FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(c) 612-741-0662
sam.fettig@mnnurses.org
Lauren Bloomquist
(c) 651-376-9709
lauren.bloomquist@mnnurses.org
MNA applauds MDH for protecting public interest in Minnesota for patients, workers and communities
In January, MNA submitted a letter to MDH in opposition to the for-profit hospital proposal, writing in part: “Every day, nurses confront the ongoing staff shortages in our hospitals and experience firsthand the mental health crisis in our state. Nurses understand the need for additional mental healthcare beds. However, as frontline healthcare professionals, we are concerned about profit-driven motives and actors being the means to achieving additional mental healthcare capacity in Minnesota.”
In their release today, MDH stated they found that “the proposed 60-bed rehabilitation hospital would establish unneeded, costly capacity and may destabilize the existing rehabilitation care delivery system in the Twin Cities metropolitan service area where the facility is intended to be built.”
After Nobis submitted their letter of intent in 2023, MNA nurses voiced significant concerns that Nobis’ proposal was driven by executives’ desire to maximize profits and about the untested care model proposed by the facility. MDH’s decision to not allow the Nobis Rehabilitation hospital project to move forward is a step in the right direction to protect patient care and our healthcare system in Minnesota particularly as MDH stated that Nobis lacks “explicit commitments in the project proposal for providing care to low-income and nonpaying patients” and they raised “concerns about whether the incentives associated with a private equity-financed for-profit hospital could contribute to destabilizing the existing market.”
This year at the state legislature, MNA nurses seek passage of the Healing Greed Agenda, a legislative package to hold hospital executives accountable to patient needs, not corporate greed. The agenda includes legislation to provide greater oversight of proposed hospital closures; additional disclosure and regulation of hospital finances and executive compensation; and new protections to ensure our hospitals work for patients and workers at the bedside, not just the highly paid executives at the top. Nurses are happy to see that MDH took steps to prevent a for-profit, private equity financed company from harming healthcare in Minnesota.