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Count me among the Minnesotans who smiled at news two weeks ago that the latest attempt to marry Twin Cities-based Fairview Health Services and South Dakota-based Sanford Health failed before they got to the altar.
Or rather: before anyone in South Dakota got anywhere near control levers at the University of Minnesota's medical enterprise. That was a plausible concern because, since 1997, Fairview has owned the university's teaching hospital.
But I remained annoyed about Fairview and Sanford's many months of hush-hush merger talks. And about the fact that the U and Fairview were still talking almost entirely behind closed doors about what's next for them.
That's why I smiled again on Thursday, when Gov. Tim Walz appointed a task force on academic health at the University of Minnesota. That ought to bring the question of how best to keep health sciences strong at the U into the public arena, where it belongs.
For almost a year, the future of a vital public institution has been hashed over by a handful of people with little direct public accountability. They've been largely shielded from public view or input, despite efforts by the Legislature and Attorney General Keith Ellison to remind them of their obligation — legally and morally — to serve the public interest.
That's not the Minnesota way to conduct public business — which this clearly is. U of M health sciences in general and the U's hospital in particular are public creations that matter greatly to this state, for at least three reasons: