Rural health care in Minnesota: What's changing and why?
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Mayo Clinic Health System announced last week it will end on-call labor and delivery services at Allina Health’s hospital in Owatonna in November.
It’s the latest example of how health care changes are reshaping rural hospitals across Minnesota.
MPR News guest host Catharine Richert talks about what this means for families — and the future of rural health care.
Guests:
Molly Castle Work is an MPR News reporter based in Rochester. She covers health care in southeast Minnesota. Prior to joining MPR News, she was an investigative reporter at the Rochester Post Bulletin and a correspondent for KFF Health News in California.
Katy Backes Kozhimannil is a professor in the Division of Health Policy and Management at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. She is also co-director of the University of Minnesota’s Rural Health Research Center.
Dr. Karlyn Armbruster is a family physician at Sleepy Eye Medical Center in south central Minnesota.
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Correction (Oct. 21, 2025): A previous version of this story misidentified the owner of Owatonna Hospital. The audio has also been updated.
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