FOSSTON — Fosston leaders announced a new hire for a healthcare transition plan this week as they await an arbitrator’s decision on a contract dispute.
Essentia Health has operated the Fosston Hospital since the 2009 affiliation agreement between the city of Fosston and the Duluth-based healthcare network.
Fosston officials argue that under the agreement, labor and delivery is a core service, but Essentia Health enacted what they called a “pause” on labor and delivery in June 2022, holding a public hearing for the shuttered unit with the Minnesota Department of Health in January 2024.
Births for Fosston patients since June 2022 were re-routed to Essentia-St. Mary’s in Detroit Lakes, about an hour's drive away.
The affiliation agreement is now under dispute, with local leaders looking to plan for a future transition if the outcome allows Fosston to terminate its contract with Essentia Health.
Bob Overmoe is the chair of the Fosston-appointed task force to explore a transition plan, including creating a new local 501(c)3 that would bring back labor and delivery to Fosston.
“A misconception that has been out there is the city is going to run this facility — that is not what the city is looking at,” Overmoe said. “If and when it comes back to local ownership they would be looking at transferring that member interest that Essentia now has to First Care Medical Services.”
Overmoe said Callen Weispfennig was the administrator at Essentia-Fosston until June of this year.
Weispfennig was announced this week as a new hire after unanimous approval by the Fosston City Council.
Pending the arbitrators’ decision, which could take another two months, Weispfennig is anticipated to become the full-time administrator with the new First Care Medical Services team at the Fosston hospital.
"His expertise and dedication to patient care will be invaluable as we embark on this important transition," Overmoe stated in a news release. "We are confident that under his leadership, we can make our hospital and clinic one of the finest rural healthcare facilities in Minnesota."
A local nonprofit is not a new concept for the management of the Fosston Hospital, Overmoe said.
“Similar to what it was prior to our affiliation with Essentia, with a 501(c)3, locally managed, a local board of directors, a local administrator with local med staff making the proper medical care decisions,” Overmoe said.
