FOSSTON — The Minnesota Department of Health will host a public hearing Tuesday, Jan. 30, on Essentia Health’s closure of its labor and delivery unit in Fosston.
According to the submission filed by Essentia Health, these services have been diverted to St. Mary’s Regional Health Center, an Essentia facility in Detroit Lakes. Essentia Health will continue to provide prenatal and postpartum obstetrics services in Fosston.
The virtual hearing will be 6 p.m. Tuesday. The city of Fosston will open its city hall that night and will play the hearing on a big screen, according to a news release. People may also participate in the hearing at home by logging into Microsoft Teams, or by submitting comments on the health department’s website.
Fosston is in a dispute with Essentia Health over the health care provider’s decision to end OB care in June 2022. City officials say the decision to stop a core service breaches the city’s contract with Essentia to manage its nonprofit hospital.
The parties were in mediation late last year, but mediators agreed the dispute reached an impasse. The matter is now expected to go to arbitration. If Fosston were to withdraw from its contract with Essentia Health, the provider would have a year to leave the hospital.
Essentia Health spokesperson Anthony Matt told the Star Tribune in a written statement that recruiting health care workers in the region has become more challenging, while births are declining and pregnancies are more likely to be risky. He said shared maternity services between facilities is becoming increasingly common and provides safe care.
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