Sanford commits to strengthening medical services in rural Minnesota in merger with North Memorial

"Every woman, regardless of where she lives in the state of Minnesota, deserves access to safe, reliable maternal care," said Sanford CEO Bill Gassen. "And that's what we're here to do, to make sure that we can extend that care across every county in the state of Minnesota."

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison says more than 700,000 people in rural Minnesota live in counties without labor and delivery wards.

Under the merger agreement Sanford has committed $15 million toward stabilizing rural healthcare in Minnesota. Gassen says strengthening medical services for pregnant women and new mothers is at the top of the list.

"This is not a problem that we are just facing uniquely in Minnesota," he says. "This is a problem everywhere across the country right now plaguing a lot of our rural communities, and I believe that the solutions we are going to develop here will be a roadmap for how to do this better across the country."

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison says the problem of access to maternal care will be compounded when a trillion dollars in federal cuts to Medicaid take effect net year.

“The immediate impact of the growing distance between where rural Minnesotans live and where they can deliver their babies is on felt by families across Greater Minnesota, and over time it has impacts across the state," Ellison said in a statement. "I’m standing up the Strengthening Rural Maternal Healthcare in Minnesota project because we need collaboration between health care systems, stakeholders and communities to implement new ways to support maternal health in rural Minnesota. It’s no exaggeration to say that lives are at stake."

Due to mounting financial pressures on many rural hospitals, Ellison and health leaders say the issue will become more acute than they already are, and more labor and delivery wards may come under pressure.