a responsibility to do everything we can to address this crisis and help more families find hope and healing,” said Todd Archbold, PrairieCare CEO. “Too many young people are stuck boarding in emergency departments for days or even weeks, waiting for a mental health treatment option that isn’t there. Our expansion will help alleviate this frustration for families and get them the immediate care they deserve.” The expansion was built by Ryan Companies and took less than 12 months to complete. Down one hallway there are double-occupancy rooms with two beds for youth to share. A separate hallway offers single-occupancy rooms for young adults. Each room has its own restroom regardless of bed count. The doors to each restroom are padded and magnetic, allowing them to snap shut. They can also be easily removed for emergencies. The facility also includes classrooms, lobby areas and a “Zen den.” All of the furniture is weighted, making it more difficult to lift or move. “It’s not just about adding beds,” NAMI Minnesota Executive Director Sue Abderholden said. “It’s about adding a beautiful healing space.” The new expansion is part of PrairieCare’s comprehensive plan to address the mental health crisis, including other innovative efforts such as the AID Team that conducts free mental health screenings and assessments, the Psychiatric Assistance Line (PAL) for health care providers to get free consultations and referrals for their patients, and the Mental Health Collaboration Hub that helps connect youth boarding in hospitals and emergency departments to mental health treatment.

Indian Health Board Announces $24 Million New Wellness Center

On October 9, in observance of Indigenous People’s Day, the first year it has been celebrated officially as a state holiday, the Indian Health Board of Minneapolis (IHB) announced it will break ground next year on a new health care campus. The future Menaandawiwe Wellness Campus will be located at 2027 E. Franklin Ave. in Minneapolis and combine traditional healing methods with state-of-the-art medical, dental and specialty services. “We’re over 50 years in its making,” said IHB CEO Dr. Patrick Rock, member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. “We’re actually the first urban Indian health organization in the United States. That started a groundswell of people coming together and recognizing the lack of health care services to Indigenous people in the Twin Cities area.” According to the Minnesota Department of Health, American Indian women, children and families experience the greatest health disparities in the state. Another report from MN Community Measurement found that Indigenous patients have significantly lower rates of optimal care compared to the state-wide average. IHB was founded in 1971 to provide health care to urban American Indians. IHB provides primary medical care, dental services, mental and behavioral health, and recovery services, along with health and wellness education. “I’ve done research in Indian health for a couple decades and a common theme is Native patients don’t feel welcome where they’re at or there’s different belief systems in place,” said IHB Chairwoman Joni Buffalohead. “The Indian Health Board clinic here in Minneapolis is totally centered on culture.” The new campus will break ground in the spring and will open in the spring of 2026. The architect is American Indian from Turtle Mountain, part of the DSGW firm. The construction company is Woodstone and its owner, Paul Meyer, is American Indian from White Earth. The $24 million project was made possible thanks to funding at the state and federal level. Attending the announcement ceremony, Lt. Gov. Flanagan described the funding effort as “Equity and grant making, equity and bonding, and saying that we are going to set aside dollars specifically for Indigenous communities and specifically for communities of color who have been left out of this process for far too long.”

Fulcrum Health Joins MN RETAIN Study

Fulcrum Health, Inc. a physical medicine benefit management organization, recently announced its involvement in the Minnesota Retaining Employment and Talent After Injury and Illness Network (MN RETAIN), a state-wide research study designed to keep individuals in the workforce or to help them return to work as soon as medically possible after an injury or illness. MN RETAIN is a collaboration between the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, the Minnesota Department of Health, the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, the Governor’s Workforce Development Board, Mayo Clinic, and Workforce Development, Inc. The study evaluates the benefit of early interventions to help workers stay at work and return to work. Fulcrum’s participation allows more than 2,400 chiropractors in its ChiroCare network to refer patients to the MN RETAIN study. Once accepted, those patients receive services to support or sustain their employment, retain job skills, and help ease the transition back to work. Each worker in the intervention group is assigned a return-to-work case manager who serves as a liaison between the workers, their health care providers, employers, and other stakeholders to help them access services needed to return to work. “Time lost to injuries and long-term illness can cost employers and Minnesotans millions each year. This is whether employees are injured on the job or on their own time. Chiropractic care is an increasingly vital part of managing those injuries. They are also a part of a successful return to work and reducing future disabilities,” said Deb Zurcher, DC, LAc, Assistant Chief Clinical Officer, for Fulcrum Health. “Fulcrum Health represents a standard of excellence among chiropractors, and participating in MN RETAIN gives providers an opportunity to deliver additional support for patients, while reinforcing the power of physical medicine to help people overcome injury and get back to work and life faster.” Enrollment in MN RETAIN, which is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor and the Social Security Administration, will run through May 2024. For more information visit fulcrumhealthinc.org. For more information about MN RETAIN, visit MNRETAIN.com.

U of M and Global Experts Cite Male Infertility Crisis

In a recent edition of Nature Reviews Urology, a team of international experts, including University of Minnesota Medical School faculty, is urging governments and health systems worldwide to recognize male infertility as a growing global health concern. “The most visible male reproductive health concern is reports of globally declining sperm counts. Possible causes for the decline include environmental and lifestyle factors and poorer quality sperm associated with advanced paternal age. These factors and others can contribute to or cause male infertility. All the more concerning is emerging data that suggests male reproductive ill-health as a ‘canary in the coalmine’ for overall health, such as metabolic and cardiovascular disease,” said Christopher De Jonge, PhD, an adjunct professor in the Department of Urology at the U of M Medical School and co-founder of Male Reproductive Health Initiative (MRHI).

The report presents 10 recommendations and emphasizes the need for accessible diagnoses and targeted treatments, which are currently hindered by funding shortages, research gaps and inconsistent clinical practices. Recommendations include:

• Create a global “biobank” for data on genetic and environmental causes of infertility.
• Provide genomic sequencing and improved diagnostic tests for men facing fertility challenges.
• Conduct rigorous tests on the impacts of chemicals, especially endocrine-disrupting ones, on male reproductive health.
• Establish regulations and policies to protect men from harmful compounds and develop safe alternatives.
• Enhance training for health care workers to support male reproductive health throughout life.

Commissioned by the MRHI, the report draws on insights from 26 experts across Australia, Argentina, Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S. It identifies crucial knowledge gaps and offers a roadmap for researchers, governments, healthcare systems and public education. “Much more research is required to develop improved diagnostic testing and therapeutic strategies, which requires funding. However, despite the World Health Organization and the American Medical Association recognizing infertility as a disease, research funding levels for female and male reproduction are vastly lower than for other diseases,” Dr. De Jonge said. The next steps are to further disseminate the recommendations in the report to all stakeholders, including legislators, insurance companies, funding agencies and social networks. 

Allina Providers Vote To Unionize

Doctors, physicians’ assistants, and nurse practitioners who work at Allina Health recently voted 325 to 200 in favor of joining a labor union known as Doctors Council SEIU. This vote comes on the heels of another successful vote to unionize by 150 Allina physicians at the Mercy/Unity hospitals in March. “In between patients, your doctor is dealing with prescription refills, phone calls and messages from patients, lab results and more,” said Dr. Cora Walsh, a family physician involved in the organizing campaign. “At an adequately staffed clinic, you have enough support to help take some of that workload,” Dr. Walsh added. “When staff levels fall, that work doesn’t go away.” Dr. Walsh estimated that she and her colleagues often spend an hour or two each night handling “inbox load” and worried that the shortages were increasing backlogs and the risk of mistakes. “We feel like we’re not able to advocate for our patients,” said Dr. Matt Hoffman, another doctor involved in the organizing at Allina. Dr. Hoffman, referring to managers, added that “we’re not able to tell them what we need day to day.” Consolidation in the health care industry over the past two decades appears to underlie much of the frustration among doctors, many of whom now work for large health care systems. Doctors at Allina noted that staffing was a concern before the pandemic, that COVID-19 pushed them to the brink and that staffing has never fully recovered to its prepandemic levels. “We were promised that when we get through the acute phase of the pandemic, staffing would get better,” Dr. Walsh said. “But staffing never improved.” The 600 doctors organized a union because they felt an erosion of their ability to practice medicine, as critical thinkers, as scientists and as talented and compassionate dedicated professionals. This historic vote represents the largest private sector group of clinicians ever to have formed a union. Through this action they claim they can now advance their professions and guarantee they will be there for the patients and communities who need them.

State Issues Annual Drug Overdose Deaths Report

Overdose deaths held steady from 2021 to 2022, 1,356 to 1,343, marking a plateau after several years of sharp increases, according to the Minnesota Department of Health’s (MDH) Statewide Trends in Drug Overdose: Preliminary 2022 Data Update (PDF). Fentanyl-related overdoses continued to take a tragic toll, keeping deaths at a historically high level, and is now involved in 92% of all opioid-involved deaths and 62% of all overdose deaths in Minnesota. Opioid-involved deaths increased 3% (977 to 1002 deaths) from 2021 to 2022. Deaths involving prescribed opioids, heroin and methadone decreased. Deaths involving heroin fell to a 10-year low, decreasing 56% (103 to 45 deaths) between 2021 and 2022. Psychostimulants (e.g., methamphetamine) and cocaine also contributed to the number of drug overdose deaths. Cocaine-involved deaths saw the largest increase of any drug category, increasing 27% (165 to 210 deaths).Drug overdoses have a larger impact on individuals, families and communities than deaths alone. For every one drug overdose death, there were nearly 13 nonfatal drug overdoses in 2022. The number of hospital-treated nonfatal overdoses remained relatively stable, decreasing 5% from 2021 to 2022 (17,792 to 16,934 overdoses), according to the data brief. Governor Tim Walz and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan’s 2023 One Minnesota Budget included over $200 million to address substance use and overdoses—with $50 million of that coming to MDH over the next four years. The investment addresses prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery. Additionally, the governor and legislature passed a policy to reduce drug overdose deaths by requiring all schools, law enforcement officials, emergency responders and residential treatment programs to have naloxone on hand. MDH and the Minnesota Department of Education have posted a toolkit to help schools obtain cost-free naloxone and implement the new requirement. Additional state-led activities include expanding medication-assisted treatment, establishing new peer recovery support systems and launching the MN Naloxone Portal where mandated groups can access no-cost naloxone. Collaboration with other state agencies and federal funding partners help make this overdose and substance-use response work possible.