Minneapolis-based University of Minnesota plans to shutter a nurse practitioner-led clinic at the end of October, according to a July 10 report from the Star Tribune.
In 2023, the university shuttered another nurse practitioner-led clinic at its clinics and surgery center building.
Since the Minneapolis clinic opened in 2015, the university has provided more than $3 million in operational subsidies. Nurse practitioners at the Minneapolis clinic cared for an average of 800 patients per year, according to the report.
The university medical school continues to support five other community clinics that do not receive state or local funding.
University of Minnesota Physicians is working to find other jobs for clinic staff within the health system, and patients are being notified and offered help in finding a new clinic location.
"Despite its positive health outcomes and exceptionally high patient satisfaction scores, the nurse practitioner clinic has not been financially viable," Connie Delaney, PhD, dean of the university's school of nursing, told the Star Tribune. "The U.S. continues to face a significant shortage of primary care providers ... but the financial model to sustain these [nurse-practitioner led] primary care practices has not evolved."
The system also cited decreasing reimbursement rates as a key problem leading to the clinic's closure.