Minnesota’s Fairview Health to shutter 16 clinics, cut 900 jobs

M Health Fairview on Monday announced a shake-up that will permanently change the face of Bethesda Rehabilitation Hospital and St. Joseph’s Hospital in St. Paul, shutter 16 of its 56 medical clinics in Minnesota and Wisconsin and reduce its workforce by 900 positions.
James Hereford, M Health Fairview President and CEO, informed the health network’s 34,000 employees at noon on Monday that it will lease Bethesda to Ramsey County, likely for homeless services, and move core hospital services from St. Joe’s to suburban locations.
That does not mean either facility will close. M Health Fairview is in talks with Open Cities, St. Mary’s Clinic and other federally-qualified health centers that serve the poor and underinsured to combine services at St. Joe’s alongside potential new social services and transitional housing there, a dramatic re-imagining of its community programming.
Both moves follow a tumultuous time in the healthcare industry, though intense financial