NEW PRAGUE, Minn. — On Tuesday, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) held a public meeting to address the announcement that another hospital will stop delivering babies.
This time it's the Mayo Clinic Health Services-New Prague location, just about a month after a hospital in Fosston, Minnesota made the same decision.
Experts say this is part of a bigger pattern that's putting mothers and babies at risk, particularly in rural areas.
"The closest hospital you're starting to look at Northfield, Owatonna, Mankato," said New Prague Mayor Duane Jirik. "Then it starts getting to be an hour drive here, an hour drive there or more."
The labor and delivery services in New Prague will close Friday, Feb. 9. Mayo Clinic officials say there is a declining birth volume and most mothers already choose to deliver babies outside the city's campus. It also said there is a growing number of high-risk pregnancies that the hospital can't accommodate, along with a severe shortage of obstetricians. In fact, the hospital's last remaining doctor will be taking a leave of absence next week.
"It’s just like any other thing in the job market these days, just to try and get help and to get the staff" said Mayor Jirik. "It’s challenging because we don’t have the resources either."
Chartis, a leading healthcare advisory firm, found that 22 Minnesota diverted its delivery services from 2011-2021. That's one of the highest numbers in the nation. That includes places like Albert Lea, Cambridge, Ely and Hastings.
"It appears, here in Minnesota, the pace of closures has accelerated recently," said University of Minnesota Professor Katy Kozhimannil, PhD, who conducts research on rural health across the country.
She says the workforce, clinical safety and expenses are leading to some of these closures.
"And unless we change how we resource and pay for it and value the lives of pregnant, rural Minnesotans and their babies, we are going to keep having this conversation," said Kozhimannil.
The doctor says maternal services, like mental health, are also under reimbursed and hospitals are losing money.
In New Prague, only about one baby a week is born at the hospital, which also means staff is not getting the necessary exposure to volume, making recruitment and retention difficult. In that public meeting, Mayo Clinic called the decision "difficult".
Mayo Clinic also said its patients can transfer to its Mankato campus or it will help move their care to other hospitals in Shakopee, Faribault and Northfield that are closer.
State law requires hospitals give MDH a 120-day notice of a change like this or it could face a fine. In the case of New Prague, it will only be a few weeks, but Mayo Clinic cited an exception, saying the lack of staff makes it impossible to continue.
“Our mission is to provide patients with the best care in the safest environment possible,” said James Hebl, M.D., regional vice president at Mayo Clinic Health System in a release. “We are delivering fewer than 100 babies per year at the New Prague hospital, and our teams need to have frequent opportunities to deliver babies to maintain their skills. In addition, we have reached a critical physician staffing shortage. Our New Prague site has only one obstetrician remaining. Despite aggressive recruitment efforts, we have been unsuccessful in filling several obstetrician openings due to a nationwide shortage of physicians.”
Hebl added: “Although difficult, this is the right decision for the long-term health and safety of our patients. We remain committed to New Prague and growing other services based on patient needs."
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