Star Tribune
Maple Grove Hospital expansion plans on hold
North Memorial Health is continuing to hit the brakes on a proposed expansion at Maple Grove Hospital, saying plans won’t move forward until the health system fixes financial challenges at its larger medical center in Robbinsdale.
Since 2019, North Memorial has talked about expanding its campus in Maple Grove including, at one point, a plan for 40 more staffed beds plus larger departments for emergency and neonatal intensive care patients.
But financial challenges continue to be a significant barrier to construction, said Trevor Sawallish, the North Memorial chief executive, during a Star Tribune interview this month.
Last week, the health system announced 103 layoffs and the closure of its outpatient mental health service in Robbinsdale due to relatively low payment rates from government-funded health plans as well as the end of a subsidy from Hennepin County.
“Our financial situation over the last many years has had us not moving forward with that [Maple Grove] project,” Sawallish said. “And certainly we are at the point where it is not feasible, unless we find another way to kind of solve the problems that we’ve got at Robbinsdale right now.”
Sawallish gave a similar message this month at a city council meeting in Maple Grove, where he stressed there’s still a need to grow services in the community.
In particular, Maple Grove Hospital’s emergency department was built to accommodate about 25,000 visits a year, but treated about 55,000 patients in 2023. While North Memorial has “different versions” of what an expansion could look like, plans are going to be on hold, Sawallish said, until economic problems are solved.
“[Maple Grove Hospital] is at the breaking point relative to the emergency department that was built for basically half the volume that we now are experiencing,” he told the city council. “We often, for mothers that are delivering in this community, are having to go ‘on capacity’ because we are full.”
Going “on capacity” means the hospital is experiencing a lack of space due to a surge in patients or high acuity patient needs, North Memorial says, adding that this situation is not unique to Maple Grove Hospital.
At these times, obstetrics providers are notified and asked to call Maple Grove Hospital before sending in a patient. Most of these providers deliver babies at other hospitals in the Twin Cities, North Memorial says, so a provider may choose to send a patient elsewhere for her delivery.
Over the years, Maple Grove Hospital has operated one of the state’s largest obstetrics units while being one of the most profitable medical centers in the Twin Cities. Conflict with Minneapolis-based Fairview Health Services over expansion plans is one reason North Memorial bought out Fairview’s ownership stake in the Maple Grove facility in 2022.
North Memorial’s medical center in Robbinsdale, meanwhile, has seen financial challenges, Sawallish said, from recent growth in its share of patients covered by the Medicare and/or Medicaid public health insurance programs.
Hospitals often lose money when providing services for patients with Medicaid coverage. Medicare can be a financial challenge, too, although health economists say efficient hospitals can break even or make a small profit on patients with Medicare coverage. Commercial health insurers, meanwhile, typically pay higher reimbursement rates.
In 2022, Maple Grove had the highest share of commercial insurance coverage of any hospital in Minnesota, according to state Health Department data.
North Memorial Health also runs 25 clinics located mostly in the west metro and a large EMS service with 10 helicopters and 140 ambulances and other response vehicles.
Mohamed Omar is the new board chair of Hennepin Healthcare System, the organization that runs HCMC, making him Minnesota’s first Somali American hospital board leader.
The health care system board permanently appointed Omar to the position Wednesday at their regular meeting. He had served as interim chair since Babette Apland stepped down in September.
Omar has been on the volunteer board for three years, working on the finance, investment, audit and compliance committees. He is the chief administrative officer at the Washburn Center for Children and previously was chief financial officer at the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund.
In a statement, Omar said he was excited to lead a hospital board in the state with the largest Somali American population in the U.S. He said he shared the health system’s dedication to providing “equitable, high-quality care.”
“My commitment is to deepen our community engagement, build more authentic connections between patients and team members, and build a confident future together,” Omar’s statement said.
CEO Jennifer DeCubellis and Nneka Sederstrom, chief health equity officer, praised Omar’s selection to lead the board. They said more inclusive leadership with a commitment to ending health disparities are key to HCMC’s success.
Hennepin County Board Chair Irene Fernando, who is also on health system board, said she was excited to work with Omar. She said county leaders are dedicated to good stewardship of the “state’s last public safety-net hospital.”
“As the first Hennepin County Board Chair of color, I know how impactful it is for our communities to see themselves represented in public leadership,” Fernando said.
DULUTH – The Superior National Forest has lifted its forestwide campfire ban, including the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, effective Friday.
Recent rain and humidity have improved conditions across the national forest’s 3 million acres, forest officials said in a news release.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has also lifted fire restrictions in Cook, Koochiching, Lake and northern St. Louis counties.
Fire danger is still a concern this time of year, said Karen Harrison, DNR wildfire prevention specialist.
“As leaves fall and vegetation continues to dry out, it’s important for people to be cautious with anything that can cause a spark,” she said.
The national forest imposed its broad campfire ban nearly two weeks ago, after a third wildfire, named for Bogus Lake, was discovered on forest land. No significant fire activity has been reported in recent days for any of those three fires. A fourth fire inside the forest, the 8.5-acre Pfeiffer Lake Fire, started Oct. 17. It was contained within 24 hours, the Forest Service said.
Much of northeast Minnesota is still classified in the “severe drought” stage by the U.S. Drought Monitor.
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris was asked this week if she thought Donald Trump was a fascist, and she replied ‘’Yes, I do.’’ She subsequently called him the same thing herself, saying voters don’t want ‘’a president of the United States who admires dictators and is a fascist.’’
But what exactly is a fascist? And does the meaning of the word shift when viewed through a historical or political prism — especially so close to the end of a fraught presidential race?
An authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is often associated with the far right and characterized by a dictatorial leader who uses military forces to help suppress political and civil opposition.
History’s two most famous fascists were Nazi chief Adolf Hitler in Germany and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Known as Il Duce, or ”the duke,” Mussolini headed the National Fascist Party, which was symbolized by an eagle clutching a fasces — a bundle of rods with an axe among them.
At Mussolini’s urging, in October 1922, thousands of ”Blackshirts,” or ”squadristi,” made up an armed fascist militia that marched on Rome, vowing to seize power. Hitler’s Nazis similarly relied on a militia, known as the ”Brownshirts.” Both men eventually imposed single-party rule and encouraged violence in the streets. They used soldiers, but also fomented civilian unrest that pit loyalists against political opponents and larger swaths of everyday society.
Hitler and Mussolini censored the press and issued sophisticated propaganda. They played up racist fears and manipulated not just their active supporters but everyday citizens.
