METRO HOSPITAL TRUSTEE COUNCIL:

The Metro Hospital Trustee Council was a voluntary association of Minneapolis and St. Paul-area hospitals and hospital systems. A predecessor body, the West Metro Hospital Trustee Council, was formed in 1978, in the the belief that hospital trustees were uniquely positioned to serve the interests of both hospitals and those of the larger community. A separate East Metro Hospital Trustee Council was also formed, apparently at about the same time. The East and West Metro Hospital Trustee councils were consolidated in 1985 as the Metro Hospital Trustee Council.

The Metro Hospital Trustee Council's primary mission involved two key components: education and action. It was thought that Council meetings enhanced trustee education by exposing trustees to systems-level issues common to all hospitals. Twice a year the Council also hosted a major conference for trustees featuring a prominent local or national health care expert. Council meetings and conferences were intended to help trustee leaders stay current on policy issues, and to provide a unique forum where trustees from competing organizations could come together to discuss common issues from the standpoint of the broader community interest.

Council meetings and conferences also provided a forum for action. In 1979 the Council submitted reports to the Metropolitan Health Board recommending voluntary measures to reduce excess hospital bed capacity in the Twin Cities area. In later years the Council developed policy statements on such issues as health access for the uninsured, hospitals' tax-exempt status, and AIDS-infected health care workers. In 1992 the Metro Hospital Trustee Council took a leadership role in creating the Minnesota Health Data Institute to measure and continuously improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of health care services.

The council was dissolved at the end of 1995 because of changing conditions in the health care industry and the resultant loss of hospital interest and support.

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The collection consists of records of the Metro Hospital Trustee Council and the West Metro Hospital Trustee Council. The whereabouts of records of the East Metro Hospital Trustee Council are unknown. The materials document the meetings, conferences, policy positions, and other work and activities of the councils. There is some information about the beginnings of the West Metro council, its 1985 merger with the East Metro council, and the circumstances leading up to the dissolution of the Metro council in 1995. Some of the material relates to other medical care industry organizations. There are issues of the Trustees newsletter (1990-1994), published first by the Council of Hospital Corporations and from 1993 by the Metropolitan Healthcare Council.

Correspondents include West and East Metro council officials, officials of the Metro Hospital Trustee Council, hospital executives and administrators, officers of the Council of Hospital Corporations, state officials, state legislators, attorneys, and a variety of other individuals involved in the medical care industry in Minnesota.

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Metro Hospital Trustee Council Records. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 15,329

Processing Information:

Processed by: David B. Peterson, September 2004

Catalog ID number: 990029510080104294

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Hospital administrators -- Minnesota.

Hospitals -- Administration.

Hospitals -- Minnesota.

Medical care -- Minnesota.

Medical care, Cost of -- Minnesota.

Persons:

Borman, Marvin.

Bremer, Frank.

Bruntjen, Worth.

Hallin, Gayle.

Hunt, David B.

Mahoney, Debra L.

Organizations:

Council of Hospital Corporations.

East Metro Hospital Trustee Council.

Metropolitan Healthcare Council (St. Paul, Minn.).

Minnesota Health Data Institute.

West Metro Hospital Trustee Council.

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