Jakub Tolar, MD, PhD, dean of the Medical School and vice president for Clinical Affairs at the University of Minnesota, has accepted an invitation from UMRA to participate in a special forum on February 14. He will address the proposed merger between Fairview Health Services (current owner of the University’s hospitals and clinics), and South Dakota-based Sanford Health, as well as the University’s vision: the MPact Health Care Innovation project.

The intent of this forum is to bring UMRA members up to date on the issues surrounding these changes and to share more about the Medical School’s progress and vision for the future. Register now to attend this Zoom webinar.

Competition in the health marketplace

Before 1997, University health care professionals worked and trained the next generation of clinicians in University-owned clinics and hospital. A new facility (the current hospital on the East Bank) was built in the 1980s with state support. This hospital and the clinics were sold to Fairview Health Services in 1996. Even today there are differing opinions on the reasons for and necessity of this sale.

Over the years, the University has tried several iterations of the partnership between Fairview and the University/University of Minnesota Physicians (M Physicians). The latest, signed in 2018, launched the joint clinical enterprise branded M Health Fairview. This agreement included new opportunities for academic physician leadership in the health system, a benchmark level of academic support for the first time in this affiliation, and market-level compensation for our physicians. The University of Minnesota Medical Center (UMMC), now three hospitals including Masonic Children’s Hospital, continues as the main site for our M Physicians practice and the training of health professionals.

If you would you like to submit a question in advance of the February 14 forum, email Frank Cerra.

Now, with three years remaining in the original agreements, Fairview has proposed a merger with Sanford Health, leaving open the future relationship with the University and its medical and health professional education and training programs, that also support all the health systems in Minnesota and their continued needs for health professionals. 

In the first of four public hearings on the merger, held by Attorney General Keith Ellison, the University announced opposition to the merger, citing the impact on the Medical School and the public purpose of UMMC. Two days later, the University announced its MPact Health Care Innovation vision that includes buying back the University hospital and pursuing a new, world-class medical center.

Much media coverage has been generated with more questions than answers: How will the Medical School and other health professional schools be supported, thrive and provide the needed health workforce, rural and urban? How will such a merger contain costs, retain quality, and support clinical education and research? How will the University realize its vision in a competitive health marketplace?

UMRA is privileged to have this exclusive opportunity to hear directly from Dean Tolar. Many UMRA members will remember him as the guest speaker for our September 2021 forum—“How we became a speedboat in a time of crisis”—on the Medical School’s extraordinary response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Please mark your calendars and register (required) for this Zoom webinar starting at 12 p.m. on Tuesday, February 14. We hope you will join us.

—Co-authored by Frank Cerra, Medical School dean and senior vice president for health sciences (retired), and Jakub Tolar, Medical School dean and vice president for clinical affairs