Hennepin County Medical Center is coming dangerously close to closing.
As March comes to a close, the head of the hospital board, Hennepin County Commissioner Jeffrey Lunde, says they were able to find $50 million dollars in cuts in order to survive the first quarter of the year - but they still have to find $125 million more to cut by the end of the year, a massive number they say isn't survivable.
"We just want to be clear to everyone that the situation at HCMC is dire," Lunde says.
That's why the state's busiest level one trauma center is counting on the Minnesota Legislature to approval a bill that would bring in money, ultimately keeping the doors open.
That request is tied to a changed with the sales tax revenue that is charged at Target Field, the home of the Minnesota Twins.
"The original ballpark sales tax was a state imposed sales tax, so that meant the legislature imposed it upon us," Lunde explains. "That's versus us enacting locally, so we're asking permission to repurpose that and expand it to 1% so that we can include the hospital."
Health care workers are planning to rally at the Minnesota State Capitol Tuesday, a warning elected officials that time is running out to save Hennepin County Medical Center. According to Lunde, if changes don't come soon, they'll start making plans to shutter the system in June.
Lunde says the facility making these major cuts comes after severe changes from the federal government in both Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. Those changes place a much larger burden on states to fund those programs.
"About 75% of our patients are Medicaid or Medicare patients, so changes in reimbursement go right to our bottom line," Lunde told WCCO. "So we expect over the next 10 years, we will be facing about $1.1 billion in cuts."
This is also not just a Minneapolis or even metro area issue. While the hospital system is based in downtown Minneapolis and strictly in Hennepin County, their trauma center serves the entire state. Lunde says 40% of their patients come from outside the county. Frequently, many of the worst traumatic injuries end up being treated at HCMC.
The center has served patients during some of the state's most dire situations, such as the 35W bridge collapse, and most recently during the Annunciation Church mass shooting.
If no solutions are found, and HCMC were to close, it would increase the burden considerably on other area hospitals and trauma centers, especially Regions Hospital in St. Paul, and North Memorial Health Hospital in Robbinsdale, the metro's only other comprehensive level one trauma centers.
