Hospital overview

One Hospital, Two Campuses

Mercy and Unity hospitals, parts of Allina Health, have provided exceptional care to North Metro communities for more than 50 years.

In 2017, Mercy and Unity hospitals began operating as a single system of hospital care on two campuses in Coon Rapids and Fridley. This “One Hospital, Two Campuses” plan makes a significant investment to strengthen the services Mercy and Unity provide to patients in the North Metro.

Our vision for the future

The “One Hospital, Two Campuses” strategy will integrate specialty services across two campuses over several years. The plan lays the foundation to support improved health of our communities for the next 20 years and beyond.

First and foremost, our goal is to provide the best care and experience to our north metro communities.

• Mercy and Unity hospitals are working to create a unified CMS Certification Number (CCN) and license to be effective Jan 1, 2017. This helps solidify our transition to one hospital on two campuses.
• Allina Health is making significant capital and program investments in this “One Hospital, Two Campuses” plan to strengthen the services Mercy and Unity provide to patients in the North Metro.

New name

In January 2017, we changed the names of Mercy and Unity hospitals to share the single name: Mercy Hospital.

The Unity Hospital location in Fridley is known as Mercy Hospital – Unity Campus. The Unity Campus in Fridley continues to have emergency care, medical and surgical care and other services. In addition, adult mental health and addiction services are being enhanced.

Patient benefits

A single medical record system was created for the combined hospitals. This helps make documentation easier and more streamlined, patients are able to move from one campus to the other without being discharged and admitted again. They can be transferred, just like they were moving to another floor in the hospital.

• Patients who need to be moved between campuses will receive one bill for all hospital services.
• We will be able to move patients from either emergency department to a bed or service at the other campus without a transportation charge to the patient.

Enhancing mental health services in the North Metro

An exciting advancement in the "One Hospital, Two Campuses" plan is combining adult inpatient mental health and addiction medicine services, currently located on separate campuses, to the Unity Campus and to enhance programs/services for patients.

• According to a recent community health needs study, one of the biggest needs in our communities today is mental health services.
• The inpatient mental health unit at Mercy had 39 beds, including some double rooms. The new inpatient unit on the Unity Campus has 40 all private rooms with an enhanced healing environment (such as activity rooms, special lighting and music).

For our communities, a single robust inpatient program located on the Unity Campus means that patients will have access to inpatient and outpatient services, which are key to maintaining and improving health.

• Consolidation of adult inpatient mental health with the addiction services on the Unity Campus does not mean that Unity will become a mental health-only hospital.

Unity Campus investments

On the Unity Campus in Fridley, we remodeled some areas to accommodate the relocation of inpatient mental health, including the fourth floor, emergency department and mental health clinic.

Unity will continue to serve many community members through emergency services, outpatient services, and medical and surgical inpatient services.

Mercy Campus investments

On the Mercy Campus in Coon Rapids, we are making long-overdue renovations to the ICU (intensive care unit), surgery areas and the emergency department.

We are also updating infrastructure, including sterile processing, kitchen and central utilities. We are adding a parking ramp to provide parking that is close to the new main entrance for our patients and visitors.

Construction is expected to be completed in 2019.

Building on the strengths of both hospital locations, this is an exciting time for Mercy Hospital sites. We have the opportunity to enhance facilities and program offerings in ways that will ensure we provide excellent care and service to our communities for years to come.

With both campuses combined, we build on our strength as the premier tertiary/specialty hospital in the North Metro, with expert physicians and staff providing leading-edge care.

We are committed to offering services at each campus that patients need most often.

Both hospital campuses will remain vital parts of the care Allina Health delivers to patients in the North Metro in the future.

Over the next few years, we will continue to assess the needs of our communities and how we provide needed services to ensure the very best programs are available.