One day after notifying the University of Minnesota that they would end their current health care partnership, the CEO of Fairview Health Services received pushback from an unlikely source. Former Governor Mark Dayton harshly criticized Fairview for the way they’ve managed their relationship with the U of M.

“Your presentation glosses over the reality of what you have put Minnesotans through for the last year,” Dayton said directly to Fairview CEO and President James Hereford at a meeting of the Governor’s Task Force on Academic Health at the University of Minnesota. Dayton is a member of the task force appointed by current Governor Tim Walz.

“You dragged the state and the medical school through the proposed merger with Sanford which the University opposed,” Dayton said. “You only backed off, Sanford backed off, after enormous public outcry in opposition to it. And yesterday, less than six weeks before that deadline, you unleashed this bombshell that you’re done with this present agreement without any specificity then or now about what it is that has to change in order for this to continue.”

Dayton’s criticism followed a presentation by Hereford explaining the decision to break off the current partnership when it terminates at the end of 2026.

“If people think I’m going to come here to bash the University of Minnesota…far from it,” Hereford told the task force. “I believe deeply in the importance of the University of Minnesota to Minnesotans.”

Hereford explained most non-profit health care systems in the country and Minnesota are losing money. Fairview paid the U of M $138 million this year to support academic medicine this year at a time Fairview was losing money.

“In today’s dollars our Medicaid program covers about 65% of the cost,” he said. “So, we’re losing 35 cents on every patient we see and we’re not going to turn away Medicaid patients, but that is not a sustainable model.”

Hereford didn’t immediately respond to Dayton’s criticism but eventually said Fairview will try to work out a new arrangement with the U of M.

“Fairview’s absolutely willing to pay its fair share,” he said. “Part of that will be dependent on the model we can come up with that makes sense for both the university and Fairview and I share your concern that instability doesn’t serve anyone well, especially the 31,000 people who work at Fairview.”

Representatives from Fairview and the U of M will meet on Wednesday to begin exploring ways to continue a relationship after the current partnership ends in 2026.