The Fairview name will live on under a new agreement between the Twin Cities health system and the University of Minnesota that seeks to elevate the standing of both as medical and research powerhouses.
The U's Board of Regents approved an eight-year partnership Friday morning that will rebrand the shared hospitals and clinics under the name M Health Fairview.
The two parties have alternately considered splitting, merging, then splitting again, since forging a partnership two decades ago, but Fairview and university leaders said this new collaboration recognizes the important roles that each side plays for the other.
The partnership provides a "user-friendly, research-based and science-driven way of getting health care to Minnesotans," said Dr. Jakub Tolar, vice president for health sciences and dean of the U's Medical School.
Fairview clinics and hospitals will continue to serve as a referral base, sending patients to the university and its specialty care and research programs.
The health system also committed to providing $40 million or more per year in clinical revenue to support research. That was an increase from the current amount of $8.7 million annually, and the agreement calls for an additional variable amount of up to $8 million per year in research spending if Fairview generates excess clinical revenue.
The university and its faculty doctors will provide expertise, clout and an academic brand name to Fairview, which was already one of the largest providers of primary care in the Midwest before its 2017 merger with the HealthEast hospital-clinic system.
While the deal might appear to be a "dollar for brand" swap, U general counsel Doug Peterson said it is more complicated. The increased research funding is based on the assumption that Fairview and university doctors will increase patient volumes and accelerate research discoveries that will improve patient care, he said.
