Nineteen independent hospitals across Minnesota are banding together as the newly named Headwaters Network to maintain local control of health care at a time when many rural U.S. providers are folding into large conglomerates or closing.
Leaders announced the network Thursday as a way to pursue cost-saving opportunities not available to individual rural hospital and clinic providers. The network hired Cibolo Health to manage its efforts, hoping the company can replicate its success with a group of North Dakota hospitals named the Rough Rider Network.
"Our independence is strengthened by our interdependence. The more we can work together, the better we can care for our communities," said Ken Westman, chair of the Headwaters board and chief executive of one of its founding hospitals, Riverwood Healthcare in Aitkin.
Jeremy Olson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter covering health care for the Star Tribune. Trained in investigative and computer-assisted reporting, Olson has covered politics, social services, and family issues.
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