At M Health Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina, Minnesota, there is an emergency room within the emergency room, focused on mental health.
It is called Empath: Emergency Psychiatric Assessment, Treatment and Healing.
Over the past five years, the first-of-its-kind unit in Minnesota has helped more than 10,000 people in crisis by creating a calmer alternative to the traditional emergency room.
“The EmPATH is designed to be more communal in a living room-like setting. There are recliners, patients come in and they have access to things like weighted blankets, sensory rooms. They have access to group therapy and psychiatric medication. This is a stark contrast from a busy emergency department, where patients are often isolated to a room,” said Chris Beamish, service line executive for mental health and addiction at M Health Fairview.
“When we talk about interventions, it’s largely time therapy and medications, and so that’s really important to help patients to stabilize, so that they can go back to their home, to their community, and continue the care in an outpatient setting,” said Madeline Mulcahy, EmPATH psychotherapist at M Health Fairview.
Patients typically stay just 26 to 33 hours, but outcomes have dramatically improved.
Over the past five years of EmPATH, inpatient psychiatric hospitalizations have dropped from as high as 40% to 6%, and less than 17% return to the ER.
“It offers a lot more independence. And for people in mental health, that’s really important because part of what we want to do is help people to help themselves too and feel like they can do it,” said Mulcahy.
Private insurers are largely covering this model, but hospital leaders say Medicaid and Medicare still need to catch up to support its long-term growth.
“This is about taking care of our community, our neighbors, and we want to see it grow. It should be a staple in every community to have an EmPATH so that people can begin healing,” said Beamish.
There are now three EmPATH units operating across the state through different providers.
