Voice Your Concerns about Sanford Health’s proposed acquisition of North Memorial Health
1. Start with who you are
- You are a nurse or healthcare worker in Minnesota.
- You work for Sanford Health or North Memorial Health.
- You are submitting a comment because this acquisition could affect workers, patients, and communities across Minnesota.
- You understand both Sanford Health and North Memorial Health play important roles in delivering care across the region.
2. Describe your position carefully
- You have serious concerns about Sanford Health’s proposed acquisition of North Memorial Health.
- Based on the information available so far, you do not believe this acquisition should move forward without much more transparency and clear protections for workers, patients, and communities.
- You want the Attorney General to closely review the potential impact before allowing the transaction to proceed.
- Sanford Health and North Memorial Health have not provided enough information about what this acquisition would mean for:
- staffing levels
- patient care
- emergency and trauma services
- local decision-making and accountability
- the future of hospitals, clinics, and services in Minnesota communities
- The Attorney General’s Office has already stated healthcare consolidation requires careful examination and public input.
- Workers and communities deserve clear answers before an acquisition of this size moves forward.
3. Pick a Topic(s) to Share More About
Concerns about Maple Grove Hospital nurses securing a first contract
- Sanford has agreed to honoring the contract for Maple Grove Hospital nurses, however North Memorial must settle the first contract with these workers.
- The Attorney General’s review should examine how this transaction could affect:
- staffing and retention
- workplace protections
- nurses’ ability to advocate for patient care improvements
- Nurses at Maple Grove Hospital deserve the opportunity to negotiate and secure a strong first contract without disruption or pressure tied to a major healthcare acquisition.
Protections workers need addressed
- Whether wages, benefits, and working conditions will be maintained
- Whether staffing and frontline hospital jobs will be protected over time
- Whether major operational or service decisions would ultimately move outside local communities
Concerns about cost and affordability
- Any transaction involving major healthcare systems should be reviewed for its effect on affordability, access to care, and public health.
- Minnesota patients and families cannot afford higher healthcare costs.
- The Attorney General’s review should closely examine whether this acquisition could reduce competition or increase costs for patients and communities.
Concerns about hospitals and access to care
- There is concern that this acquisition could lead to:
- reduced hospital services
- consolidation of care away from local communities
- reductions in specialty, emergency, or trauma care capacity over time
- decisions being centralized farther from the communities affected
- North Memorial Health serves an important role in emergency and trauma care in Minnesota, and Sanford Health serves communities across greater Minnesota and the upper Midwest.
- Any loss of services, staffing, or hospital capacity could further strain patients, caregivers, EMS systems, and surrounding hospitals.
4. Explain why this matters
- Uncertainty for nurses and healthcare workers affects morale, retention, and staffing stability.
- Instability in the healthcare workforce can affect continuity of patient care and patient outcomes.
- Changes to hospital ownership should be evaluated based on their real impact on workers, patients, and community access to care.
- Healthcare systems are essential public infrastructure, especially for communities that rely on emergency, trauma, and safety-net services.
5. Make an ask of the Attorney General
- Require full public transparency about how this acquisition would affect workers, patients, services, and local communities before allowing the transaction to proceed.
- Require clear, enforceable commitments regarding staffing and working conditions.
- Require safeguards to ensure this acquisition does not reduce access to hospital care, emergency care, trauma services, or specialty services.
- Require safeguards to ensure this acquisition does not increase healthcare costs for patients and families.
- Ensure nurses, healthcare workers, patients, and affected communities have meaningful opportunities to provide public input throughout the review process.
6. Include strong closing language
- “At this time, I do not believe this acquisition should move forward without more transparency and enforceable protections for workers, patients, and communities.”
- “I urge the Attorney General to require meaningful safeguards and full public accountability before this transaction is allowed to proceed.”
- “Nurses and communities deserve clear answers before a healthcare transaction of this scale moves forward.”
- “Healthcare decisions affecting Minnesota communities should prioritize patient care, workforce stability, and long-term access to care.”
7. Submit your input
When your draft is ready, submit your comments to the Attorney General's Community Input Form.