Hospital Matters from the Minnesota Hospital Association

In this episo de,   we'll  listen in on  a recent Fluence Forum legislative round table, featuring  District 53  DFL  s tate Sen. Matt Klein, who is also a Mayo Clinic  physician  and a candidate to succeed Angie Craig in Minnesota's 2 nd  Congressional District.  We'll  also  hear  from  District 34A state Rep.  Danny Nadeau, who  is a leading GOP member of the House Health Finance and Policy  co...

In this episo de,   we'll   listen in  to a recent Fluence Forum focusing on health care,  hosted by Fluence Media. The experts included Minnesota Hospital Association vice president of finance Joe Schindler, as well as Lucas Nesse,  CEO of the Minnesota Council of Health Plans and Ann Neu Brindley,  health policy director at the Minnesota Business Partnership. Former Minnesota Management and Budg...

In this episode, Dr. Cathy Cantor, chief medical officer of population health at Duluth-based Essentia Health, talks about how a heart health program has some tangible benefits on a common measure of health care quality: hospital readmissions. Host: Tim Nelson, Minnesota Hospital Association Guest: Cathy Cantor, Essentia Health

In this episode of Hospital Matters, we're sharing a full-length recording of a panel featuring four of Minnesota's hospital and health system leaders, recorded during the State of Reform conference this fall. Children's Minnesota CEO Dr. Emily Chapman, Fairview Health Services CEO James Hereford, North Memorial Health CEO Trevor Sawallish, and Winona Health CEO Rachelle Schultz spoke on the panel...

Started more than 30 years ago, the 340B drug pricing programs give some of the most financially stressed hospitals the proceeds of a federally mandated drug discount program. Those savings are turned into a variety of supports for patients and hospitals, at least for now. In this episode, Justin Ott, with SunRx, talks about how the program started, how it works and what changes are looming for th...

The government shutdown has ended following a budget deal that extends some health care policy, but leaves unresolved the future of expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits. In this episode of Hospital Matters, we talk with Becky Wifstrand, the Minnesota Hospital Association's Director of Federal Policy and Regulatory Affairs, about the end of the shutdown and what's next in Washington.   Host: Ti...

Minnesota is struggling to maintain health care services, as hundreds of doctors head for retirement every year and hospitals and health systems strain to attract new physicians. CentraCare CEO Ken Holmen said the only solution occurred to him a decade ago: grow your own doctors, in your own back yard. The first medical students in the effort to realize that idea are in classes in St. Cloud this f...

Keith Hearle is a consultant and financial analyst who helped write what became IRS Form 990 Schedule H, the governing document for non-profit hospitals that report their community benefits. Hearle is founder and president of Virginia-based Verité Healthcare Consulting and was in Minnesota to talk to hospital leaders about non-profit health care and the principles of community benefit. This week,...

Medicaid and Affordable Care Act tax subsidies have been getting a lot of attention lately, but Congress has its eye on some other health care issues, including a recent House Ways and Means Committee hearing on non-profit health care and community benefit. This week, we talk with Becky Wifstrand, the Minnesota Hospital Association's Director of Federal Policy and Regulatory Affairs, about new scr...

A $100,000 application fee for new H-1B visas just instituted by the Trump administration will have a profound impact on 85,000 foreign workers that enter the U.S. annually. In this episode, we talk to Ann-Rose Johnson-Lewis, director of legal services at WorldWide HealthStaff Solutions, about the latest developments in federal visa policy for foreign workers and what it could mean for health care...

In this episode, we're bringing you a full-length version of a panel discussion at the recent State of Reform health policy conference, held in Bloomington in September. Minnesota Hospital Association vice president of government affairs Mary Krinkie hosted the event. It featured DFL state representative Steve Elkins, of Bloomington ; DFL state Senator and family medicine physician Alice  Mann, of...

Across Minnesota, hospitals are investing in the health and wellbeing of their communities. In this episode of Hospital Matters, Jodi Martin shares how Ely-Bloomenson Community Hospital is extending care beyond hospital walls through initiatives like vaccine clinics, scholarships, and summer programs. Host: Tim Nelson, Minnesota Hospital Association Guest: Jodi Martin, Ely-Bloomenson Community Hos...

The federal government is deeply involved in health care, and this week's budget impass and shutdown will have a significant impact on providers and patients as it stretches on. This episode of Hospital Matters features Minnesota Hospital Association Director of Federal Policy and Regulatory Affairs Becky Wifstrand. She talks about the stakes for the shutdown and what brought health care to the ey...

Minnesota deputy Department of Human Services commissioner and state Medicaid director John Connolly recently offered an update on what the state is so far expecting from HR-1, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Connolly spoke and took questions about expected Medicaid questions at the Minnesota Hospital Association annual meeting, near Brainerd.   Host: Tim Nelson, Minnesota Hospital A...

Dr. Emily Chapman started her care careeer as a child life specialist and went to medical school to pursue her passion for pediatric care. Now she's the new CEO of one of the nation's premiere children's care providers, Children's Minnesota. She talks about her new job, how she got there, and what she's focused on in this episode of Hospital Matters. Host: Tim Nelson, Minnesota Hospital Associatio...

Congress is heading for a potential budget showdown, after a tumultous year of historic financial drama in Washington. Some officials are calling for more cuts, but others for less -- all while care providers are hoping for some clarity on key health policy. We're catching up with Becky Wifstrand, the Minnesota Hospital Association's Director of Federal Policy and Regulatory Affairs. Host: Tim Nel...

Essentia Health's online resource guide has now generated more than 25,000 referrals connecting patients with housing, food, transportation, and other local community services. In this episode, MHA's Tim Nelson talks with Community Outreach Manager Jill Doberstein about how the tool is supporting patients across Minnesota.   Host: Tim Nelson, Minnesota Hospital Association Guest: Jill Doberstein,...

Fairview Health Services recently earned the Foster G. McGaw Prize for its work to address social determinants of health and meet community needs. In this episode, we talked with Diane Tran, System Executive Director of Community Health Equity and Engagement at M Health Fairview, about what this honor means and the years of work that led to it.   Host: Tim Nelson, Minnesota Hospital Association Gu...

CentraCare and the University of Minnesota Medical School are making history this week: a new medical school campus is opening in St. Cloud. We talked to CentraCare senior vice president Mike Blair as preparations for the new school were wrapping up this summer, and as the first 24 student cohort was heading for campus.   Host: Tim Nelson, Minnesota Hospital Association Guest: Mike Blair, CentraCa...

This week, Hospital Matters is digging into the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and specifically, the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program. Becky Wifstrand, director of federal policy and regulatory affairs for the Minnesota Hospital Assocation, talks about the upcoming deadline for state applications, some of the eligible expenditures of that money and other topics. This is the first of an...

Meet Dr. Edmond Irankunda. Born in Rwanda, his family fled the civil war and genocide in the 1990s and eventually made their way to the United States. He's settling into a new job at RiverView Health in Crookston -- and says he's feeling remarkably at home providing health care in the Red River Valley. Minnesota will need more of providers like him as more and more physicians are looking to retire...

In this episode of Hospital Matters, Essentia Health CEO Dr. David Herman says rural health care has been increasingly struggling, and that the future is getting even more uncertain in the wake of changes to Medicaid and other developments in Washington. Host: Tim Nelson, Minnesota Hospital Association Guest: Dr. David Herman, Essentia Health

The Minnesota Legislature pledged $75 million to upgrading mental health care this year, most of it going to replacing and expanding a major inpatient care facility at the Anoka Metro Regional Treatment Center. In this episode, we talk to Sue Abderholden, the executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Minnesota, about what it will mean for patients, as well as the concerns she h...

Communities rely on providers like the Sanford Bemidji Medical Center for top-flight health care. But hospitals rely on their communities as well -- and a blast of hurricane-force winds in June showed just how ready people in the region were to come to the aid of the Bemidji Hospital. In this episode, Sanford Bemidji Medical Center CEO Karla Eischens talks about the support she and her staff got w...

The Minnesota Department of Health has issued its annual adverse heath event report, and there are some good signs in the data: although patient admissions are growing, adverse event increases have slowed for the first time since the pandemic. Minnesota Hospital Association associate vice president of quality and safety Jenny Schoenecker talks about the latest data and quality and safety efforts a...