Recently I shared with our Winona Health caregivers that our dialysis program will be closing over the next few weeks. This news was first communicated with the caregivers and patients in dialysis. The decision to close this program was not an easy one. We fully investigated options to operate it differently, for example, partnerships or having another organization operate it. However, under every scenario this program was not viable.

‌As you may be aware if you follow state or national healthcare news, hospitals and health systems are having to adjust to a very different post-COVID environment that has many challenges, not the least of which is significant cost pressures. At Winona Health, we have been diligently working to reduce expenses while maintaining core operations and ensuring safe, high quality care for patients. Hospitals, including Winona Health, subsidize a lot of care in some services and, given the current environment, this is becoming more and more difficult to do. We will continue to aggressively find ways to reduce non-essential expenses through reviews of all departments and services and continue to innovate and redesign work in cost-effective ways.

‌With respect to dialysis, in 2023 Winona Health subsidized this program at $1,000,000/year with no way to fully mitigate this loss. And the amount of the subsidy has only grown each year. Over the past five years, we experienced reduced volume in our dialysis unit that further hindered our ability to support the service. There were key factors related to this: proactive management of chronic kidney disease, which keeps people off dialysis longer, changes in technology, namely, home dialysis, which is a very viable and more common option now. And a general flattening of the overall market or need for dialysis. Combined with relatively flat reimbursement in an inflationary environment, all of these factors impact programs like ours and resulted in the decision to discontinue the service.

‌We are assisting and supporting current dialysis patients as they make their choices and transfer care to other programs located in La Crosse or Rochester. There are 32 patients currently in the program and we anticipate that this will be completed within 45 days.

‌Our goal is to continue to provide chronic kidney disease care in the clinic, which helps patients prevent the need for dialysis as long as possible through careful management and clinical support.

‌I am pleased that our caregivers in the dialysis unit have accepted other opportunities within Winona Health, as they are valued colleagues and clinicians. This team has provided exceptional care to our patients, as evidenced by being the only 5-Star dialysis program in the region. Their care and commitment will continue to benefit patients at Winona Health.

‌We all feel the loss of this program. I can assure you that through the months of investigating options I held out hope we could find a way to ensure patients would be able to continue with dialysis locally. But the financial reality didn’t change. The solution is that patients are able to make a transition and continue receiving dialysis care, and that is the next best outcome.

Rachelle Schultz, EdD
President/CEO

Through this digital column, I hope to shine a light on what we’re working on both internally and beyond our walls in collaboration with other community-focused organizations.