MINNEAPOLIS — The Hennepin County Board is being pressured to block proposed cutbacks to employee health benefits at Hennepin Healthcare and its flagship hospital HCMC. The nurses and other hospital workers packed Tuesday's meeting to pressure the board to stop Hennepin Health from cutbacks to hospital employee health benefits.
“At this point the decision to be made is do you stay at Hennepin, or do you leave? At this point people haven't left yet because they have hope the county commissioners are going to do the right thing,” Janell Johnson Thiele, an MNA leader and HCMC nurse, told reporters at a news conference before the meeting.
"It is heartbreaking to hear so many of our colleagues say they can no longer stay at Hennepin, and we fear our organization is in danger of being so short-staffed we won’t be able to provide care at all."
Hennepin Health nurses and other unionized hospital employees said they've lost faith in the leadership at HCMC because of the proposed cuts, which will lead to higher out-of-pocket costs for many employees and their families.
"They say we're here for life. They say that we're a safety net hospital. We take care of the sickest people in the county, people who don't have means. Meanwhile, we're enriching our CEO," Sam Erickson, vice president of the Hennepin County Association of Paramedics and EMTs asserted.
By state law, employees of government hospitals can't go on strike. But they can picket and raise a ruckus with those who hold the purse strings for the county's health system.
"We’re here today asking the county commissioners not to approve the HHS budget, to come back and refocus on retaining employees, retaining nurses, support staff, paramedics and making sure we live by the values we espouse, not creating millionaire executives," Erickson added.
Hennepin Healthcare CEO Jennifer DeCubellis said the hospital's board was staring at a projected deficit of $127 million, roughly eight percent of the system's budget, for 2024 before mapping out cost-saving measures.
"Most health systems — 67 percent of health care systems in Minnesota — are losing money currently. We're no exception to that," DeCubellis told KARE.
She said the Hennepin Healthcare Board had to choose between cutting staff or cutting back on some of the health benefits. She said the proposal still leaves Hennepin Health employees in the top 25 percent of the market when it comes to benefits.
"We know that has an impact to individuals. It has an impact to families. Our commitment is in safe staffing, enough staffing, adequate staffing. That was a request we had from our teams throughout the year. And so, we invested in safety, security, to provide the high quality of care we’re known for," DeCubellis explained.
As for her own salary, which is roughly $940,000 per year, the chief executive officer said it's in the lower part of the range for Hennepin Health to remain competitive in this marketplace.
"We have a compensation policy across the organization that applies to all 7,000 team members and it is to be within 25 to 75 percent of market. Personally, my executive pay has been kept at that lowest possible threshold, at 25 percent of market."
The county board decided to put off the final discussion and vote on Hennepin Healthcare's 2024 budget until December 12. Some commissioners say they want more options on how the benefit changes will impact employees' pocketbooks.
"There are some significant concerns that are still outstanding, some of which we saw today," Commissioner Angela Conley told her colleagues. "So, those will need to be addressed before I personally am ready to vote on this, even on the 12th."
Sarah Frank of AFSCME Local 2474 said hospital workers felt they were left out of the discussion about changes to benefits.
"We take it incredibly seriously that we have an obligation as healthcare workers to do everything to care for our patients and to keep them safe, but we cannot deliver this excellent care and the services we provide without being treated with the dignity and respect for the work we do."
One example the unions gave was the health system's decision to stop carrying the weight loss drug Wegovy, even after seeing many employees benefit from the drug as part of a fitness center regimen. Hennepin Health said that diabetic and pre-diabetic employees will still have access to that medication even in the new plan.
The unions cited changes to maternity health benefits in one of employee plans, taking it from a $250 co-pay to a 20 percent co-insurance, which could run thousands of dollars. Hennepin Health confirmed that change for the Tier 2 employee plans, designed for those seeking health providers outside of the hospital's own system.
Employees in the Tier 1 plan will continue with a $250 co-pay for having babies. It was not clear Tuesday what percentage of employees use the Tier 2 plans.