A major merger in Minnesota healthcare gained approval on Friday.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced a 10-year oversight agreement with Robbinsdale-based North Memorial Health and South Dakota-based Sanford Health.
It includes a $600 million investment into both Robbinsdale and Maple Grove Hospitals.
The investment includes a commitment to maintain core services and no jobs lost, according to Trevor Sawallish with North Memorial Health.
"We have agreed to respect all the collective bargaining that are in place and there will be no job eliminations associated with this integration," says Swallish. "Our patients should know that the people caring for them today will still be here tomorrow. Our communities and team members should know that their work and their voices matter."
The partnership between the two systems, first announced in May, will establish the largest integrated urban rural health system in the state.
It also ensures the Level 1 trauma center in Robbinsdale remains open for at least the next decade.
"At the end of every decision we make is a patient, and so I would ask, if you think about the opportunities in front of us today, and you think about the rationale for why North Memorial Health and Sanford Health are joining together, it's about the patient," announced Bill Gasson, Sanford President and CEO.
With the signed agreement today, the combination of Sanford Health and North Memorial Health will proceed, creating the largest integrated urban–rural health system in Minnesota. Sanford has an extensive existing network of hospitals and clinics across the western third of Minnesota stretching from Thief River Falls in the northwest to Luverne in the far southwest.
“Nothing is more basic to helping Minnesotans afford their lives and live with dignity, safety, and respect than access to high-quality, affordable healthcare. In obtaining these public interest commitments for the proposed merger between Sanford Health and North Memorial Health, we have a ground-breaking agreement to protect Minnesotans," Attorney General Ellison said.
