Jensen+Partners led an ambulatory care planning study for the Hennepin Health System, to identify ways to alleviate overcrowded areas, right-size clinics, and propose relocations in the context of longer-term planning. This process led to a Board of Directors request for an updated comprehensive master facilities plan that would help them place ambulatory care decisions in a larger facilities context. 

The master planning process for Hennepin Health System was highly interactive. A variety of groups were engaged, from departmental and nursing staff to a steering committee and a “2025 Group” of young physicians. Working sessions led to six alternative scenarios, later refined to three, and then to a broad consensus about an optimal master planning approach.

The master plan rationalizes inpatient and outpatient space fragmented by previous phased development and following the merger of adjacent but separate downtown hospitals. Inpatient services are consolidated in the newest, most technically robust structures; ambulatory care is relocated out of these buildings and centralized in a new comprehensive ambulatory care center. A vacant site owned by the hospital and adjacent to it is proposed for a new psychiatric inpatient and outpatient facility, while administrative and clinical support functions are grouped into former inpatient space that is no longer appropriate for acute care but can be renovated cost effectively for administrative and clinical support functions.

Jensen+Partners worked with Hennepin Health System administrators to develop a capital funding strategy. Part of this planning includes leveraging programmatic renovation funds to make improvements in the urban and architectural character of the medical center, revitalizing its presence and activity on the street and creating a new identity and image as the medical center moves from a safety-net and training orientation to a new competitive position.