MEDICARE

Bemidji Senior Center to offer Medicare program, driver safety class

Pioneer Staff Report — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 17:57:00 GMT

BEMIDJI — The Bemidji Senior Center will host a Medicare 101 and a driver safety class this June, at the senior center, 216 Third St. NW.

Joan Miller will teach the monthly Medicare class at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, June 18. This event is free and open to the community, a release said.

The driver safety class will be held at 9 a.m. on Saturday, June 21.

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Bemidji Senior Center to hold monthly book club meeting

Pioneer Staff Report — Wed, 28 May 2025 13:56:45 GMT

BEMIDJI — The Bemidji Senior Center will host a book club meeting at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, June 3, at the senior center, 216 Third St. NW.

The center’s manager's daughter, H.L. Forest, will give an author talk on her book, "To Stand in a Fall," a release said. At 1 p.m., the author will return to the center for a book signing.

For more information, contact (218) 751-8836.

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Senior LinkAge Line to present Medicare program May 28

Pioneer Staff Report — Thu, 22 May 2025 15:32:00 GMT

BEMIDJI — The Bemidji Senior Center will host a Senior LinkAge Line class on Changes to Medicare at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, May 28, at the senior center.

No registration is required. This is a free presentation and all are welcome, a release said.

The Senior LinkAge Line is a free, statewide service of the Minnesota Board on Aging in partnership with Minnesota’s area agencies on aging. The service helps older Minnesotans and caregivers find answers and connect to the services and support they need.

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Senior LinkAge Line to present Medicare program at Bemidji Senior Center

Pioneer Staff Report — Wed, 07 May 2025 14:46:15 GMT

BEMIDJI — The Bemidji Senior Center will host a Senior LinkAge Line class on Medicare Money Saving Programs and Services at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, May 14, at the senior center.

Attendees will learn about programs that can lower Medicare premiums, deductibles and out-of-pocket costs. The presentation will cover who qualifies for these programs and how to apply for assistance and program benefits, a release said.

Senior LinkAge Line will also explain Medicare preventive services, like free screenings, vaccines and wellness visits.

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Photos: Thousands attend 'Hands Off' protests across Minnesota, North Dakota

Forum News Service staff — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 02:15:20 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS — Hundreds, sometimes thousands, gathered in clusters across North Dakota and Minnesota on Saturday, April 5 as part of a nationwide day of protest against actions by the White House administration.

More than 1,200 “Hands Off!” protests were scheduled to take place across the United States Saturday as citizens gathered to rally against President Donald Trump and adviser Elon Musk, who heads the Department of Government Efficiency.

The Hands Off 2025 website said April 5 was a day for people to take to the streets nationwide with the message “Hands off!” to fight back against the "most brazen power grab in modern history." The website specifically mentions cuts to Social Security, firing federal workers and cutting consumer protections and health care funding.

Alexandria

In Alexandria, Minnesota, organizers said they were expecting around 300 people, but that Alexandria Area Indivisible ended up running out of the 500 buttons they brought to give away. Alexandria's rally included comments from Leah Landwehr, a local veteran, who talked to attendees about the importance of the Veterans Administration to local vets.

Bemidji

More than 1,000 people lined Paul Bunyan Drive in Bemidji Saturday afternoon to participate in the local Hands Off event.

"We just want to hold our lawmakers accountable to know that this is what their constituents feel about what's happening with our government, and we're doing this together," said Rebecca Dickinson, a member of the grassroots democracy initiative Indivisible Bemidji that helped organize the event.

Dickinson said that she has parents around retirement age and is concerned about their Social Security. She said she was also worried about people being laid off from jobs and for people who don't feel safe because of their gender identity or other personal factors.

"There's a way to do change; change shouldn't happen this abruptly," Dickinson said.

Many others flags — like Canadian flags displayed in solidarity with the U.S. neighbor facing newly imposed tariffs — waved in support of other causes during the event, but the American flag was the most prevalent.

"We have a lot of American flags here because this is our community and we're fighting for it," said Dickinson. "We're indivisible because no matter who you are, this is our country."

Brainerd

Hundreds of people gathered at the intersection of Washington and South Sixth Streets for the Hands Off rally in Brainerd Saturday.

The rally was hosted by Brainerd Lakes Area Indivisible.

Detroit Lakes

DETROIT LAKES — More than 200 people showed up at a rally and town hall in Detroit Lakes on Saturday.

The event was held in the former Ace Hardware building downtown — the site of the future Manna Food Co-op.

Hands off protests across North Dakota, Minnesota

Protestors line the Veterans Memorial Bridge between Fargo and Moorhead on Saturday, April 5, 2025, during the “Hands Off” rally against the actions of the Trump administration.

Hundreds of people gathered on Saturday, April 5, 2025, as a part of the "Hands Off!" protest in downtown Rochester. There were hundreds of similar protests around the country.

Participants display signs during a Hands Off! protest on Saturday, April 5, 2025, along Paul Bunyan Drive in Bemidji.

A participant displays a sign in regard to Elon Musk during a Hands Off! protest on Saturday, April 5, 2025, along Paul Bunyan Drive in Bemidji.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison gestures while speaking during a rally in solidarity with Indivisible’s National Hands Off! Day of Action at the Civic Center Plaza on Saturday, April 5, 2025, in Duluth.

Participants display signs during a Hands Off! protest on Saturday, April 5, 2025, along Paul Bunyan Drive in Bemidji.

Participants hold a large "Fire Trump, not us," sign during a Hands Off! protest on Saturday, April 5, 2025, at Paul Bunyan Park in Bemidji.

Hundreds of people gathered in downtown Rochester on Saturday, April 5, 2025, as a part of the "Hands Off!" protests around the country.

People hold signs as they stand on the sidewalk during the Hands Off Jamestown March on Saturday, April 5, in Jamestown.

Hundreds attended the Hands Off rally on Saturday, April 5, 2025, at Peace Plaza in Rochester. The protest was one of more than 1,000 around the nation on Saturday.

A large federal grant — awarded to Manna and later pulled — was set to be used for a commercial kitchen in the new Manna building. Manna Food Co-op Treasurer Ryan Pesch said that the Trump Administration likes to frame any spending it cuts as benefiting “a bunch of fraudulent moochers," but said that the grant to Manna would have supported local contractors and community members.

The Detroit Lakes rally also played host to criticism of Congresswoman Michelle Fischbach for not conducting in-person town hall events, of Trump's various tariffs on imported goods and against a swath of federal funding cuts or proposed reductions.

Duluth

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison addressed the crowd at Duluth's Hands Off rally on Saturday.

Tom Wilson of Eau Claire reported roughly 2,500 people had attended the Duluth event on Saturday. Wilson also attended an event in Superior, Wisconsin, where organizers estimated roughly 500 people turned out.

“I’ve been political all my life,” said Wilson, who will turn 80 next month. Going back to the early 1960s, Wilson said he’s been involved in protests for civil rights, against war, and for the environment, and as critical as those issues were, this moment feels even more critical.

“If you read the Declaration of Independence, almost any one of our grievances against King George equally apply to Donald 2.0,” Wilson said “That’s it. The very truly founding principles of our country are at risk at this point.”

Similar events took place around the Northland Saturday, including in Chisholm, Cloquet, Ely, Grand Marais and Grand Rapids.

Fargo-Moorhead

Approximately 2,000 people lined both sides of Veterans Memorial Bridge between Fargo and Moorhead to protest the actions of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

Organizer Lyn Dockter-Pinnick, of Moorhead, said organizers hoped 500 people would show up and she was overcome by the showing.

Periodically, someone broke into a chant, "Show me what democracy looks like," and the crowd responded with, "This is what democracy looks like." At other times, the crowd chanted, "Protect the Constitution, the promise of our union."

Tammy Shannon, of Moorhead, not only carried a sign, she dressed in the long red cloak and white bonnet popularized by Margaret Atwood's "Handmaid's Tale" as an additional protest about what's happening regarding women's rights.

A rally in Bismarck drew 1,000 attendees Saturday.

Grand Forks

Hundreds of people attended a protest near and on Grand Forks' Sorlie Memorial Bridge against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk on Saturday.

Cathy Williams, of Indivisible Grand Forks, estimated more than 400 people were in attendance, both Democrats and Republicans.

“This is just a wonderful turnout on a beautiful day,” she said.

Williams and Sheila Fontaine, chair of the Minnesotan Polk County and Red Lake County DFL, were two organizers of the protest on their side of the river.

“(Veterans Affairs), Medicare, Medicaid, social security, LGBTQ, veterans, federal workers, you name it,” she said. “That’s the theme from a lot of the signs — hands off.”

About six or seven North Dakota organizations put together the Grand Forks protest, while the Polk County and Red Lake County DFL organized the East Grand Forks one.

The protesters on both sides of the river met on the Sorlie Memorial Bridge around 4:10 p.m. after spending more than an hour on their respective sides. The groups came together with chants supporting democracy, cheering on cars that honked as they drove by on the bridge.

Jamestown

About 130 people gathered on public sidewalks on Saturday in Jamestown, holding signs in a peaceful protest.

Olivia Schloegel and Barb Lang, both members at large of the League of Women Voters of North Dakota, helped to organize the event.

Schloegel said people are affected locally by federal cuts, from Social Security to a USDA program that provided food for schools.

“And so we wanted to make sure that local folks had an opportunity to show up and speak out against what we don’t agree with, which is these destructive cuts at the federal level,” she said.

People participating spoke about, and carried signs about, various issues, including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and support for veterans, victims of domestic violence, members of the LGBTQ+ community and transgender individuals.

Rochester

At Rochester's event, hundreds of people carried signs about federal funding cuts, demanding protections for Medicaid and supporting veterans.

"This mass mobilization day is our message to the world that we do not consent to the destruction of our government and our economy for the benefit of Trump and his billionaire allies," the event page said. "Alongside Americans across the country, we are marching, rallying, and protesting to demand a stop the chaos and build an opposition movement against the looting of our country."

Rochester's event ended with live music.

St. Cloud

Organizers estimate that more than 2,000 people attended St. Cloud’s Hands Off Protest on Saturday.

“The turnout's incredible. I counted 2,125 people,” said Jill Kelly, one of the event organizers. She said she walked up and down the protest, which was a few people deep over more than two blocks on either side of Division Street.

Avery Bond of St. Cloud said she showed up to represent the people who would not be able to be at a protest like this one because it wouldn’t be safe. She said people should take hope from a protest like this.

“Anybody who feels like they're alone going crazy, because the world's falling apart around us, obviously there are a lot more people who are right here standing with us,” Bond said.

Carter Olson of Sartell held a sign that said “Hands off Dept of Education.” He’s working to get his teacher’s license, he said.

Willmar

A crowd gathered in the parking lot of Lakeland Elementary in Willmar Saturday for a Hands Off rally, which preceded a politically driven town hall at the school.

Rally speakers included Dr. Kathryn Nelson-Hund, a retired doctor who said she had done research at the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C., and at the EPA Freshwater Lab in Duluth. Nelson-Hund called for funding for medical research to be maintained.

The town hall, hosted by the Congressional District 7 Democratic Farmer-Labor Party, was described by organizers as a response to U.S. Rep. Michelle Fischbach not appearing at in-person town halls in the Minnesota 7th District she represents.

Attendees of the town hall included Minnesota DFL Chair Richard Carlbom, Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy and Minnesota Farmers Union President Gary Wertish.

The Willmar town hall was the third and final event of the day hosted by the 7th District DFL, which had gathered earlier in Detroit Lakes and Alexandria. Across the three events in District 7, more than 1,000 people gathered in protest and to ask questions of people in power, according to event organizers.

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New report outlines how potential cuts to Medicaid could impact Minnesotans

Dené K. Dryden — Sat, 18 Jan 2025 12:00:00 GMT

ROCHESTER — A new report out of Georgetown University details Medicaid's role in rural communities and their health systems — and how proposed funding cuts at the national level could impact Minnesotans.

"(Medicaid) is absolutely essential to providing access to health care services in Greater Minnesota and in most parts of the Dakotas," said Katy Kozhimannil, co-director of the University of Minnesota's Rural Health Research Center and Rural Health Program. "Medicaid is an absolutely essential source of revenue for those hospitals to keep operating."

Medicaid — the state-federal program known as Medical Assistance in Minnesota — supplies health insurance coverage to low-income Americans. Another program, the Children's Health Insurance Program, provides health coverage for children and, in some states, pregnant women who do not meet the financial requirements for Medicaid. Almost 80 million people in the U.S. receive health coverage through Medicaid/CHIP.

"Medicaid is the backbone of many aspects of our health care system, including paying for the majority of nursing home residents," said Joan Alker, lead author of the report from Georgetown University's Center for Children and Families. She is also the center's executive director. "Covering 40% to 50% of children at birth, nationwide ... covering people with disabilities and many other low-income people."

In Minnesota, 18% of the state's population, more than 1 million people, is covered by Medicaid/Medical Assistance or CHIP. Rural Minnesota counties have a larger percentage of Medicaid enrollees (21.5%) than metro counties (18.1%), per the report.

The report comes as U.S. House Republicans consider cutting more than $5 trillion (over 10 years) in spending on health, environment and social safety net policies. The greatest bulk of those proposed cuts — an estimated $2.3 trillion — would come from Medicaid.

"That equates to almost one-third of federal Medicaid spending," Alker said.

In 2022, Medicaid spending in Minnesota totaled $16.3 billion, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. The federal government takes on 50.8% of the state's Medicaid costs, said Anne Dwyer, associate research professor with the Center for Children and Families.

"So for about every dollar that is spent on medical care in Medicaid in Minnesota, the federal government is picking up over half," said Dwyer, who noted that federal funds cover 90% of the cost for people covered under expanded Medicaid.

Because federal dollars make up a big chunk of how Medicaid is paid for, Dwyer said large cuts would dramatically impact state Medicaid programs, including Minnesota's.

"States will have no choice but to dramatically raise taxes, cut other parts of their states' budgets including K-12 education and/or institute large and harmful cuts to their Medicaid programs such as cuts to benefits, eligibility and payment rates for providers and plans," Dwyer said.

Because rural areas have a higher percentage of Medicaid enrollees, the report authors say any reduction in funding will have harsher impacts on rural communities.

"Rural communities are at grave risk if substantial federal cuts are enacted," Alker said.

While Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement for services is often lower than what private health insurers pay, Kozhimannil said Medicaid is an important source of revenue for rural hospitals.

With Medicaid, "folks are often able to access services without out-of-pocket payment or copayments, which can incentivize preventive care services and coming in for the visits," Kozhimannil said. "That helps the hospitals from a financial perspective, that folks are actually coming in for their visits ... as opposed to going without care and winding up in an emergency department."

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Rural EMS still under fire from lack of workforce and reimbursement

Noah Fish — Tue, 03 Dec 2024 13:30:00 GMT

DODGE CENTER, Minn. — Despite attention given by Minnesota lawmakers, rural emergency medical services departments are still under immense pressure, explained the president of the Minnesota Ambulance Association.

"In the last couple of legislative sessions, we've seen a lot of attention given (to EMS), and we see a lot more understanding about the issues with workforce and funding that we're facing," said Michael Juntunen, president of the Minnesota Ambulance Association, at a rural EMS roundtable event held in Dodge Center on Nov. 20.

A $30 million funding package passed by the Minnesota Legislature this year was the result of that attention, Juntunen said, but more will be needed to ensure a safer future for residents who rely on emergency services.

"We're seeing them having to rely on their neighbors to start covering service areas during certain hours of the day, or some services are alternating and saying 'hey, I'll cover you on Monday, if you cover me on Tuesday' because they're having too much difficulty trying to get staffing," Juntunen said of EMS departments. "The demand on the industry is getting higher, and so if we don't start implementing solutions now, we're not going to have the resources available to address patient needs when they have them."

Discussions during the roundtable included the issue of Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement, which often don't cover the cost of EMS assistance, especially in rural areas. Panelists suggested using county models for reimbursement, based off critical access hospitals and by using taxing districts.

"There's a lot of options that are out there that are based off of other models that are working in the state, but we need (a legislator) to kind of pick one and move forward with it, because we have to find a solution now," he said. "We can't continue to wait, when even a solution now is going to take years to really come to fruition. We need to start moving."

Lack of workforce

Juntunen said the biggest issues facing rural EMS departments are workforce and funding.

"We're seeing this lack of volunteerism, difficulty recruiting and retaining people into EMS, along with the burnout that we're experiencing because the call volumes and type of calls that we're experiencing," he said.

Along with volunteers, directors of rural EMS departments are often overwhelmed with the responsibilities of the job, and many of them are having to work full-time jobs outside of the work they do in EMS, Junttunen said. He pointed out during the roundtable that many of the area EMS directors weren't in attendance because they were busy working their day jobs.

"In the rural setting, it's getting harder as these EMS services are struggling more. Years ago, we used to not have as much issue getting people into the industry and being able to help participate and provide care, but as that stress grows, the stress on the leaders to help both cover and then find solutions grows, and so it makes it really hard," he said. "If we could find better ways for the state to provide assistance for maybe regional managers or something, and some way to get somebody more dedicated time to be able to look at potential solutions and address the issues, that would really go a long ways, because it is really hard today to do that."

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Health providers dropping Medicare Advantage could affect coverage for 60,000 Minnesotans

Alex Derosier / St. Paul Pioneer Press — Fri, 29 Nov 2024 14:00:00 GMT

ST. PAUL — As the end of the open enrollment period for Medicare approaches, Minnesota officials are warning that major health care providers across the state soon won’t accept certain Medicare Advantage plans, affecting coverage for more than 60,000 people.

Open enrollment is Oct. 15 to Dec. 7, and with one week left until the deadline to sign up for 2025 coverage, Attorney General Keith Ellison and officials from state agencies handling aging and Medicare are trying to spread the word about providers dropping or changing Medicare Advantage plans.

“We are seeing not only the provider changes, but plan cost changes, formulary changes, meaning the drugs that they’re taking may or may not be covered in 2025 and may have higher cost sharing,” said Kelli Jo Greiner, who handles Medicare issues for Minnesota’s Senior LinkAge Line. “We want to make sure that they’re selecting the right plan and that they have the coverage that they need.”

The warning comes after numerous Minnesota health care providers said they’ll no longer accept Medicare Advantage plans from Humana in 2025.

Providers like Allina Health and North Memorial Health have argued that reimbursement from the plans is too low, isn’t timely, and often care that providers see as medically necessary is declined, according to the attorney general’s office.

Other networks have been able to negotiate continued coverage. Earlier this month, Health Partners and insurer United Health Care managed to reach a multi-year agreement allowing some 30,000 Medicare Advantage subscribers to continue getting in-network care at locations like Regions Hospital in downtown St. Paul and Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater.

Six providers not participating in Humana Medicare Advantage

However, six Minnesota health care providers aren’t participating in Humana Medicare Advantage in 2025, according to state officials. They serve regions across the state and include:

Allina Health, a Minneapolis-based provider operating statewide Avera Health, a Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based provider operating in southwestern Minnesota Essentia Health, a Duluth-based system serving northern Minnesota and Wisconsin M Health Fairview, a Twin Cities-based system providing statewide service (also not participating in Aetna) North Memorial, a provider primarily operating in the Twin Cities metro area Sanford Health, a Sioux Falls-based provider primarily serving western Minnesota

Mayo Health is not accepting Medicare Advantage plans through Health Partners, but state officials noted this has been the case for a number of years.

Around 1 million Minnesotans 65 or older or with disabilities use federal Medicare plans, and about 600,000 have Medicare Advantage plans. Those are Medicare-approved plans from private insurers that bundle government coverage with other benefits. The advantage is they offer wider coverage, but they’re also less flexible with which providers a patient can see.

“We are here to encourage conversations across dinner tables this week,” Ellison said before Thanksgiving. “We’ve only got less than two weeks, so we need people to have those dialogs about Medicare Advantage to make sure that they don’t miss out.”

Need help?

Minnesota’s Senior LinkAge Line advises anyone on a Medicare Advantage plan to consider whether it’s important that they continue seeing their current health care provider and review costs in the Medicare Plan Finder to see if coverage and costs have changed. That tool can be found at Medicare.gov.

The plan finder also can be used to review options. When enrolling in a plan, do so directly by calling or through the plan’s website or online on the Medicare Plan Finder tool.

Anyone with questions about Medicare can call the 24/7 hotline at 1-800-MEDICARE or the Senior LinkAge Line at 800-333-2433.

State officials warn there has been a significant increase in the number of calls, and that wait times may be longer than usual.

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Minnesota officials extend initial renewal deadline for Medicaid recipients

Michelle Wiley / MPR News — Fri, 30 Jun 2023 19:10:43 GMT

State officials are moving the first deadline for eligible Medical Assistance recipients, giving 35,000 Minnesotans more time to complete and submit their renewal paperwork to maintain coverage.

“We worked with (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services), who is the federal partner for Medicaid, to work on gaining approval to give them some additional time,” said Julie Marquardt, acting state Medicaid director at the Minnesota Department of Human Services.

The extension to Aug. 1 provides more time to “work with all of our community partners, our managed care organizations, our counties, our tribes, to do some additional targeted outreach to those that we may not have heard from, and see if we can ensure that they get their renewal information in on time so that we can avoid any gaps in their health care coverage,” she said.

This renewal process is part of a nationwide reevaluation of Medicaid recipients, sometimes called the “unwinding.” During the pandemic, people were allowed to remain on the rolls unless they requested to be removed.

The federal government boosted funding to states for doing so, in an effort to keep more people insured during a time when more needed urgent health care. But that stopped when the COVID state of emergency ended in April.

Since then, states across the country have been rolling out the renewal process with each taking a different approach. In Minnesota, renewals are taking place on a rolling timeline dependent on when a recipient initially signed up for coverage.

Marquardt said that so far they’ve processed over 60,000 people out of an expected 1.5 million who’ll need to renew over the course of a year.

In an effort to push those renewals forward, state officials are encouraging recipients to ensure that their address is updated, since the renewal forms come in the mail.

“I will say that the signs are relatively positive for us that people did respond and update information,” she said. “We aren't seeing a high amount of return mail. So that's always a good sign.”

Despite the extension, state officials say that people shouldn’t wait to return their documentation.

“I would really encourage people not to wait till the last minute, because that does still create a risk that you lose coverage for some period of time,” Marquardt said. “So if you have information that you've received, fill it out. If you need help, reach out to navigators and assisters. Those are available on our website. The goal here is to make sure that everybody who's still eligible remains covered. And so there's lots of people that can help you.”

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12 Minnesota hospitals penalized for excess hospital-acquired conditions

Paul John Scott — Thu, 17 Feb 2022 13:31:00 GMT

ROCHESTER, Minn. — A dozen Minnesota hospitals have been penalized by the federal government for falling within the bottom 25% nationally at preventing hospital-acquired conditions. The penalties are detailed in a database released by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Nationally, 764 hospitals were singled out for poor performance on hospital-acquired conditions — conditions the patient develops while in hospital being treated for something else — among patients discharged between July 2018 and the end of 2019. The adverse outcomes include blood clots, sepsis, bed sores, wound ruptures after surgery, and infections acquired after catheters, central lines and surgeries.

The hospitals named will receive a 1% reduction in their payments from Medicare for fiscal year 2022, according to the Centers for Medicaid Services. The Hospital Acquired Conditions (HAC) Reduction Program penalties have been levied annually since 2015 as a condition of the Affordable Care Act.

Minnesota providers on the new list included independent facilities as well as regional outposts operating under the banner of Essentia, Fairview, CentraCare and Mayo Clinic.

The full list of Minnesota hospitals penalized are:

Carris Health in Willmar Essentia Health St. Mary's in Detroit Lakes Essentia Health in Virginia Fairview Northland Regional Hospital in Princeton Grand Itasca Clinic and Hospital in Grand Rapids Mayo Clinic Health System Red Wing Ridgeview Medical Center in Waconia St. Cloud Hospital St. Luke's hospital in Duluth University Medical Center-Mesabi in Hibbing University of Minnesota Fairview Winona Health Services

Leading the state in consecutive years of under-performance on the metric was Carris Health in Willmar, according to a review of the KFF database filtered for hospitals in Minnesota. It faces a fifth straight year of docked Medicare payments for hospital-acquired conditions, its sixth designation over the eight years since the start of the penalty system.

Mayo Clinic Red Wing, Fairview Northland in Princeton, and University of Minnesota Fairview in Minneapolis have all now received the penalty for a fourth straight year — and in the case of Fairview, a seventh time overall. Mayo Clinic Phoenix in Arizona has been penalized for a third straight year, as has both Winona Health Services and University of Minnesota-Mesabi.

Many of the hospitals penalized by Medicare have paradoxically also earned its highest five-star rating for overall performance, including the Mayo hospitals in Red Wing and Phoenix.

The penalties are designed to elevate the quality of care in the United States, which had witnessed steady improvement on the problem of hospitalization leading to new illness, only to witness a stark worsening of the metric amid the crush of new patients and loss of personnel during the pandemic.

According to a new analysis in the New England Journal of Medicine, a 31% decrease over five years in central line-associated bloodstream infections since 2017 has been "almost totally reversed" during the pandemic. That same paper cites a study from August 2021 reporting that central line infections rose 60%, catheter infections 43%, and resistant staph infection 44% during the first six months of the pandemic.

Children's Hospitals, VA facilities, psychiatric and critical access hospitals are all excluded from the quality control review.

"Mayo Clinic is committed to the highest quality patient care, which is reflected in our top quality and safety rankings," Mayo spokesperson Jay Furst said in a statement. "The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have recognized Mayo Clinic Health System in Red Wing and Mayo Clinic Hospital in Arizona as five-star hospitals, the top ranking, which is especially notable because of the complex and serious medical conditions for which patients come to Mayo Clinic for treatment. We are dedicated to continuous quality improvements that benefit all patients.”

“Patient safety is our highest priority and we continue to work toward zero preventable infections at all of our hospitals,” Fairview representative Aimee Jordan said in a statement.

Representatives for Carris did not return a request for comment in time for publication.

The results were first reported as part of a state-by-state database compiled by Kaiser Health News.

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