Massachusetts General Hospital is again asking the state to allow it to add 94 more beds to the hospital, saying it cannot treat the number of patients in its emergency department without more space.
Back in 2022, the state Department of Public Health gave the MGH approval to build a new tower to relocate and expand cardiology and oncology services. The move would consolidate them into one building, and close other older spaces. That building, the Philip and Susan Ragon Building, is now under construction and is set to open in two phases, in 2027 and 2030.
But DPH denied MGH’s request to add 94 new licensed beds, an effort, it said at the time, to mitigate cost impacts.
Now, MGH is arguing it has too many patients waiting in the emergency department for inpatient beds, putting a crunch on the available space and increasing wait times for patients to be seen.
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The hospital has 50 to 80 "boarders" every night, according to Dr. David Brown, MGH's president. Boarders are patients who need inpatient care but are stuck in the emergency department — many times spilling into hallways — waiting for an inpatient bed.
“This isn't about anything other than taking better care of the patients who are already here,” Brown told the Business Journal in an interview in his office.
