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Governor and legislative leaders rebalance the budget

21 May

The hand-wringing and the vote-counting are over.

Governor Mark Dayton

Governor Mark Dayton speaks to MNA Nurses

Minnesota finally has a budget that protects the middle class, invests in our future, and protects the health of seniors.

It was no mean feat.  The Governor and the legislative leaders had to hold fast to the right priorities through threats of filibusters, add-on amendments, and even talk of businesses exiting the state.

Governor Mark Dayton and legislative leadership had to rectify years of imbalanced budgets and re-invest in state programs that had been long ignored.  In summary, the top 2 percent of wage earners will pay about 2 percent more in taxes, which will raise $1 billion dollars; cigarette and other tobacco taxes go up, which will raise another $600 million and hopefully convince some to quit; and they found money in the couch cushions too by closing corporate tax loopholes, which raises $424 million in business tax write-offs.

Doing all that meant the Governor could sign an $11.2 billion health and human services budget bill, which includes a 5 percent rate increase for nursing homes next year-much of that goes to workers who care for our seniors-along with another 3.2 percent increase by 2016.  While some proposals saw health and human services losing $150 million, this investment ensures seniors will receive good quality care and their care-givers will be better paid for their priceless work.  That keeps experienced nurses and care-givers protecting our seniors.  Nurses at state facilities will also see a 2 percent raise retroactive to this year.

Legislative leaders needed to re-right the boat after eight years of no new taxes has denied Minnesota the ability to move forward and placed the middle-class in a squeeze from all their other taxes going up, including local property taxes, school levies, and other referenda.  With a stable base of revenue coming into the state, Minnesotans should be able to count on their health, their children, and their seniors continuing to be cared for without worrying what the next year will bring.

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MNA Legislative Update, May 17, 2013

17 May

 

Health and Human Services

As we near the end of the session, the major budget bills are nearing completion. The details of the Health and Human Services Finance omnibus bill are still being decided, but the basic framework cuts $50 million from the HHS budget, not the $150 million originally planned. At the same time, it makes significant increases (3.25% in 2014 and 3.2% in 2015) to long term care, 75% of which will be mandated to go to workers’ wage increases. This is a major victory for workers whose wages have been frozen for years.

The HHS omnibus bill also includes funding to keep the Willmar state treatment facility, which had been slated for closure, open to continue providing much-needed services.

Tax Plan

The biggest news this week was that the House, Senate and Governor reached an agreement on a tax plan. The plan will make historic investments in education, job creation, balance deficit, and property tax reform. The wealthiest 2% of Minnesotans, with household incomes over $250,000, will pay a new higher tax rate of 9.85%, much closer to the rate middle-class and working families pay. The bill also closes corporate tax loopholes and expands the sales tax on non-consumer items. Finally, it raises cigarette taxes by $1.60 per pack, which MNA supports as the most effective public health measure to discourage youth smoking.

With the funds raised by the tax bill, the state will fund all-day kindergarten and early childhood education, freeze higher education tuition, reduce property taxes by $400 million, invest in job creation initiatives, and erase the budget deficit.

The Mayo Clinic expansion in Rochester (the “Destination Medical Center” project) will also be included in the new tax plan.

Minimum Wage

The House passed a minimum wage increase from $6.15 to $9.50 an hour, and the Senate passed an increase to $7.75 an hour. The House and Governor have said they wouldn’t accept the small increase made by the Senate, but Senate leadership has indicated that they will not be able to pass an increase any higher than $7.75, putting any increase in minimum wage this year in doubt.

MNA supports an increase in the minimum wage because it will lift many families out of poverty and will stimulate our economy. Please use the Grassroots Action Center to contact your Senator TODAY and encourage them to raise the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour indexed to inflation. Study after study shows that raising wages speeds economic recovery, increases productivity, and reduces turnover for small businesses. That income goes directly back into the local economy to improve communities. A bill to raise the wage to $9.50 would help more than a half-million Minnesotans put food on the table and pay their bills.

State Employee Contract

The contract that includes over 700 MNA nurses at multiple State of Minnesota facilities passed its final legislative hurdle last week and now is waiting for the Governor’s signature.

Legislative Wrap-Up

Come learn about the impact of the legislative session on issues related to nursing practice, health care policy and finance, and the state budget.

WHEN:                    Tuesday, June 11, 4:00 – 5:30 pm

WHERE:                  At the MNA office in St. Paul, 345 Randolph Avenue, Suite 200, St. Paul 55102 or via webcast

 This event is for MNA members only and requires an RSVP. Please contact Eileen Gavin at eileen.gavin@mnnurses.org and let her know if you plan to participate in person or online. (Online participants will need an RSVP code to join the event.)

 

 

 

Is it a Destination or a Theme Park?

13 May

The Mayo’s Destination Medical Center appears to be a done deal.  Hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars will transform Rochester into a gilded city worthy of hosting a gold standard of health care in the world, but something’s missing from all the talk – patients.

We know a little about what Rochester could look like, but it’s a lot more than we know what the Mayo could look like.  Rochester is slated to build new bridges, hotels, streets, and even a high-speed train from Minneapolis.   The DMC will create the optimal experience for patients and their families with world-class amenities to match their level of care.  That means hotels, restaurants, where patients and/or their families could enjoy lavish accommodations and entertainment while getting better.

In fact, both Minnesota Public Radio and the Rochester Post-Bulletin have reported that for more than two years, DMC was a top-secret project.  No one in the newspaper’s newsroom had even heard of the DMC, even though the P-B’s publisher was in on some of the meetings.  Evidently, a contract of confidentiality had to be signed just to be in the meeting.

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The Mayo even agreed on a logo for the DMC after putting the design out to competitive bid in April, 2010-more than two years before the DMC project became public knowledge.

The Mayo has only hinted, for example, that a new $100 m tower at St. Mary’s hospital is probably first to be built as it can dovetail from a current construction project.  What kind of care will be available in this tower, we don’t know.  The Mayo receives more than $100 million in competitive peer review grants into cancer research alone, but the public amenities seem more open to discussion than any cutting edge technology.

By contrast, the Cleveland Clinic’s medical campus extols the innovation alley that’s being created to foster new technology that will bring better care to new patients.

The Mayo says 30,000-40,000 people will be hired over the next 20 years to create a world-class medical campus to compete with the Cleveland Clinics and the Johns Hopkinses of the world.  There’s no talk of whether any of those new workers will be doctors and nurses or valets and food servers.  It appears that patient satisfaction surveys have become more important than the patient outcomes and that marketing has become more marketing than medicine.

The Mayo could be a Destination Medical Center by ensuring that enough nurses and staff are hired to safely care for serious patients and promote better outcomes.  The Mayo could be a destination for innovative care by seeking out the toughest cases the medical world sees and solving those cases, regardless of the patient’s ability to pay.

There are other questions too.  Such as, will these “new” buildings include current union employees? And will agreements be in place to assure labor peace before construction begins?

But the biggest question remains, will patients make Rochester a destination without knowing what level of care they’ll receive?

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MNA Legislative Update, May 10, 2013

10 May

Standards of Care Campaign

Yesterday, Governor Dayton signed HF588/SF471 into law after it passed its final hurdle on the first day of Nurses Week when the House took a last procedural vote on Monday.  The bill requires the Department of Health to conduct a thorough study of the correlation between nurse staffing and patient health outcomes, and mandates every Minnesota hospital to publicly report their staffing plans.

When the study is complete, we will have Minnesota-specific data to underscore the stories nurses have been telling legislators for years: that unsafe staffing is a serious problem in Minnesota hospitals. Our ultimate goal is still a minimum standard of care for patient assignments in Minnesota. To that end, we must continue to advocate for safe staffing in every hospital, every day, every shift. Continue to submit Concern for Safe Staffing forms – they do make a difference – especially to legislators who may be skeptical that inadequate staffing is a problem.

Please thank the Governor for his support of nurses and of patient safety by sending an email.

Minimum Wage

Last week the Minnesota state House passed a long-overdue increase in the state’s minimum wage to $9.50. At the current federal minimum wage of $7.25, a couple with two children would have to work 155 hours a week to meet basic needs. Families headed by minimum wage workers are stressed, and an increase in minimum wage would lift many out of poverty. Click here for more information about the minimum wage in Minnesota.

This week the Senate passed their version, increasing the minimum wage to $7.75. Neither the House nor Senate version contains a “tip penalty” (a lower minimum wage for tipped workers like restaurant servers). The House version of the bill also indexes the minimum wage to inflation, ensuring raises for minimum wage workers as costs go up in the future.

The bill will now go to a conference committee to work out the differences between the two bills. MNA supports the House position, which brings minimum wage workers closer to a living wage.

The minimum wage increase may affect you, because many MNA nurses have contract language that is tied to the minimum wage. Check your contract by logging in to the MNA member portal at www.mnnurses.org.

State Employee Contract

The contract that includes over 700 MNA nurses at multiple State of Minnesota facilities will receive a vote on the Senate floor soon, possibly today. It has already been passed by the House, and should pass the Senate and go on to the Governor for his signature.

State Budget

Leaders of the House and Senate have been in meetings with the Governor this week to work out the differences between their budget and tax proposals. Among other items, the Health and Human Services budget depends on these talks, so we will continue to monitor the process.

Marriage

Yesterday the House of Representatives voted 75-59 to allow all Minnesotans the freedom to marry, while protecting the freedom of religious institutions and clergy to practice their religion based on their values. Next, the bill will go to the Senate for a floor vote, expected on Monday, and then to Governor Dayton who has pledged to sign it into law. MNA supports the freedom to marry as an important step in ensuring equality under the law for all Minnesotans and their families.

You’re Invited: MNA Legislative Wrap-Up on June 11

Come learn about the impact of the legislative session on issues related to nursing practice, health care policy and finance, and the state budget, Tuesday, June 11, 4:00 – 5:30 pm at MNA office in St. Paul or via webcast. This event is for MNA members only and requires an RSVP. Please contact Eileen Gavin at eileen.gavin@mnnurses.org and let her know if you plan to participate in person or online. (Online participants will need an RSVP code to join the event.)

MNA Legislative Update May 3, 2013

3 May

 

Standards of Care/Staffing Disclosure Act

The Standards of Care/Staffing Disclosure Act (SF471/HF588), creating a Department of Health study of the correlation between nurse staffing and patient outcomes and requiring public reporting of hospital staffing, passed the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, and passed the full Senate on Thursday. Thanks to our Senate author, Sen. Jeff Hayden (DFL-Minneapolis), for his work on the bill. The bill will next head back to the House for a final procedural vote, and then to the Governor whom is expected to sign the bill into law.

If you would like to see how your legislators voted, the Senate roll call vote is here, and the first House roll call vote is here. More information about the study can be found in the bill’s fiscal note here.

Nurse Practice Act

Governor Dayton signed the bill clarifying the scope of practice of Licensed Practical Nurses this week. The measure goes into effect on August 1. SF1016 was crafted after years of discussions between MNA, the Licensed Practical Nurse Alliance and the Board of Nursing. The final product clarifies and strengthens the Nurse Practice Act for both LPNs and RNs. Specifically, the law clarifies the definitions of assignment, delegation and unlicensed assistive personnel.

The Board of Nursing has committed to conducting education sessions for nurses on this issue. We will alert you when those opportunities are scheduled.

Thanks to all the nurses who participated in conversations with the Board of Nursing about this issue, and to the bill authors, Rep. Patti Fritz (DFL-Faribault) and Sen. Chris Eaton, RN (DFL-Brooklyn Center).

State Employee Contract

The contract for over 700 MNA nurses in state facilities was passed by the House two weeks ago, and now awaits a hearing in the Senate Finance Committee. Last session, the same contract, agreed to by both management and employees, was voted down by the Republican-controlled legislature after attacks on public employees all session long. This session we expect a smooth path to ratification.

Taxes

A conference committee is meeting to work out significant differences between the House and Senate versions of the Tax bills. We are encouraged both versions ask the wealthiest to pay their fair share to support public investment in our schools, roads, and health care. Both also include an increase in the cigarette tax, which will both discourage youth smoking and help pay for the public health costs of smoking.

 

Minnesota nurses join thousands in DC to rally for Robin Hood Tax

24 Apr
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MNA members join unions, education advocates, and homeless groups to fight for the Robin Hood Tax

Washington DC’s Farragut Square turned into Sherwood Forest this weekend as 2,000 Robin Hoods rallied for a Wall Street Tax to pay for healthcare, medical research, and education.

Fifteen MNA members joined union nurses from Massachusetts, DC, and across the country to demand President Obama and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew to implement the “Robin Hood Tax,” a transaction fee on stock trading that could generate $260 billion for the needs of the middle class.

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MNA members Peter Danielson and Katie Skipton join 2,000 people in Farragut Square

“We have seen the devastation of our patients at the bedside,” said Bernadine (Bunny) Engeldorf, RN, Vice-President of MNA, “we discharge our patients to the streets because some people are picking between healthcare and paying the mortgage.”

“As nurses we can be advocates for patients because we see first-hand how the economy has affected our patients,” said Katie Skipton, RN, from Bemidji.

Buses full tourists in DC for the cherry blossom season saw nurses put on a flash mob as they rallied for an hour with other unions and more than 140 organizations, including ATU and Public Service International.  Then they marched from the square to the White House to the US Treasury Building carrying giant puppets of wealthy Wall Street bankers.  Nurses were also trying to get the attention of G-20 finance ministers and dovetail on the introduction of the “Inclusive Prosperity Act,” HR 1579, which was introduced by Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN).

“If you can’t be strong enough to go to work, it affects your mental health,” Engeldorf, a mental health nurse, said, “we’ve had people actively suicidal because they can’t get a job.”

“We do our best to get patients healthy and get them home,” Kipton said, “but once they leave the hospital no amount of care or education will help them keep their house.”

Besides the rally, Minnesota MNA members met with the staffs of Minnesota Congressional members Betty McCollum, Colin Peterson, Keith Ellison, and Rick Nolan.

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MNA members gather after the Robin Hood Tax Rally

 

Standards of Care Act Passes MN House

17 Apr

The Standards of Care Act (HF588) passed the full Minnesota House of Representatives 73-58 earlier this afternoon. There was bipartisan support for our bill to require the Department of Health to study the correlation between staffing and patient outcomes and hospitals to report their staffing quarterly to the public. Can you take a moment to thank our author and champion Representative Joe Atkins? He has gone to the mat for nurses over and over again because he believes us when we say there is a patient safety crisis in Minnesota. His email is rep.joe.atkins@house.mn.

Joe Atkins

Rep. Joe Atkins (DFL-Inver Grove Heights) passed the Standards of Care Act out of the Minnesota House Wednesday

The bill still has to clear one more committee in the Senate. That hearing has not yet been scheduled.

We can’t rest yet. We need to reach out to members of the Senate who are still undecided on the bill. Even if you have already contacted your state senator, please reach out again. If you haven’t already, tell your senator why we need to address staffing in Minnesota hospitals and ask for their support.

Contact your state senator today to ask for support of strong consumer transparency language, nurse staffing reporting and a comprehensive study that gathers real data about the correlation between staffing and health outcomes.

Click here to use the MNA Grassroots Action Center to send an email.

Let your senator know:
·         That you’re a nurse
·         Why it is important to shine a light on the correlation between staffing and health outcomes
·         Why better nurse staffing matters to you and your patients

Corporate Mergers Need Watching…with a Microscope!

16 Apr
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MNA President Linda Hamilton, RN, BSN

By Linda Hamilton, RN, BSN

Attorney General Lori Swanson deserves the gratitude of all Minnesotans for hitting the brakes on the possible Sanford Health-Fairview Health Services merger that meant a takeover of our University of Minnesota Medical Center.  Taxpayers can have confidence that the educational, training, and research facilities they’ve paid for and donated to will stay in local hands.  Minnesota patients can rest easy that the mission to do research and care for the toughest cases will remain a priority.

That said, however, we can’t relax that the continued corporatization of health care in the state won’t continue or that patient care will continue to look very different in the future.

A patient could criss-cross the state from Thief River Falls to Monticello to Moose Lake to Marshall and find that the “local” hospital is now part of a chain in the hands of one of the major players in the state: Sanford, Avera, Essentia, Mayo, or Fairview.  Hospital boards continue to struggle to balance budgets while maintaining care for local residents, and the offer of new capital with efficient controls and partnerships with large medical hubs can look pretty attractive.  Trouble is, hospitals can find themselves years into a partnership agreement when they find that the promises don’t match the reality.

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Attorney General Lori Swanson questioning Sanford executives

In Sandstone, for example, the hospital board had to have a showdown with Essentia Health to change the 15-year-old contract.  The North Pine Area Hospital District board repeatedly complained about the corporation’s refusal to make the much-needed improvements to the 50-year-old hospital waiting rooms and clinics.

Residents didn’t appreciate that the hospital’s two local administrators were shown the door.   Sandstone city officials even had to fight the company’s unsolicited buyout of their hospital.

In Virginia, fears of loss of control led the city leaders to ensure that the hospital would be a secondary hub for Essentia with enough resources to care for residents from Ely, International Falls, and Cook to keep the facility open and ensure patients wouldn’t have to drive to Duluth for good care.

Before another local hospital becomes another link in the chain, hospital board members need to ask what will happen to patient care.  Will procedures continue to be performed locally or will patients literally face a long road ahead to receive care at a flagship hospital?

Will our hospital continue to be the family hospital where our family is cared for the doctors and nurses who are our neighbors who we trust?  Will the hospital board and CEO be in church with us and have a commitment to our community?  Will our local doctor lose his/her right to independent practice essentially tying them to corporate strings like a marionette that tell him or her what to do and when?

Patients may also wonder if they’ll continue to see their local doctor who may work for a different medical group or if the local experienced nurses they’ve grown accustomed to seeing will still have a job if a corporate takeover happens.

In Minnesota, it may be easy to think that these things would never happen.  After all, our hospitals have to be non-profits, and we brag about our top-shelf level health care.  Non-profit or for-profit, it doesn’t matter.  The style of hospital management is turning customers into numbers and patients into products.

Corporate health care takes away the uniqueness that makes our hometown special.  When we are sick or having our babies, we want excellent care given by doctors and nurses who care in our community.   The local hospital is an investment that was made by our communities years ago by us the taxpayers, by us in the faith communities, and by many of us who generously gave over the decades. We must question and we must speak now before our small hospitals become just feeders for the large corporate healthcare industry.

Thank you Attorney General Swanson, but regulators on the state and local level need to keep track of who owns the hospitals.

MNA Legislative Update April 12, 2013

12 Apr

MNA Legislative Update, April 12, 2013

Standards of Care Update

On Wednesday the revised bill, focusing on transparency for patients and a Minnesota Department of Health study of the correlation between staffing and patient outcomes, passed the House Ways and Means Committee, completing the committee process in the House and moving on to a floor vote.

In the Senate, the bill was passed by the Health and Human Services Finance Committee this morning. There will be one more committee stop in the Senate, which should happen later this month.

Our main objective for the remainder of the 2013 legislative session is to ensure that a comprehensive and accurate study is completed. Ultimately, our goal is safe staffing in every facility, on every unit and during every shift.

In the next few weeks the full House and full Senate will take floor votes on this bill. In the time leading up to the floor votes, it is critical that nurses contact our legislators and stress the importance of transparency about staffing and the need for Minnesota-specific data linking staffing to health outcomes. Contact your state senator and state representative today with the MNA Grassroots Action Center, and ask your coworkers to do the same.

Fairview/Sanford

The biggest news this week was that Sanford withdrew from merger discussions with Fairview. Attorney General Lori Swanson held a standing room only hearing on Sunday to shed light on the possibility of an out-of-state company with for-profit arms taking over Fairview. Attorney General Swanson raised questions about the impact of a merger on important state assets like the University of Minnesota hospital and medical school.  After the hearing, Sanford announced it was backing away from the discussions, and subsequently Fairview said it would also cease consideration of a University of Minnesota proposal to take over Fairview.

While the Sanford/Fairview merger is off, the trend of hospital consolidation and corporatization continues. Rep. Joe Atkins (DFL- Inver Grove Heights) therefore will still hold a hearing on his bill to prohibit the sale of the University of Minnesota hospital to an out-of-state entity. The public hearing will be on Wednesday, April 17, at 4:00 pm in the Basement Hearing Room of the State Office Building.

However, the Attorney General’s second public hearing about the merger, which was scheduled for April 21, has been cancelled. Thank you to all of the nurses who attended the first hearing and who sent in their comments to the Attorney General.

MNA applauds Attorney General Swanson for her role as a watchdog for accountability and transparency for the taxpayers and patients of Minnesota.

Mayo “Destination Medical Center”

The Mayo Clinic’s Destination Medical Center proposal, seeking over $500 million for a major expansion of the clinic and local infrastructure, was heard in the House Taxes Committee this week. MNA, along with SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and UNITE HERE, the hotel and restaurant workers union, submitted a letter to legislators raising questions about the project, including seeking more information about what kind of jobs would be created by the expansion, and how the quality of care and Mayo’s obligation to provide charity care would be affected by the project. Due to these questions and other concerns from legislators, Mayo is working on a revised plan. MNA will continue to monitor this issue.

HHS Budget and HMO Accountability

Both the House and Senate Health and Human Services Omnibus bills contain $150 million in cuts. MNA appreciates the House position of funding those cuts in part by capturing excess funds from Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs). A recent report by the Segal Company shows that HMOs have been overcharging the state for management of public health care programs since the Pawlenty administration. MNA and many of our allies have been seeking answers and more transparency regarding the HMO “black box” – the approximately $4 billion in taxpayer dollars HMOs receive annually to administer public health care programs.

Job Creation Events

Members of the House will be holding events focused on the House DFL jobs and bonding proposals around the state this weekend. These bills will promote job creation and move Minnesota’s economy forward. The events will be press conference-style and should be short, 30 minutes or so. If there is an event in your region, please attend if you are able.

SATURDAY, APRIL 13th

Time:                       10 AM

Legislators:         Speaker Thissen and Representatives Hausman and Dorholt

Location:              St. Cloud Civic Center, Glen Carlson Hall, ST. CLOUD

Time:                       1:30 PM

Legislators:         Speaker Thissen and Representatives Hausman, Mary Murphy, Huntley, and Simonson

Location:              UMD, Kirby Building, Room 333, DULUTH

Time:                       2 PM

Legislators:         Representatives Mahoney, John Ward and Radinovich

Location:              Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport, Conference Room, Main Terminal, BRAINERD

SUNDAY, APRIL 14th

Time:                       1 PM

Legislators:         Majority Leader Erin Murphy RN and Representatives Hausman, Mahoney, Norton, and

Liebling.

Location:              Mayo Civic Center, Legion Suite, ROCHESTER

Time:                       3 PM

Legislators:         Majority Leader Erin Murphy RN and Representatives Mahoney and Savick

Location:              Riverland Community College, East Building, Room C-110 (Door E5), ALBERT LEA

Open letter to Mayo’s Government Relations Chair

4 Apr
Kathleen M. Harrington Mayo
Government Relations, Chair 200 First Street SW Rochester, MN 55905

Dear Ms. Harrington:

Thank you for bringing your Operations staff to meet with leaders from SEIU and UNITE HERE last Friday to discuss the Mayo Destination Medical Center (DMC) and the related legislative proposal. While we have significant concerns and unanswered questions, we are excited about the possibility of significant job growth in the health care and hospitality sectors.

We look forward to meeting again in the very near future and to discussing specific proposals about the future DMC workforce and how collective bargaining can ensure these are quality jobs. We feel that, along with the Minnesota Nurses Association, we can reach an agreement that will preserve Mayo’s competitive status and promote living wage jobs.

In particular we suggest you examine the following ideas as a basis for further conversation:
• Codifying what part of the future workforce would consist of expanded operations at Mayo Methodist and St. Mary’s hospitals which would be subject to accretion under the existing SEIU HCMN contract.
• A private neutrality and chard-check agreement with SEIU HCMN and MNA for some portion of Mayo’s new or existing healthcare workforce.

  • Assurances that any union hospitality facility demolished or restructured in the DMC zone would remain union.
  • A commitment that new hospitality facilities (employing workers under NAICS Code 721100) would be required to have a labor peace agreement in place prior to construction.

Precisely because the DMC proposal will have a tremendous impact, either for good or bad, on workers in the Rochester area, we need to get clear information from you before the bill moves forward in the legislature. Therefore we will send the attached letter to legislative leaders. It urges them to refrain from moving the bill forward until our questions have been answered.

On behalf of UNITE HERE Minnesota, MNA, and SEIU Healthcare Minnesota we hope that we can reach an agreement quickly and then work jointly to pass this bill.

Sincerely yours,

Nancy Goldman, President UNITE HERE, Local 17

Jamie Gulley, President SEIU Healthcare Minnesota

Linda Hamilton, RN, President Minnesota Nurses Association

Walt Frederickson, Executive Director Minnesota Nurses Association

Mayo Needs to Answer Key Questions About Destination Medical Center

On February 7, 2013, bills were introduced in the Minnesota Legislature to request more than a half billion dollars of state assistance to the Destination Medical Center (DMC) plans drafted by Mayo Clinic and Mayo Health System. This plan lacks transparency and failed to involve key stakeholders or affected communities in and around Rochester and the state of Minnesota. February 7 was the first time most people even knew there was a plan, much less what it contained. It is very clear that as things stand there are too many unanswered questions about DMC to justify support for the project.

Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA), UNITE HERE Minnesota and SEIU Healthcare Minnesota represent three of the largest stakeholders affected by the proposed DMC. Representing nearly 50,000 families in the health care and hospitality industry in Minnesota, we are left with no choice but to OPPOSE the DMC plan until Mayo Clinic and Mayo Health System engage the community and all stakeholders to develop a DMC proposal they all understand and can support. Furthermore, we ask the legislature to withhold support for the DMC until Mayo answers key questions about the impact this proposal will have on our jobs, our homes and our communities.

1. What projects does the DMC envision building and where will they be located?

2. What jobs will be created and what do they look like; will they be union jobs or low paying jobs without benefits?

3. What is the impact on other health care and hospitality employers in the state of Minnesota?

4. Why does the DMC want authority to over-ride local government planning decisions and why should the state grant DMC the powers of eminent domain over our homes?

5. What is Mayo’s commitment to the state and low income patients in return for this tax payer money? How much charity care will be guaranteed in exchange for the state’s commitment to this project? Will Mayo be included as a provider in all health plans throughout the state?

6. Will recipients of this investment commit to labor peace agreements with the workers and the unions that represent them?

7. What will be the impact on our school districts and the impact on property taxes if tax-paying businesses are removed to make way for expanded non-profit (non-taxed) institutions?

The Minnesota Nurses Association unites 20,000 nurses in Minnesota’s Healthcare Industry, UniteHERE unites 6,000 workers in Minnesota’s Hospitality Industry and SEIU Healthcare Minnesota unites 17,000 workers in Minnesota’s Healthcare Industry, including more than 2,000 workers at Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

PDF copy of letter: 130312_Mayo letter

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