MPR news and documentary programming highlighting medical and political commentary on the changing landscape of American health care. Minnesota is not only home to Mayo Clinic, UCare, and Hazelden, it has been at the forefront of the health discussion, from the state’s historic tobacco settlement case to the idea of prepaid health plans (later known as HMOs).
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May 15, 2001 - MPR’s Laura McCallum reports that Governor Ventura has vetoed a sweeping health and human services bill because it contained an abortion waiting period. Meanwhile, the DFL-controlled Senate narrowly rejected the waiting period while working up a backup health and human services package.
May 18, 2001 - Nurses at 12 of 13 Twin Cities hospitals have rejected a contract proposal and say they'll strike when their contract runs out on May 31st. Nurses at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale ratified their contract after hospital management broke ranks with the other hospitals by offering better terms. The union says the vote allows 7700 nurses to strike on June first. They say a voter turnout of more than 80 percent should send a strong message to the hospitals that nurses are prepared to mount the metro area's first major nursing strike since 1984 unless they get a better deal. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports...
May 22, 2001 - Nurses at North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale upset about last week's vote to approve a new three-year contract are asking for a recount. North Memorial was the only one of thirteen hospitals to approve a contract. Twelve other hospitals are preparing for a possible strike on June first. A spokeswoman for the Minnesota Hospital and Healthcare Partnership says the nurse's union and hospitals will likely meet with a federal mediator on Thursday. But hospitals are moving forward with their strike preparations, and are looking to hire 4,000 replacement nurses in order to stay open. Some of those replacements could come from outside the state. Shirley Brekken is the Executive Director of the Minnesota Board of Nursing. She's on the line now.
June 5, 2001 - Officials with the Minnesota Nurses Associaiton and Allina Health Systems say they'll meet again today to "explore options" regarding the recount of votes by nurses at Abbott Northwestern Hospital and the Phillips Eye Institute in Minneapolis. The union says it conducted 3 recounts of the ratification of the vote on Sunday and would only say the tally "was in doubt." The union did recounts at two other hospitals as well and say they turned up no discrepencies. Meanwhile, 15-hundred nurses from two Fairview Hospitals continue to walk picket lines. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports...
June 5, 2001 - Nurses at two Minneapolis hospitals will remain on the job even though they may have rejected a contract proposal last weekend by a single vote. Officials with the Minnesota Nurses Association say they discovered a voting mixup only after telling Allina Health System that nurses at Abbott Northwestern Hospital and the Phillips Eye Institute had ratified the contract. And by then -- from a legal standpoint -- it was too late to correct the mistake. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports...
June 6, 2001 - LIVE INTRO: Meetings will be held today between registered nurses at two Allina Health System hospitals, attornies, and representatives of the Minnesota Nurses Association. At issue....what happened that a contract ratification vote was miscounted...with nurses learning yesterday, that they actually had turned DOWN the contract, by one vote, instead of approving it, as the MNA had reported. While those meetings get underway, nurses at two Fairview Hospitals enter a fourth day of picketing. Nursing unions across the country are watching the Fairview walkout, and the contracts that other TwinCities hosptals have signed recently with nurses. Susan Bianchi-Sand (bee-ON-kee Sand) is the director of the United American Nurses based in Washington, D.C. The Minnesota Nurses Association is affiliated with that group. Bianchi-Sand says many eyes are on the Twin Cities.
June 22, 2001 - This week Mainstreet Radio has been examining the challenges facing rural areas as the population ages. Healthcare is a major issue, and in many rural areas the care available through the Veterans Administration is a mainstay. When the men and women who were called to serve joined the armed services they were promised medical care for life. But as veterans age and medical costs skyrocket, how that promise is fulfilled is changing. Mainstreet Radios Bob Reha reports. {
July 18, 2001 - According to a newspaper report, the Minnesota Attorney General's office is calling on Allina Health System to split into two companies. The Star Tribune reports that in a confidential report to Allina's board of directors, the Attorney General called on the state's largest non-profit health care organization to separate the one million members in its HMO from its 19 hospitals and health clinics. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports...
July 20, 2001 - We expect to hear from Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch a bit later in the half hour. We asked two local Health Care experts to speculate on what split of Allina will mean for the roughly one million Medica members in Minnesota. Dave Durenberger is Senior Health Policy Fellow at the University of St Thomas. He says hes disappointed by the news:
July 20, 2001 -