Opinion | HCMC is a statewide resource that needs statewide support

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Most Minnesotans know that our state is fortunate to have access to one of the country’s premier Level I Trauma Centers. The trauma center at HCMC (the medical facility formerly known as Hennepin County Medical Center) provides lifesaving and disability-preventing services to adults and children throughout our region. Everyone in our state benefits from its presence.

What many don’t realize is that this essential service is just one of several unique, statewide resources provided by HCMC. Here are key examples:

HCMC’s hyperbaric program offers full emergency care for decompression sickness (the bends), arterial gas embolism, carbon monoxide poisoning, gas gangrene, severe infections, wound healing and other critical conditions. This is emergency and lifesaving therapy that requires special equipment and training. HCMC’s program is one of the few emergency hyperbaric capabilities in the region and serves patients from across Minnesota and neighboring states.

With its expertise, experience and facilities, HCMC serves as a critical hub for statewide disaster and emergency medical response far beyond what typical local hospitals can provide.

HCMC’s Burn Center is one of the largest and most comprehensive burn units in Minnesota, treating children and adults with severe burns and complex wounds from the Twin Cities and surrounding states. As a regional referral center and one of the nation’s busiest burn units, it accepts urgent referrals and coordinates care with hospitals and Emergency Medical Services across the Upper Midwest.

HCMC’s Comprehensive Cancer Center provides integrated cancer care, advanced radiation therapy and access to national clinical research groups, giving patients from across Minnesota cancer treatment options that may not be available at smaller clinics. It stands out for its focus on access and equity, providing a comprehensive range of services to a highly diverse and often underserved population.

HHRI’s work generates new medical knowledge and answers pressing questions in health care delivery, health disparities and public health outcomes that have local, statewide and national relevance. HHRI research informs health care strategies, policies and interventions, and its value extends beyond HCMC’s walls, influencing statewide health practices and outcomes.

HCMC has a longstanding tradition as Minnesota’s first major teaching hospital and remains a premier training site, educating health professionals across more than 50 programs, including medicine, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, paramedics, social workers, physician assistants, lab scientists and more. More than half of Minnesota’s practicing physicians have received clinical training at HCMC, making it one of the most influential institutions in building the state’s medical workforce.

HCMC serves as Minnesota’s largest safety-net hospital and treats a disproportionately high share of uninsured and Medicaid patients — far above the statewide average — making its role critical to populations that might otherwise go without care.

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During my tenure as Minnesota’s health commissioner, I traveled the state assessing health care needs. Residents — particularly those outside the Twin Cities — often told me how much they relied on HCMC’s specialized services without knowing where they came from. This underscored what should be obvious — that HCMC is a statewide resource essential to Minnesota’s health infrastructure, and the financial crisis facing HCMC is a statewide issue, not just a Hennepin County problem.

Hennepin Healthcare — the system that includes HCMC — is in a profound financial crisis, which is portending deep cuts, including limiting inpatient beds and program reductions that disproportionately affect lower-income and underserved patients.

We need urgent action to find a funding solution that sustains HCMC for the decades to come. If the current legislative session fails to do that, the conversation needs to be expanded beyond government offices in St. Paul and Minneapolis — it should be happening in all communities across the state and be a campaign issue for everyone running for office in 2026. A healthy HCMC benefits all Minnesotans — not just those in the metro — and we must build the political consensus necessary to safeguard this irreplaceable public asset.