Gundersen adds inpatient mental health beds

Gundersen La Crosse Hospital today announced the addition of four inpatient mental health beds that will allow its Behavioral Health team to serve an additional 200 patients per year, addressing critical local and statewide mental health needs that have become more pronounced with the recent hospital and clinic closures in Western Wisconsin.

The addition brings the total number of adult mental health beds to 26, increasing bed availability by nearly 20 percent. The facility also has eight adolescent beds available for younger patients.

According to Behavioral Health clinical operations director Josh Court, this means Gundersen La Crosse Hospital now has the capacity to serve an additional 200 patients annually who experience acute mental health crises, bringing the total number of adult patients who can be served in Inpatient Behavioral Health to roughly 1,200 per year. The beds have been added to Gundersen’s high acuity unit, meaning they will serve those who need the highest level of mental health care.

“This brings our high-acuity bed total to 12, up from eight previously — meaning we now have 50 percent more beds for those who need mental health care the most,” Court said. “We have seen the need for these beds firsthand, and recent community health needs assessments and facility closures have only underscored the need for additional services.” 

Specifically, officials said:

• The 2024 Compass Now Report, a local community needs assessment, identified mental health care and health care access as the top two community needs for the Great Rivers Region. 
• This spring’s closures of HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital and Prevea Behavioral Care Clinic in Eau Claire resulted in a drastic reduction of desperately needed, and already strained, mental health resources in this part of the state — a challenge that Bellin and Gundersen Health System has swiftly approached head-on. (Bellin Health and Gundersen Health System completed their merger of equals in late 2022, and announced this spring they are becoming Emplify Health, a new name and brand for the future.)  

“As we continue our journey to becoming Emplify Health, Bellin and Gundersen Health System is working across the state to provide sorely needed mental health services for the people and communities we serve,” said Heather Schimmers, Gundersen Region President, Emplify Health. “These additional beds already are making a tremendous difference locally, and we also have inpatient support, when needed, from our colleagues at Bellin Psychiatric Center in Green Bay.”

“There is a critical need for inpatient mental health services, but developing and sustaining mental health services is not easy, nor simple,” said Eric Borgerding, President, Wisconsin Hospital Association. “The opening of additional mental health services at Gundersen La Crosse Hospital would not have been possible without the work of Emplify Health to navigate complex and intertwined reimbursement, regulatory and workforce challenges that face mental health and substance use disorder service providers. We appreciate Emplify Health and the many other hospitals and health systems across Wisconsin that step up to take on or expand critical services when no one else will.”

Mental health is a critical component of overall health, Schimmers added, and it’s a need that cannot be overlooked.

“Bellin and Gundersen is committed to serving all our communities’ health needs — including critical mental health care,” Schimmers said, “and we remain committed to doing just that through direct, intentional, consistent investments in the places where we live, work and play.”