Hennepin Healthcare officials warn lawmakers it could close in 2026 without tax boost

Hennepin Healthcare officials made their case to Minnesota state legislators Tuesday, urging them to pass a sales tax that could prevent the state's busiest Level 1 trauma hospital from closing.

Hennepin Healthcare has already cut five departments but is maintaining its trauma center, hyperbaric chamber and renowned burn center, officials said. Leaders warned that without state action this legislative session, the hospital could close as soon as this year.

"This is a statewide investment, teaching hospitals are the workforce engine for rural Minnesota," Dr. Meghan Walsh of Hennepin Healthcare told the state tax committee. "If you represent a farming district, a lake community, a small town hospital, this matters to you. If you want trauma surgeons in Northern Minnesota, if you want psychiatrists in greater Minnesota, if you want addiction treatment outside the metro, if you want your constituents to age in place, then you must invest where physicians are trained."

The hospital faces financial pressures from an increase in patients without insurance, a Medicaid cut, and the folding of Ucare, their biggest payer, according to officials.

State lawmakers must pass a sales tax, known as the ballpark tax because it helps fund Target Field, to keep the hospital operating. Hennepin County cannot enact the tax without state approval.

Trevor Sawallish, CEO of North Memorial Hospital, also testified about the regional impact of a potential HCMC closure.

"HCMC is a critical resource for our community. ... North is not gonna survive without HCMC, because we really do share this important function," Sawallish said.

Gov. Tim Walz said the hospital is too important to lose and appointed Jan Malcolm, who led public health during the COVID-19 pandemic, to help HCMC and other hospitals in dire financial need.

Jake Laferriere, a former Minneapolis firefighter who was treated at HCMC's burn center, said the hospital saved his life and continued to support his recovery through physical and occupational therapy.

"I have never felt a pain that cut so deep that you start crying for no reason, it literally hits your whole soul, your body as a human," Laferriere said. "I am eternally grateful for that hospital. It has to stay around; we have to fight for that hospital."

During the two-hour hearing, there was a broad consensus among lawmakers that the hospital needs saving, according to officials.