Bloomington-based HealthPartners announced plans Wednesday to add the hospital in Hutchinson to its health system, a merger that would continue the consolidation drive among Minnesota's hospitals and clinics.
Hutchinson Health would retain its name and remain a distinct, locally governed operation as part of HealthPartners, which is both a health insurance company and a large operator of hospitals and clinics.
Earlier this year, independent hospitals in Grand Rapids and Willmar also announced deals for mergers or affiliations with larger health systems amid financial pressures that give advantages to large networks of hospitals and clinics.
"For small, rural independents, we see what's happening around us," said Dr. Steven Mulder, the chief executive of Hutchinson Health. "It's the financial stability. It's the economies of scale that come with a system partnership."
HealthPartners currently operates six hospitals in Minnesota and Wisconsin, including Regions Hospital in St. Paul and Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park. The health system agreed to the partnership because Hutchinson Health shares the same goals for providing quality and efficient care for communities, said Andrea Walsh, the chief executive of HealthPartners.
"We are committed to increasing access to top specialists, technology and services in Hutchinson and central Minnesota," she said in a statement.
The frictions that can come after small hospitals merge with larger systems have been on display recently in Albert Lea, where the Rochester-based Mayo Clinic has proposed reducing services including obstetrics at the town's hospital. Residents of Albert Lea have loudly protested against the plan.
Asked if obstetrics could be eliminated in Hutchinson, Mulder said: "We would not at all foresee [that] happening in this partnership." He said he believed leaders at Hutchinson Health would collaborate with HealthPartners officials to determine where there are chances to grow or improve services.
