OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION
Minnesota Historical Society
Metro Hospital Trustee
Council.
Council
records.
1977-1995.
Minutes, informational packets, reports,
newsletters, position papers, clippings, correspondence, and other material
related to an informal, Minnesota-based association composed of trustees of
member hospitals and hospital corporations in the Twin Cities area. The Council
was formed initially to address community concerns about excess hospital costs
and bed capacity, later expanding its scope to address and advocate for other
issues in the medical care industry.
2.0 cu. ft. (2
boxes).
See Detailed Description section for shelf
locations.
HISTORY OF THE 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.
SCOPE AND CONTENTS OF THE COLLECTION
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.
CATALOG HEADINGS
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.
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
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: 2951008
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION
147.B.15.5B
1
Budget:
Budget and nominating committee,
1993-1994.
General file,
1992-1993.
Income,
1994.
Clippings,
1977-1979, 1988.
Conference committee: Packet material,
1988-1991.
Correspondence,
1990-1995.
5 folders.
Evaluation project,
1986-1988.
Executive committee,
1989-1991.
Goals and priorities,
1983-1988.
Graduate medical education,
1982-1986.
Health care access review subcommittee,
undated and 1991.
Membership survey,
1986.
Merger of East and West Metro Hospital Trustee councils,
1985.
Minnesota Health Care Quality Forum:
CEO responses,
1992-1993.
Correspondence,
1992-1993.
Data task force,
1992-1993.
Governance task force,
1992.
Mailing list,
undated.
Meeting 1,
October 6, 1992.
Meeting 2,
March 24, 1993.
Miscellany,
undated and 1993.
Minnesota Health Data Institute,
1993-1994.
Minutes: West Metro,
1978-Sept. 1985.
8 folders.
Minutes,
October 1985-1995.
11 folders.
Mission statement,
undated and 1985-1987.
New member packet,
1986-1993.
Packet material,
1988-1989.
2 folders.
147.B.15.6F
2
Packet material,
1990-1995.
9 folders.
Position statements:
Community Values: The Foundation
of Quality,
1987.
Evaluation of bed reduction and the consolidation of
specialty services and hospital system change (1979),
1979-1986.
Health Care Cost Containment
Strategies,
1982.
Health data,
1981.
Healthright access bill,
April 1992.
Hospital bed reduction,
1978.
Hospital property taxation task force,
1988.
Life at any price task force final report,
1985.
Lists of policy positions,
undated and 1986.
Preserving Hospitals' Tax Exemptions and Public
Accountability,
1989.
Price competition,
1984.
Quality Assurance within
Hospitals,
December 1987.
Quality in Health Care: Time for
Action,
November 1986.
Recommended Changes in the West
Metropolitan Health Care System: The Voluntary Sector's Approach,
1978.
Role and responsibility of hospital trustees,
1984-1986.
Published articles,
1981-1988.
Rosters,
1988-1993.
Select committee,
June 1992.
Task force on health access (MHTC/CHC),
1990-1991.
Tax-exempt task force:
Draft reports,
1989.
General file,
1987-1989.
Minutes,
1988.
Preserving Hospitals' Tax
Exemptions and Public Accountability,
1989.
Testimony:
Metro Health Planning Board,
1979-1987.
State legislature,
1982-1983.
Trustees newsletter,
1990-1992.
2 folders.
This newsletter was published by the Council of Hospital
Corporations.
Trustees newsletter,
1993-1994.
This newsletter was published by the Metropolitan Healthcare
Council.
Trustees newsletter:
President's column,
1987-1994.