Allina to consolidate obstetrics in southern Minnesota

Allina Health is closing its Faribault birth center and putting its resources into building up the  birth center 15 miles away at its hospital in Owatonna, following Mayo Clinic Health System’s decision to discontinue its labor and delivery services there.

Mayo Clinic Health System told MPR News in mid October that it is ending on-call labor and delivery services at the Owatonna hospital about an hour south of the Twin Cities, citing staffing issues and a nationwide shortage of OB-GYN physicians. It will still provide prenatal and postpartum care at its clinic next door.

The hospital is owned by Allina Health, but Mayo Clinic has been providing the obstetrics physicians to deliver babies in the hospital’s birth center under a joint operating agreement. 

Allina Health is set to take the baton from Mayo Clinic and assume responsibility for birth center staffing Nov. 17. When initially informed of the news that Mayo was ending its services, Allina officials told MPR News the hospital would likely have to divert pregnant patients to other hospitals to give birth until it was fully staffed up — meaning patients might have to travel long, potentially dangerous distances to give birth. 

However, Allina has since announced a new plan of action to ensure uninterrupted labor and delivery in Owatonna. Allina told MPR News Thursday that between Nov. 17 and 30, obstetrics physicians at its Faribault Medical Center will take on extra shifts to cover births in Owatonna. On Dec. 1, all labor and delivery services will shift to Owatonna Hospital and Owatonna will become Allina’s regional obstetrics hub. 

An Allina spokesperson said that the health care provider chose to bolster Owatonna versus Faribault because there was concern that closing birth services in Owatonna would impact patients more severely than it would in Faribault. In Faribault, patients can access Northfield Hospital + Clinics’ birth center about 17 miles away. Meanwhile, she said Owatonna Hospital serves patients in Dodge and Waseca counties where there are no hospital-based obstetrics services.

They were also delivering more babies at Owatonna to begin with. In 2024, Owatonna’s hospital had 397 births, whereas Faribault Medical Center only had 197.  

“This model provides a more sustainable way for our OB provider group to serve a broader region,” Allina Health said in a news release Thursday. “After careful evaluation, it’s clear that a small team cannot realistically support two birth centers long-term.”

An Allina spokesperson told MPR News that it can be difficult to recruit specialized providers to smaller communities, like Owatonna and Faribault. Not only are hospitals up against a nationwide shortage of obstetricians, it’s also expensive to staff labor and delivery wards, which must have staff on hand 24/7 given the unpredictable timing of giving birth. And in rural areas, declining birth rates mean hospitals often don’t deliver enough babies each month to break even. They also tend to see more patients on Medicaid, which doesn’t reimburse hospitals as well as many private health plans. 

Labor and delivery units have been closing across the state and country for years. According to a new dataset from the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center, 14 Minnesota counties lost hospital-based obstetrics care between 2010 and 2023. An MPR News analysis of the data found that 700,000, or nearly one in eight, Minnesotans live in counties without these services.

But Allina hopes to be able to preserve these services under their new regional obstetric care model. 

“We understand that service changes can be difficult for the community,” said Whitney Johnson, president of Faribault Medical Center and Owatonna Hospital. “We want to assure our patients, care team members and the larger community that we’ve carefully evaluated our options. This service integration allows us to prioritize safe, high-quality and sustainable care while ensuring continued access to these vital obstetric services for our region.”

Faribault will continue offering outpatient services, including prenatal, postpartum, gynecologic, newborn and pediatric care, and Owatonna will start offering these same services in early December. In addition to offering labor and delivery, it plans to open an Owatonna-based women’s health clinic that same month.

As part of the shift, Allina said it is shuttering other services at Faribault Medical Center. Effective Dec. 1, the Faribault hospital will no longer provide emergency surgical coverage during evenings and weekends due to limited availability of anesthesia services. Surgeons will remain on call though and individuals requiring emergency surgery during these times will be transferred to Owatonna Hospital or one of Allina Health’s metro locations. 

Starting May 7, 2026, Faribault Medical Center will no longer admit pediatric patients, due to low volumes. 

Katy Kozhimannil, a public health professor and co-director of the U of M Rural Health Research Center, acknowledged that Allina is working hard to adapt in a challenging situation — finding ways to ensure care with a limited number of medical professionals to provide that care — but she’s concerned about how this consolidation will affect Faribault patients.  

“There are generations of people that have been born in Faribault, and I think this may be difficult for them,” Kozhimannil said. “Losing birth locally is a really hard thing, and even what may seem a short distance — 15 or 20 miles — can feel like a very long way if you're in labor. [Patients are] counting every moment, every breath.”

Allina Health said it's committed to working with impacted patients and its staff through this transition and the hospital is working closely with the Minnesota Department of Health, which will include scheduling a public hearing.

Kozhimannil said consolidations like these appear to be part of a national trend. She said her research showed that the trend of closing birthing centers slowed between late 2020 and 2021, but it has since started to ratchet up again. 

“It’s not promising moving forward, because we're looking down the horizon of some cuts that may fall heavily on labor and delivery, especially as they relate to Medicaid,” Kozhimannil said. “And that's only going to increase the financial pressure that hospitals already face when they try to offer obstetric services.”