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Hennepin Healthcare on the brink of closure
Hennepin Healthcare is on the brink of closure while Minnesota lawmakers argue on how to save it. FOX 9's Corin Hoggard has the latest.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The Minnesota Senate is hoping to take a big bite out of the financial problems that have the Hennepin County Medical Center on the verge of closure.
$150 million for Hennepin Healthcare
What we know:
As part of the Health and Human Services bill passed Wednesday afternoon, the Senate dedicated $150 million for grants to HCMC.
It’s only part of the solution from the senate, which is also lining up a small sales tax increase in Hennepin County.
What we don't know:
And it’s not a sure thing to pass in the House, where the sales tax increase under consideration is even bigger.
HCMC’s financial struggles
The backstory:
HCMC has operated at a loss for eight of the past 10 years, mainly due to unpaid medical bills. Even a small increase in uncompensated care — just 2% from 2020 to 2024 — meant $60 million more in losses, pushing the total above $100 million each year.
"That demonstrates how vulnerable our hospital is to even seemingly small disruption in terms of uncompensated care," Abdi Abdiraham, Hennepin Healthcare CFO, told FOX 9.
The hospital expects to lose another $1.7 billion over the next decade because of recent Medicare cuts in the big federal budget bill. Many experts see HCMC’s situation as a warning sign for other hospitals.