State task force debates need for new University of Minnesota hospital

Members of a state task force on academic health at the University of Minnesota are debating the need and urgency of the U's plans for a new hospital on its East Bank campus.

University officials say the new state-of-the-art medical center — which could cost between $1 billion and $2 billion — is crucial for recruiting and retaining top physicians and researchers. The U's medical school has enjoyed recent improvements in its national rankings and reputation and doesn't want to jeopardize it with outdated facilities.

The new medical center is a long-term goal, but University of Minnesota Interim President Jeff Ettinger asked the task force this week to support the creation of a future facility fund, starting this year. The fund would eventually accrue enough money to build "the next generation of world-class facilities," Ettinger said.

But at a Wednesday meeting, some task force members questioned whether this fund could be launched so quickly. Others argued the state should first conduct a comprehensive needs assessment. Such a study would show where the U's proposal fits within statewide needs for new health care facilities in hopes of preventing waste and duplication of other community assets.

"To me, [the fund] seemed premature before that capacity analysis is done," Jan Malcolm, task force chair and former state health commissioner, said during the meeting at the State Capitol. "I am really interested in some of the other recommendations that talk about exploring alternative models."

Former governors Mark Dayton and Tim Pawlenty, who are special advisers to the task force, have backed a new hospital as well as the facility fund.

Pawlenty said Wednesday that while he thought there might be room for some compromise, he believed the need for the new medical center at the U was "fairly obvious." The debate represented "a pretty significant fork in the road for the task force," he added.

"There isn't a future as a top-ranked, highly regarded medical center without these facilities being upgraded ...," Pawlenty said. "It's either going to happen or ... it won't really matter because you're going to have a mediocre institution, with mediocre results and mediocre effects — and then you can do whatever you want with it."

In August, Gov. Tim Walz created the task force to explore strategies for bolstering the U's health professional training programs.

It came as the university promoted a five-point plan on the future of academic health programs that included regaining ownership of the University of Minnesota Medical Center in Minneapolis and eventually building a new hospital facility.

The U hospital is currently owned by Fairview Health Services. The Minneapolis-based nonprofit hospital operator and the university are in the process of evaluating and renegotiating their long-term affiliation.

A future facility fund was one of 21 proposed recommendations that task force members voted on Wednesday during a straw poll. Only four of 14 task force members said they mostly or completely supported the idea — a much lower level of support than the poll found for most other potential recommendations.

The hesitation contrasted with nearly unanimous support for a comprehensive needs assessment, said Pahoua Hoffman, a task force member who is senior vice president of government and community relations at HealthPartners.

The idea for a future facility fund comes as the U also is seeking an additional $80 million-per-year in support from the Legislature for academic health programs, noted Dennis Olson, a task force member and commissioner of the state's Office of Higher Education.

Taken together, all of the U's funding requests constitute "a lot" of money, said Olson, who cited the emergence of long-term financial pressures in the state's most recent budget forecast.

"I just frankly don't know where it's going to come from — that's what gives me pause," he said.

Task force member Sen. Melissa Wiklund, DFL-Bloomington, said her reservation was whether the state would need to provide money for the fund this year.

But Dr. Julia Joseph-DiCaprio, a pediatrician, said the state needs to start looking at how to fund a new hospital now because "it's going to have to happen."

A new facility is "foundational" to a high-quality academic health center, said Dr. Jakub Tolar, dean of the U Medical School and a task force member. Tolar said he recently toured Essentia Health's new hospital in Duluth and found himself "embarrassed what kind of hospital we have in the middle of Minneapolis."

"If we are going to allow ourselves the benefit of waiting for another year, or two, or five, we actually will not have this discussion at all," he said. "Because the 1,200 physicians that are in our group and the health sciences, they will not be here — they will be somewhere else."

Task force member Vance Opperman, a former director at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, worried the needs assessment would reinforce the Legislature's tendency to "kick cans down the road."

But Malcolm argued the idea of a new hospital — while "not a no-never" — should not be prejudged without more study.

"I don't think the intent of the questions is to shut down the idea or to express permanent opposition, but it's to say there are important questions to be answered first before the decision to build a new hospital needs to be reached," Malcolm said in an interview after the meeting.