The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners is considering taking over some management of Hennepin Healthcare — which includes HCMC in downtown Minneapolis — as the health-care system faces financial troubles.
According to county and hospital officials, the safety-net hospital system has seen a net operating loss for seven of the past eight years.
A board of directors currently oversees HCMC, made up of hospital staff and community leaders who serve on a volunteer basis. But county commissioners have a proposal on the table to dissolve the board, and take over its oversight duties.
Some hospital board members say that’s the wrong solution.
Chair Mohamed Omar said that the hospital’s financial issues stem from its role as a safety net, taking care of patients who are uninsured or underinsured. That means it struggles to bring in money from insurers.
Dissolving the board won’t solve that issue, he said.
“We have a financial problem,” Omar said. “We do not have a governance problem.”
At a press conference Monday, Omar and other board members made a case for the board’s role in representing the hospital’s patients and community. Omar said the board is now 60 percent people of color, reflecting the diverse population the hospital serves.
“We are the oversight, we are the community,” said board vice president Thomas Adams. “Removing this board effectively removes the voices that represent the majority of patients served by HCMC.”
Running the hospital without a board would not be unprecedented. Until 2007, HCMC operated as a department within Hennepin County, reporting to county commissioners. State legislators and county officials changed the structure in 2007, creating Hennepin Healthcare System as a subsidiary public corporation and a board of directors to run the hospital.
Hennepin County Board of Commissioners Chair Irene Fernando, who also serves on the Hennepin Healthcare System board, said in a statement that the hospital’s future could be at risk if the financial problems continue.
“The consequences of HHS closure are too severe, and such a risk can only be overcome with operational oversight in order to move expediently and resolve financial needs and implement operational improvements,” Fernando said.
Hennepin County commissioners are scheduled to review the resolution at a meeting Tuesday afternoon. Board members said they’ll be at the meeting to push commissioners to leave the board in place.
Commissioners will need a two-thirds vote to approve the resolution. They’re expected to vote on the measure, and the hospital’s $1.6 billion budget, on Aug. 12.
