Former Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm testified before the Committee on Health and Human Services yesterday at the state capitol as HCMC faces a financial crisis.
Malcolm, who now serves as an advisor supporting Minnesota hospitals, says rising hospital costs are taking their toll.
"We are on the verge, literally, of such incredible clinical and technological progress that could produce outcomes at a patient and population level that we would be enormously proud to see," Malcolm said. "But at the same time, we have no idea how to pay for it."
Malcolm told the senate committee that a long-term, total transformation is needed for how the state manages and pays for healthcare.
Malcolm who now serves as an advisor supporting Minnesota hospitals testified before the Minnesota Senate's Committee on Health and Human Services
"Literally every hospital or health system I've spoken with reports the same unsustainable trends," Malcolm adds. "Almost all of them have been experiencing continuing operating revenue losses."
Local clergy members are also getting involved. They are set to call on lawmakers Wednesday morning to do what's necessary to save HCMC.
"Taxes are how we concretely care for one another and work together to fund societal needs we face," the group said in a statement. "Whether it’s the 40% of patients outside of Hennepin County who receive trauma or specialty care at HCMC or regional clinics and hospitals that rely on HCMC for its services, Minnesota's healthcare system depends on HCMC."
New leadership at Hennepin Healthcare
At the same time as they are threatened with shuttering, the new head of Hennepin Healthcare has a message to the more than 7,000 employees.
"We're gonna get through this together," said Dr. John Cumming, who is taking the helm of the facility, navigating it during a disastrous financial crisis.
As a trauma surgeon and former interim CEO, he returns to lead amidst significant executive turnover and ongoing financial challenges.
"And I believe in this hospital," Cumming explains. "It's not just love it. I believe in what they're doing here and the services are outstanding."
Those services, especially as the state's premier level one trauma center, make it a crucial health care system and closing would leave other metro hospitals - most notably North Memorial and Regions - picking up the slack.
Cumming says to begin with, his plan is to listen.
"I'm energized by the people and what what they're doing day in and day out, and I'm energized by the hope that we have a path forward," he says.
Cumming didn't want to talk about cuts. Instead described his thought process.
"We adapt to the environment in which we are operating," Cumming adds. "Currently, the environment is placing tremendous challenges on the organization and many organizations across the country."
Cumming is a trauma surgeon who worked at HCMC for 19 years, and was the interim CEO from 2019 to 2020. He has most recently been teaching students at St. Thomas about the U.S Healthcare system.
The issues facing hospitals in Minnesota go far beyond HCMC and in the Twin Cities metro, with a recent warning from the Minnesota Hospital Association noting at least 30 other facilities in rural Minnesota are in danger of closing along with Hennepin Health.
"I'm very afraid that some of these hospitals will be forced to close, and who is going to lose? It's going to be Minnesotans and Minnesota families, which would be really heartbreaking," says Rahul Koranne President and CEO of the Minnesota Hospital Association.
Hennepin County has gone to the legislature is search of funding for Hennepin Healthcare. The Minnesota Senate Health and Human Services Committee is hearing testimony as lawmakers decide how best to move forward.
One proposal would modify a Hennepin County sales tax created for the development, construction and public infrastructure of Target Field, channeling some of its proceeds to grants for Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) in downtown Minneapolis and the hospitals of North Memorial Health in Robbinsdale and Maple Grove.
