rural health

For rural hospitals already operating on tiny margins, looming Medicaid cuts will dial up the financial pressures, said Jean MacDonell, president and CEO of Fairview Range hospital in Hibbing.

Over 400 nurse practitioners and physician assistants across 69 facilities from across Northern Minnesota began an open-ended unfair labor practice strike July 10, 2025.

It will be one of the only rural family medicine training programs in MN, training two physicians each year and aimed at encouraging doctors to practice in rural areas.

The Centers for Disease Control say as many as 9% of American women have an alcohol use disorder.

Plus: MnDOT will host a pre-construction open house ahead of a 3-year project on Highways 10 and 71; and Minnesota public health officials are sounding the alarm of alcohol misuse among women.

In a May 23, 2025, announcement, Planned Parenthood of North Central Lakes stated that Bemidji and seven other clinics would close within a year.

As Congress weighs enacting Medicaid reforms to reduce spending, the research community has new findings looking at how the public health insurance program props up maternal care in rural communities.

Plus: North Memorial Health will continue to be the ambulance service provider in the Walker area after a meeting of the newly-formed special taxing authority; Minnesota's Office of Broadband Development announces it can no longer honor $12 million in grants to local governments and small businesses after federal funding cuts; and the Minnesota DNR is accepting comment on an environmental assessment worksheet to restore habitat on the St. Louis River.

The special joint taxing authority formed to fund the ambulance service for Walker and surrounding communities also approved a $528,500 levy for 2026.

Legislation would allocate $600K from the state’s workforce development fund to the Rural Cancer Institute for a program exposing med students to oncology care in rural Minnesota.