It may sound strange, but the hospital in Mahnomen, Minnesota won’t have hospital stays for its patients anymore.

The tiny hospital is converting to a rural emergency hospital, leaving many rural Minnesotans far from in-patient care. It’s the first to do so in Minnesota after the option was created in at the start of 2023, but probably won’t be the last. These kinds of hospitals have emergency department services and observation care — however, that care cannot exceed an annual average of 24 hours.

Why make this move? The latest data from the Minnesota Department of Health shows that in 2019, 38 percent of rural Minnesota health care systems have been in the red for more than four years. For more on the situation, MPR News host Cathy Wurzer talked with Dale Kruger, the hospital administrator of Mahnomen Health Center.

The Minnesota Department of Health will hold a public hearing on April 30 at 6 p.m. on the transition to a rural emergency hospital.