MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A Minneapolis health care system says the coronavirus pandemic has caused deep operating losses, forcing it to close 16 clinics in Minnesota and Wisconsin and reduce its workforce by 900 employees.
Fairview Health also plans to shut down Bethesda Hospital in St. Paul that had been handling COVID-19 patients and transfer that care to St. Joseph’s Hospital. Inpatient mental health care will continue at the downtown St. Paul hospital at least through 2021.
St. Joseph’s Hospital will handle coronavirus patients, but will close its emergency room by year’s end and specialties such as neurology and bariatrics will be relocated, the Star Tribune reported.
Fairview had no room at Bethesda in May with 150 COVID-19 patients spread across its hospitals. But, it says since then it has averaged fewer than 50 patients per day at Bethesda and around 70 systemwide.
Fairview says its bracing for a $250 million operating loss this year that has been exacerbated by the pandemic. The most recent financial records show Fairview posted an operating loss of about $66 million in its second financial quarter from April through June this year. Suspension of non-urgent surgeries dramatically reduced its revenue.
The job cuts amount to about 3% of the health care providers workforce.
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