ABOVE: Mayo Clinic Health System in Fairmont. Significant changes to the campus were announced on Monday.

FAIRMONT– Mayo Clinic Health System on Monday announced some significant changes to the campus in Fairmont. Several offerings, including labor and delivery and surgical services will permanently end on March 31, 2025.

The announcement comes after months of speculation that the departments would close, especially with surgery services offered just three days a week and with deliveries in Fairmont being on an extended diversion since August 2024 as the Fairmont location has had just a single obstetrician.

However, in a conversation with the Sentinel, Dr. James Hebl, regional vice president for Mayo Clinic Health System Southwest Minnesota, said that Mayo has been using this time to hold three different townhall meetings with staff, meet with community stakeholders and leaders and really consider all options.

“Obviously this is a difficult discussion. It’s difficult for our staff and for our patients and for the community,” Hebl said.

The main reason for the closures is the significant shortage of physicians in the area, specifically obstetricians and surgeons.

Hebl said, “Despite ongoing recruitment efforts for literally up to four years in some cases, we’ve simply not been able to fill these vacancies despite the use of both our internal Mayo Clinic recruitment resources as well as the use of two different external agencies outside of Mayo Clinic.”

In addition to workforce shortages, Hebl said Mayo in Fairmont is also dealing with declining patient volumes and declining birthrates.

“At Mayo Clinic Health System- Fairmont, our birth rates have dropped by 34 percent since 2019 with fewer than 100 vaginal births occurring in the calendar year 2023,” Hebl explained.

He went on to say that the number of patients who are in a “high risk” pregnancy is expected to increase in the coming years and that Fairmont has already not been eligible to have those patients deliver on its campus.

“When we have the very low patient volumes that I just mentioned, it makes it extremely difficult for staff to maintain the necessary skills and necessary experience to meet our Mayo Clinic safety standards,” Hebl said.

He said based on the aforementioned numbers, the average labor and delivery nurse may be involved in just four to six vaginal births per year.

Expecting mothers will continue to be diverted to Mayo in Mankato or another location of their choosing until the official service closure. Two labor and delivery and eight postpartum beds will be deactivated as a result of the change.

“We will work with all currently expecting mothers to ensure a seamless transition to what we call a ‘share care’ model which means they will receive prenatal care in Fairmont, they will share their care with an obstetrician in Mankato on the day of delivery and they will return to Fairmont for postpartum, postnatal care,” Hebl said.

With the labor and delivery closure, in-patient pediatric admissions will also cease to exist as of March 31, 2025.

Minnesota statue requires that Mayo Clinic Health System informs community members of nearby facilities that do deliver babies and it provided a list of those that do so within 65 miles of Fairmont. They include: United Hospital District in Blue Earth, Windom Family Medical Center and Windom Area Health (Sanford), New Ulm Medical Center (Allina Health), Lakes Regional Healthcare in Spirit Lake, Iowa and Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato.

Surgical services have also seen a significant reduction. Hebl said that since 2019 there has been a 48 percent decline in surgeries with many patients from Fairmont opting to have surgeries done in Mankato, whether because of access, capacity, or for more specialized care.

“Similar to OB though, we will still be providing outpatient surgical consultation in Fairmont,” Hebl said. “But the day of surgical procedure will need to be performed in a non-Fairmont site, likely Mankato, and then follow up post-surgical care can be returned back to Fairmont.

A range of services, including outpatient surgical and procedural consultations, prenatal, postnatal, gynecological care and outpatient pediatric care will continue to be be offered in Fairmont, along with all other existing services such as emergency care, primary care, cancer care, cardiology care, lab, radiology and imaging.

As for current staff, Lisa McConnell, chief nursing officer for Mayo Clinic Health System Southwest Minnesota said that those affected will have the opportunity to consider employment options with Mayo Clinic, as well as receive direct support from Human Resources.

When asked how many staff are directly affected, McConnell said it’s a hard number to put a figure on. She said all non-represented union staff will have an opportunity to consider employment options with Mayo Clinic. She said union-represented nurses will be affected by the change and they will be required to negotiate the affects of the change with the union before sharing any details about the impact.

In closing his conversation with the Sentinel, Hebl said, “the bottom line is we are not closing the hospital and we are absolutely committed to a long-term presence in Fairmont and we will continue to provide the care with our standing staff members.”