Minnesota
A first in Minnesota, Mahnomen hospital shutters inpatient beds to survive
One of Minnesota’s smallest hospitals is eliminating inpatient care and converting to a rural emergency center, a move designed to keep its doors open amid financial struggles.
Mahnomen Health Center’s administrator notified the state earlier this month of plans to close the hospital’s inpatient unit and only operate an emergency room to stabilize and observe patients. State leaders said the northwest Minnesota hospital could be the first of many to be forced by financial shortfalls into this transition, which will be discussed at a state public hearing on April 30 and then take effect the next day.
“The struggles of not-for-profit hospitals in Minnesota are real, they are escalating, and now we are headed toward closures of service lines and closures of things that communities need,” said Dr. Rahul Koranne, chief executive of the Minnesota Hospital Association. The trade group is lobbying Minnesota lawmakers for an increase in hospital payment rates by the state’s Medical Assistance program, which haven’t been adjusted for inflation since 2019.
Minnesota has maintained a broad rural network of inpatient medical care far longer than most states. But about a quarter of its 127 hospitals have been in financial distress and were struggling before the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mayo Clinic’s hospital in Springfield closed in 2020 while several other rural facilities cut high-cost inpatient services such as baby deliveries.
Mahnomen will be the first in the state to contract into a rural emergency hospital — a federally designated level that was offered as a lifeline for struggling hospitals last year. Such facilities must treat patients within 24 hours on average, but can keep patients for longer periods of observation and care as long as that average is maintained by year’s end, said Mahnomen administrator Dale Kruger.
“At hour 25, (the federal rule) isn’t that you have to push them out onto the street,” he said.
The change nonetheless creates a gap of inpatient care that will extend beyond Mahnomen, a community of 1,200 within the White Earth Reservation. The nearest full-service hospitals are 28 miles away in Ada and Fosston, where the mayor and community leaders have been fighting plans by Essentia Health to stop scheduling baby deliveries. The nearest regional hospital is 36 miles south in Detroit Lakes.
Mahnomen is managed by Sanford Health, but owned by Mahnomen County and the city government. The hospital posted an operating loss of 26% in 2022, when it staffed 10 of 18 licensed inpatient beds, according to the most recent public financial data. It was one of the poorest performing hospitals in Minnesota that year, though another 41 lost money and four in Granite Falls, Onamia, Hallock and Lake City lost more than 15% on hospital operations.
Like most small hospitals, Mahnomen buoyed some losses with operating gains from outpatient clinics and elder-care facilities. Kruger said it faces unique challenges serving Minnesota’s poorest county. More than 5% of its charges to patients were written off as unpaid debts, by far the highest rate in Minnesota.
The new designation should have a $1 million impact and cover the hospital’s shortfalls, Kruger said, while minimally affecting patient care. The hospital in 2022 only admitted 52 patients, who stayed on average for three days.
“It was a way to assure health care into the future for our community,” he said.
Nationally, 23 hospitals have switched to rural emergency hospitals, according to the NC Rural Health Research Project. Only eight had been critical access hospitals, a special designation that qualified the nation’s smallest medical facilities such as Mahnomen for increased federal payments. Koranne said other Minnesota hospitals are weighing the switch.
Critics have called rural emergency hospitals “Band-Aid Stations” because of their limited scopes, but Kruger said that was the same label used in the late 1990s when Mahnomen became the state’s first critical-access hospital. He remained confident that local patients would rely on Mahnomen for outpatient and emergency care. The hospital’s 24-hour ER has five bays, including two trauma bays that rapidly resuscitate and stabilize patients.
The Minnesota Department of Health on Wednesday announced the informational hearing — the eighth since the state started requiring them before substantial changes in hospital operations.
Earlier hearings covered the closures of baby delivery units in Fosston and New Prague, a mental health unit in Fergus Falls and an addiction unit in New Ulm. Doctors and nurses spoke in opposition at a hearing last month to Allina Health’s plan to close inpatient pediatric beds at Mercy Hospital, and relocate intensive care and surgical services from Mercy’s Fridley campus to its Coon Rapids campus.
Minnesota
Utah Mammoth take down Minnesota 5-2 to end the Wild’s winning streak at 6
The Wild were taken down by the Utah Mammoth 5-2 on Friday night to end Minnesota’s winning streak at six games.
Lawson Crouse scored twice and U.S. Olympian Clayton Keller had a goal and two assists for Utah.
Logan Cooley and Barrett Hayton also scored and Karel Vejmelka made 21 saves to help the Mammoth rebound from a 4-2 home loss to NHL-leading Colorado on Wednesday night in their return from the Olympic break. Utah began the night in the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
U.S. Olympian Matt Boldy scored and assisted on Kirill Kaprizov’s goal for Minnesota. Second behind Central Division-rival Colorado in the West, the Wild are 9-2-1 in their last 12. They beat the Avalanche 5-2 on Thursday night in Denver.
Cooley opened the scoring with a short-handed goal with 6:37 left in the first period. The former University of Minnesota star got the puck on the right side off a deflection and put a shot between Wallstedt’s legs for his 15th goal.
Keller scored his 18th at 4:26 of the second. Nick Schmaltz forced a turnover on a forecheck and fed Keller on the right side.
Crouse made it 3-0 at 7:49 of the second. He came down the middle, took a pass from Keller and beat Wallstedt with a backhander.
Kaprizov countered for Minnesota on a power play with 5:57 left in the second. He has 33 goals this season.
Hayton made it 4-1 on a power play at 1:19 of the third, and Crouse added his 16th of the season on a tip with 7:12 to go.
Boldy got his 35th of the season with 5:57 remaining.
Up next
Wild: Host St. Louis on Sunday.
Mammoth: Host Chicago on Sunday.
Minnesota
Shorthanded Clippers can’t keep pace with Anthony Edwards and Minnesota
Anthony Edwards scored 31 points, Donte DiVincenzo added 18 and the surging Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Clippers 94-88 on Thursday night.
Jaden McDaniels and Ayo Dosunmu each scored 12 points and Rudy Gobert had 13 rebounds to help the Timberwolves improve to 5-1 since Feb. 9 and 3-1 since the All-Star break.
Edwards, returning to the site of the All-Star Game, where he was the MVP, was 12 for 24 from the floor and sealed the victory with a step-back three-pointer over two defenders for a 92-88 lead with 42.9 seconds left.
Minnesota improved to 2-0 on a three-game trip.
Derrick Jones Jr. scored 18 points and Bennedict Mathurin added 14 for the Clippers, who struggled from the outset with a season-low 38 points in the first half. Kris Dunn had 11 points for the Clippers (27-31), who have lost three consecutive games for the first time since December.
The Clippers struggled on offense without star Kawhi Leonard, out because of ankle soreness. The Clippers shot 40.5% from the floor, including 18.2% (four for 22) in the second quarter. Minnesota shot 43.4% in the game.
The Timberwolves (37-23) scored just 15 points in the second quarter and still topped the Clippers, who had 11. Minnesota led 44-38 at halftime behind 12 points from DiVincenzo and 11 from Edwards.
The Clippers led by six in the third quarter and were up 68-63 heading into the fourth. Edwards’ drive and reverse layup put the Timberwolves up for good at 76-74 with 7:40 remaining.
The Clippers pulled within one three times in the last 2½ minutes, but Edwards answered each time. He scored the Timberwolves’ last nine points.
Up next for Clippers: vs. New Orleans on Sunday night.
Minnesota
Church congregant filed lawsuit against alleged Minnesota church protesters
A St. Paul church member has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that a group of individuals, including journalist Don Lemon and activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, unlawfully disrupted service last month as part of a coordinated political demonstration.
The complaint, filed by Ann Doucette in the U.S. District Court of Minnesota, alleges that a Jan. 18 demonstration at Cities Church interfered with her ability to worship and caused her to suffer damages, including emotional distress and trauma.
In addition to the former CNN anchor and Armstrong, the complaint names journalist Georgia Fort and activists Will Kelly, Jerome Richardson, Trahern Crews and Jamael Lundy. It also names St. Paul school board member Chauntyll Allen.
Doucette and seven of the defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Doucette filed the complaint without the representation of an attorney. In an emailed statement to NBC News, Crews denied the lawsuit’s allegations “with empathy and compassion.”
The lawsuit accuses the group of civil conspiracy, aiding and abetting, intentional infliction of emotional distress, interference with religious exercise and trespassing.
“As a result of Defendants’ actions, the worship service was disrupted, congregants experienced fear and distress, and Plaintiff’s ability to freely exercise her religion in a private place of worship was unlawfully interfered with,” the lawsuit states.
All eight defendants are also facing federal charges for conspiracy against the rights of religious freedom at a place of worship and for interfering with the exercise of the right of religious freedom. Lemon has pleaded not guilty to all charges, saying outside the court, “I wanted to say this isn’t just about me, this is about all journalists, especially in the United States.”
Fort, Crews and Lundy were released on bond and entered not guilty pleas, according to The Associated Press.
This is the latest legal action tied to protests in the Twin Cities, where tensions remain over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
According to the lawsuit, the demonstrators engaged in “coordinated conduct” by organizing meetings ahead of the “Operation Pullup” protest and promoting it on social media.
The lawsuit alleges that on the morning of Jan. 18, a coordinated group of individuals entered Cities Church, halting the worship service, and chanting “‘ICE Out!’ and ‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot!’” while obstructing aisles. Protesters could allegedly be seen “confronting the pastor and congregants in a menacing manner,” the lawsuit says, noting that their chanting and “aggressive gestures” caused “severe emotional distress, fear, anxiety, and trauma” and caused children “terror.”
Demonstrators gathered at the church because they said its pastor, David Easterwood, was the acting director of an ICE field office in the city, the lawsuit says.
Lemon was arrested in January in California and accused of violating federal civil rights law after covering the protest on Jan. 18. He was released on a personal recognizance bond before a federal grand jury in Minnesota returned the indictment against Lemon and eight co-defendants, all of whom are also named in Doucette’s lawsuit.
In the lawsuit, Doucette alleges that Lemon specifically livestreamed the protest, “noting congregants’ fear and distress, and appeared to take satisfaction in the disruption.”
Levy Armstrong, a Minneapolis-based civil rights attorney and activist, was also arrested for her participation in the St. Paul protest. Her arrest drew national attention after the White House shared on social media doctored photos where she appeared to be crying.
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