ICYMI: Leaders of some of Minnesota’s smallest hospitals gathered at the Capitol on Tuesday to urge Minnesota lawmakers to act quickly and preserve a drug discount program that has kept their facilities afloat. Chief executives of hospitals in Blue Earth, Cloquet, Crosby, Ely, Grand Marais, and Staples offered examples of how 340B funding preserved health care in their communities.
What they said:
Richard Ash, President & CEO, United Hospital District, Blue Earth:
“If the legislature waits until more rural hospitals are gone and services are gone, it will not be a policy failure. It will be a moral failure.”
Patti Banks, President & CEO, Ely-Bloomenson Community Hospital:
“It is the difference between Ely having a hospital and Ely being a town where, if something happens, the answer is an ambulance ride that is two hours away on a good day.”
Rick Breuer, CEO, Community Memorial Hospital, Cloquet:
“If you lose the funding, you lose the programs, you lose the people, you lose the hospital.”
Rep. Natalie Zeleznikar:
“Minnesotans should be able to get the care they need when they need it, regardless of their ZIP code and where they live.”
Rep. Robert Bierman:
“We need to work on this one as something that we can take care of now, this term, this week, and not push it off to another year.”
Read more:
- Star Tribune: Hospitals say survival at stake in drug-discount debate
- Rochester Post Bulletin: Hospital leaders urge lawmakers to act on 340B
- MinnPost: Minnesota hospitals score a win. Maybe
- Northern News Now: Hospital leaders call for action on 340B
- WCCO-TV: MN House hasn’t moved on 340B despite Senate support
