The $59-million first phase would include a 70,000-sf medical office building and a 105,000-sf outpatient center that would proceed this spring, according to North Memorial.

The bill would lift the state's current moratorium on building new hospitals to allow North Memorial to set up a new 80-bed facility in the western part of the Twin Cities metro. The beds would be transferred from North Memorial's existing hospital in Robbinsdale. The House bill would allow the Robbinsdale-based healthcare organization to add 180 new beds in 2010 provided the healthcare organization meets certain requirements.

Dave Renner, the Minnesota Medical Association director of state and federal legislation, says that the state has a moratorium on building new hospitals or adding hospital beds to prevent a glut. As such, the Legislature must take action for any new facility to open or an existing hospital to expand.