The behavioral health hospital will offer the hospital’s first inpatient child and adolescent psychiatric care, addressing a significant regional gap where the nearest such facility is about an hour’s drive away.
The University of Michigan Board of Regents voted Thursday to approve a 64-bed behavioral health hospital and a freestanding surgical center at its Lansing hospital, in projects totaling nearly $150 million. The approvals mark among the first major capital initiatives since U-M took over the health system in 2023 with a commitment to invest $800 million.
Addressing Pediatric Psychiatric Care Gap
The behavioral health facility will house the hospital’s first inpatient child and adolescent psychiatric care. The $83 million hospital will also serve geriatric and adult populations and include an outpatient program known as partial hospitalization—a service the hospital has identified as a regional need but currently lacks.
Victor Hong, a University of Michigan clinical associate professor of psychiatry, described the scope of this need in remarks released by the regents. “For many years, decades really, there’s been a desert of care especially in terms of the inpatient setting for pediatric care,” Hong said. “This new hospital will enhance the care in the region, add 16 new beds for pediatric patients whereas before the closest inpatient bed for a child was about an hour away from Lansing.”
The behavioral health hospital will be relocated from the hospital’s current St. Lawrence campus facility to a new building in a park-like setting behind the main hospital.
Expanding Surgical Capacity
The $60 million freestanding surgical center is designed to ease capacity constraints at the main hospital’s 22 operating rooms. The facility will open initially with four operating rooms and has potential to expand with two additional rooms.
Long-Term Vision
David C. Miller, CEO of Michigan Medicine, said during the regents meeting that the investments reflect the health system’s commitment to serving vulnerable populations. “These investments would continue our commitment to improving access to care across the state, particularly for those who are most vulnerable,” Miller said.
Margaret Dimond, regional president of U-M Health, characterized the projects as responses to documented service gaps. “Our communities deserve the level of care that is associated with U-M Health, and both of these projects address unmet needs, including the scarcity of behavioral health services in the region,” Dimond said.
Groundbreaking for both facilities is expected this summer, with anticipated opening in 2028. The projects are part of a broader investment strategy. U-M has committed $32 million to a clinic in Grand Ledge expected to open by year-end 2026, and $28 million to an ambulatory clinic center in Ionia.