'Will You Lose?' campaign lays out HCMC's fiscal challenge -- and its potential effects throughout Minnesota
By Casey Selix, MinnPost.com, Monday, Nov. 30, 2009
Last month, freelance creative designer Blair Fellman stared down a tall order from Hennepin County Medical Center.
Though Fellman worked previously on the Save This Brain campaign to tout HCMC's brain injury programs, this time he was being asked to help preserve health care for the poor at the state's largest public safety-net hospital.…read more
HCMC: A hospital for all of Minnesota
By STEVEN MILES, Star Tribune, Last update: November 29, 2009 - 4:13 PM
As the song goes, "You don't know what you've got till it's gone." In March, the Hennepin County Medical Center will lose one of its financial pillars as Minnesota -- a state whose health rank is falling -- makes cuts to health programs for the needy.…read more
HCMC'S BUDGET DEFICIT: The health of our society is at stake
By Reader, Star Tribune, Last update: November 29, 2009 - 10:08 AM
I hope others who read the Nov. 22 cover story about Hennepin County Medical Center's decision to quit providing clinical services to uninsured people from outside the county recognize the difficulty of this scenario. Hospital staff are in a tough spot and will divert uninsured patients to already overcrowded emergency rooms, threatening the safety of everyone who requires emergency services. And given the threat of H1N1, I'd rest easier knowing those who need treatment will get it.
These tough times require individuals and society to reprioritize increasingly limited resources. Clearly, our health, our family, friends and our pets, as well as our jobs should be in tier one of our priorities.
Our social service systems are heaving under the pressures of the new financial realities, but if we lose sight of our primary values, our society is sure to collapse.
LYNN INGRID NELSON, MINNEAPOLIS
A nutrition program for the sick among the state's poorest residents is terminated. HCMC, which treats hundreds of thousands of Minnesota's most vulnerable patients, is hobbled by severe cuts. Metro-area homeless shelters overflow as winter approaches.
The newspapers, Internet and public radio are constantly filled with such stories -- is there no end to the free campaign publicity you media outlets are willing to give our presidential wannabe governor?
'It's a long way to $25 million' for HCMC
By KEVIN DUCHSCHERE, Star Tribune, Last update: November 24, 2009 - 9:48 PM
The Hennepin County Board gave itself a couple of weeks to come up with budget solutions for the medical center. But none seemed apparent Tuesday.…read more
HCMC bleeding with deep cuts
By CHEN MAY YEE, Star Tribune, Last update: November 21, 2009 - 9:29 PM
Of all hospitals in Minnesota facing economic woes, Hennepin County Medical Center is the hardest hit.…read more
HCMC to reduce charity care, cut jobs
By CHEN MAY YEE, Star Tribune, Last update: November 18, 2009 - 11:02 PM
Facing a crippling loss of state health care funds, Hennepin County Medical Center plans to stop seeing uninsured, nonemergency patients from other counties, cut 150 to 200 jobs and close two clinics on its downtown campus.…read more
Minnesota charities spreading the word
By JEAN HOPFENSPERGER, Star Tribune, Last update: November 6, 2009 - 4:29 PM
When the Hennepin County Medical Center launched a foundation last month, the first grant did not go to a traditional target such as a "safety net fund" for poor patients or promising medical research. …read more
Pawlenty sliced Minnesota's medical care for the poor, and now time's running out
By Casey Selix, Minnpost.com, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2009
Sam Joyner expected state Rep. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, and other lawmakers to listen to his testimony last session about how the General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) program for impoverished residents had covered his treatment for painful degenerative disk disease. …read more
Needy GAMC patients to get coverage under Minnesota Care, state decides. State makes shift to offset Pawlenty's cost-cutting measure
By Jason Hoppin jhoppin@pioneerpress.com Updated: 11/06/2009 11:16:31 PM CST
Aiming to ensure health care coverage for thousands of often homeless and chronically ill Minnesotans, the state said Thursday that it would shift the group into a program aimed at Minnesota's working poor. …read more
MinnesotaCare isn't suitable health coverage for the very poor.
By LORI STURDEVANT, Star Tribune, Last update: November 14, 2009 - 9:13 PM
The conversation turned to panhandling by vagrants, and its detrimental effect on customers' desire to come to downtown Minneapolis, at a recent gathering of city businesspeople and government officials. …read more
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