A safe place to recover, when going home isn't an option.

Vital Recuperative Care is a Minnesota medical respite home serving adults who are leaving the hospital but have no safe, stable place to heal. We provide 24-hour supervision, medication support, wound and vitals monitoring, and the wrap-around care coordination that keeps people out of the emergency department.

Submit a Referral → For Discharge Planners

A nurse in teal scrubs with a stethoscope gently holds a patient's hand during a recuperative-care check-in

24-hour referral response

Discharge-ready placements, no upfront cost to the patient

24/7

On-site care staff

< 24h

Referral response

Insurers accepted

Cost to qualifying patients

Accepted insurance & managed-care partners

A care coordinator with a clipboard meets with a patient on a couch to walk through a recuperative-care plan

What is recuperative care

Short-term, clinical, and fully coordinated.

Recuperative care (also called medical respite) is a short-term residential stay for people who are medically too well for a hospital bed, but too sick to recover safely on the street, in shelter, or in unstable housing. Our program aligns with the Minnesota DHS recuperative-care benefit under Medical Assistance and the Minnesota Health Care Programs.

Private furnished room with three meals a day and laundry on site
24-hour staff supervision with direct clinical support
Medication management, wound care, and vital-signs monitoring
Housing navigation and transition planning before discharge from our home
Care coordination with the admitting hospital and community providers

See everything we provide →

Our program

Built for complex discharges.

Three tracks of care, all running in parallel — because a patient's medical stability, housing plan, and insurance benefits can't be solved one at a time.

Clinical support

Wound care, medication management, vital-signs monitoring, and direct coordination with the treating physician and pharmacy.

Residential care

A private bed, home-cooked meals, clean linens, hygiene supplies, and a quiet environment to actually rest and heal.

Care coordination

Benefits enrollment, housing navigation, transportation to follow-up, and a discharge plan built with your team from day one.

How referrals work

From discharge to admission in four steps.

We know you're moving fast. Our intake is designed to fit around a working discharge plan, not interrupt it.

Submit

Send the referral through our secure online form, fax, or phone. We accept H&P, face sheet, and progress notes.

Screen

Our intake nurse reviews clinical eligibility and confirms MHCP or managed-care coverage within one business day.

Coordinate

We call your discharge planner, confirm discharge date and transport, and share a written plan of care.

Admit

The patient is welcomed to our Columbia Heights home. Your team receives weekly progress updates.

Our mission

Healing shouldn't depend on having a safe place to live.

Vital Recuperative Care exists to close the gap between hospital discharge and real recovery for Minnesotans who have no home to go back to. We are a family-run, Columbia Heights–based program — small by design, so every admission gets the attention a complex discharge deserves.

“We needed a placement the same day, for a patient with a PICC line and no safe discharge. Vital Recuperative Care called back within an hour, handled the authorization, and had the bed ready before dinner.”

Hospital Discharge Planner Twin Cities hospital system · Representative quote — ask us for a current reference.

Have a patient who needs a bed?

We respond to every referral within 24 hours, and there is no cost to qualifying patients on MA, UCare, BCBS, Medica, or Hennepin Health.

Refer a Patient → Call (612) 223-7691