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Utah State Hospital Superintendent Dallas Earnshaw speaks at the unveiling of the hospital’s 15-year master plan on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026, in Provo.
Jacob Nielson, Daily Herald
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Executive Director of the Utah Department of Health and Human Services Tracy Gruber speaks at the unveiling of the Utah State Hospital’s 15-year master plan on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026, in Provo.
Jacob Nielson, Daily Herald
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The Utah State Hospital’s 15-year master plan is shown Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026, in Provo.
Jacob Nielson, Daily Herald
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Phase 1 of the Utah State Hospital’s 15-year master plan is shown Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026, in Provo.
Jacob Nielson, Daily Herald
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Phase 2 of the Utah State Hospital’s 15-year master plan is shown Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026, in Provo.
Jacob Nielson, Daily Herald
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Phase 3 of the Utah State Hospital’s 15-year master plan is shown Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026, in Provo.
Jacob Nielson, Daily Herald
Utah State Hospital Superintendent Dallas Earnshaw speaks at the unveiling of the hospital’s 15-year master plan on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026, in Provo.
Executive Director of the Utah Department of Health and Human Services Tracy Gruber speaks at the unveiling of the Utah State Hospital’s 15-year master plan on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026, in Provo.
The Utah State Hospital’s 15-year master plan is shown Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026, in Provo.
Phase 1 of the Utah State Hospital’s 15-year master plan is shown Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026, in Provo.
Phase 2 of the Utah State Hospital’s 15-year master plan is shown Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026, in Provo.
Phase 3 of the Utah State Hospital’s 15-year master plan is shown Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026, in Provo.
The rise of community mental health services during the 20th century stabilized the number of patients at state mental health hospitals, contributing to the deinstitutionalization of these facilities across the nation.
In recent years, though, Utah State Hospital Superintendent Dallas Earnshaw said with population growth there is once again a greater demand for state hospital-level care. With the support of statewide leadership, the state hospital in Provo has hatched a plan to provide it.
The Utah State Hospital announced Thursday a 15-year master plan intended to build new infrastructure, increase the number of patients and deepen the roots between the hospital and the 300-acre east Provo campus.
“The current hospital, as it stands now, is in great shape,” Earnshaw said. “There is nothing wrong with the current hospital. We do a great job. Our workforce is amazing. All of our positions are filled. … We do have an increased demand for services, and we need to look at how are we going to be able to continue going forward to meet that demand.”
Health care architect Michael Dolan said the previous master plan, completed in 2004, focused on tearing down aging buildings and relocating patients and services, and that this plan focuses on growing the hospital and making it more organized.
There are three sections of the hospital campus: adult services, forensics and the pediatric program. Earnshaw said Phase 1 of the master plan would solve an overcrowding issue at the forensic section by building a new 60-bed, 90,000-square-foot forensic addition. This would move all forensic patients that are currently spread out throughout the campus into one centralized location.
“This would open up more beds for the community mental health system,” Earnshaw said.
Phase 2 would involve relocating a treatment mall from the Rampton 1 building in the adult services section to a new section west of Rampton 1. According to Dolan, this relocation would repurpose Rampton 1 to allow for more adult civil beds. The hospital would also build a new administration building as part of phase two.
“(This would) create a more welcoming front of campus, relocating the services that are currently in the existing administration building so that this can be repurposed for additional patients services and care,” Dolan said.
In Phase 3, an ISTEP building would be built in the pediatric section of campus, giving “the highest acuity youth” a place to go receive care, according to Dolan.
The comprehensive plan comes at a time where state leaders have pledged their support to mental health care.
Gov. Spencer Cox told attendees at a 140th birthday celebration for the state hospital last July, “I think we need to continue to invest in this place and places like it, so that we can give people the care that they desperately need.”
The Utah Behavioral Health Commission was formed in 2024, with the purpose of making recommendations to the state Legislature for policy and appropriations involving behavioral health. Commission chair Ally Isom said Thursday the committee’s top priority has been the state hospital.
“It’s such a crucial place for those who experience serious mental illness, and it affects the rest of the ecosystem of behavioral health in such a powerful, meaningful way,” she said. “That prioritization hasn’t come just by happenstance; that prioritization was informed by data and best practices. This year, we’re working with legislators, petitioning for the prioritization of the state hospital and its funding in the state of Utah.”
The announcement of the master plan is just the first step in the project, said Tracy Gruber, the executive director of the Utah Department of Health and Human Services. She said the next step would involve figuring out funding.
“This plan really leverages this existing facility and looks at repurposing buildings, utilizing space that that already exists, and we’re looking forward to getting to work on that piece of it,” she said.
Dolan warned, though, that plans are contingent on additional support from the community to create more step-down facilities. Earnshaw added that these services are crucial in helping people complete their time at the state hospital and find lower-level treatment to be discharged to.
“If those programs don’t exist, then they’re not able to leave the state hospital, which then makes it so those beds are not available to somebody else that needs to come in,” he said.
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