If your last trip to the ER felt like more waiting than treatment, Regions Hospital says help is on the way. The St. Paul medical center is set to open its expanded Emergency Center on Wednesday, part of a major overhaul aimed at shortening waits and keeping up with a steady surge in patients.
The addition reshapes the emergency department with more intake space, new procedure rooms and semi-private seating areas that are meant to move people through triage and treatment faster.
Rising demand and donor support
Regions emergency center handled about 101,000 visits in 2024, a number hospital leaders say reflects a long-term rise in demand that has been stretching capacity. According to HealthPartners, charitable donations helped pay for major upgrades to the ER arrival area, a funding boost the hospital says will translate into faster and safer care.
What’s new inside the emergency center
The remodel adds roughly 3,200 square feet to the emergency footprint, including two dedicated procedure rooms and five new intake assessment rooms. It also introduces semi-private seating that lets care teams lay eyes on patients sooner than they would in a traditional waiting room.
The project cost about 17.8 million dollars, and hospital officials said more than two thirds of that total came from donors. The expanded space will open to patients on Wednesday after a preview event. As reported by the Pioneer Press, the new layout was designed with privacy and de-escalation in mind.
"Creating a space that supports de-escalation, privacy and strong team response makes a real difference," Dr. Kurt Isenberger said, adding that "our hope is we don't increase that number" of low-acuity visits by steering patients to alternatives to the ER. The chief of emergency medicine said the redesign is intended to speed care for sicker patients while giving lower-acuity cases clearer options outside the ER, according to the Pioneer Press.
Capacity pressures and next steps
Regions has also asked for 85 additional licensed beds as part of its longer term capacity planning. The hospital emphasizes that it is the east metro's largest safety net provider and the only Level I adult and pediatric trauma center serving the area.
In a memo to state lawmakers, the hospital reported providing 35.4 million dollars in charity care to more than 20,000 patients in 2024 and recording roughly 100,994 emergency visits that year. The request for more licensed beds is intended to ease bottlenecks that can leave the emergency center crowded and ambulances waiting. According to a House memo on HF 3521, hospital officials say further expansion will roll out in phases once those licenses are approved.
What this means for patients
As the Twin Cities east metro Level I trauma center, Regions treats many of the most critically ill and injured patients and serves as a training site for emergency medicine residents and fellows. The hospital notes that its emergency team handles a full range of adult and pediatric emergencies around the clock and also runs education and research programs that support that readiness.
By shifting certain lower-acuity patients into new intake flows and adding intake and procedure rooms, clinicians expect to free up more treatment bays for the sickest cases and cut delays for ambulances and patients who need to be admitted. For more on services and patient resources, see HealthPartners.
The expanded Emergency Center opens Wednesday. Hospital leaders say they will be watching volumes and adjusting workflows as needed, but for now they expect the new space to help more patients get seen sooner while preserving critical capacity for those who need it most.
