Healthcare providers in the Twin Cities are sounding the alarm, warning that one of Minnesota’s primary safety-net hospitals is facing a shutdown by June.
The group of providers say without immediate state and federal aid, Hennepin County Medical Center won't be able to stay open, and that is a problem for all of them to face.
"If HCMC closes, our patients don't just disappear, the emergencies don't stop," President of the Hennepin County Association of Paramedics and EMTs Shane Hallow explains. "What happens instead is the entire system will strain under the weight."
Hallow says that a closure would cause a catastrophic ripple effect throughout the regional trauma system, overwhelming other medical centers and delaying life-saving response times.
State legislators plan to introduce bipartisan funding bills as they return from their legislative break.
Hennepin County Medical Center staff are also speaking out, saying the hospital is a critical lifeline for everyone from car crash victims to patients who can't afford care elsewhere.
"We are the first call, "Emergency Medicine Resident Dr. Nicole Lund explains. "We provide you the care that is only available at Hennepin. We have some of the best trauma outcomes in our entire country. We are the place you want to be when the worst of the worst happens. Hennepin is more than a hospital, it's a lifeline."
All eyes are now on state lawmakers to see if they will propose a rescue plan before the current legislative session wraps up.
The head of the hospital board, Hennepin County Commissioner Jeffrey Lunde, says they were able to find $50 million 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.
Their request from the state is tied to a changed with the sales tax revenue that is charged at Target Field, the home of the Minnesota Twins, asking for an increase to 1% to include the hospital.
