Dr. Ruth Johnson: Investing in the future of Minnesota’s health care workforce

Minnesota enjoys a well-deserved global reputation for cutting-edge health care and medical research. As a practicing clinic physician, I see firsthand how a fully integrated, research-based health care organization benefits patients. This patient-focused excellence is the result of the extraordinary commitment and work of outstanding teams of health care professionals.

In 2025, however, many Minnesotans will face daunting barriers to accessing high quality, affordable and local health care. This includes neighbors and fellow Minnesotans in our biggest cities, smallest towns and Tribal communities.

Across the state, we’re facing a health care workforce shortage. In fact, the Minnesota Department of Health has declared 79% of Minnesota counties are experiencing a shortage of primary care physicians.

One of the important ways the Rochester community and Mayo Clinic are addressing this shortage is in collaboration with the University of Minnesota Rochester (UMR).

To expand our pipeline of talented health care professionals, the University of Minnesota’s current legislative request includes investment to increase our state’s health care workforce by nearly 3,000 over the next decade. Of that number, 500 will be new UMR graduates here in Rochester. This will add to the more than 1,500 who will have graduated by May of this year.

Notably, 100% of UMR students will graduate to health care careers. This is only possible due to the close partnerships with Mayo Clinic and the community. The University of Minnesota Rochester campus is already near capacity. Growing enrollment to match the health care needs of our state will require additional investment to expand UMR facilities and programs like those being discussed at the Minnesota Legislature.

The University of Minnesota is one of only three American universities with a full spectrum of six schools of health sciences: medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, public health and veterinary medicine.

To meet the needs of greater Minnesota, the University of Minnesota educates medical students and pharmacists in Duluth and will open a new medical school campus in St. Cloud this fall.

The University of Minnesota is actively leading an integrated all-Minnesota solution, the best opportunity we have as a state to improve health care access equality, to equip providers, to serve patients closer to home and fulfill the University’s teaching, research and outreach mission.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison brokered new talks over the future of Fairview, Essentia and the University of Minnesota. He’s selecting a strategic facilitator to further explore partnerships. This is another step forward in achieving a solution that meets Minnesota’s health care challenges.

Early in April, University of Minnesota President Rebecca Cunningham will be in Rochester to meet with UMR Chancellor Lori Carrell to further discuss the critical health care workforce challenges in Minnesota.

If a sustainable solution is not reached, one that extends the University’s long tradition of excellence in health education, growth of programs like those offered at the University of Minnesota Rochester are at risk. The University would need to decide which programs to prioritize and sustain.

Solving our health care challenges requires all of us Minnesotans to work together. A coordinated Minnesota plan is an essential step in the right direction, one which we should all support.

Dr. Ruth Johnson is a representative of the 1st Congressional District on the University of Minnesota Board of Regents. She is an internal medicine staff physician at Mayo Clinic. The views expressed in this article are hers and do not reflect the views of Mayo Clinic.