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A contract dispute means that about 70,000 people with Blue Cross health insurance could lose in-network access starting this summer to Children’s Minnesota, the state’s largest pediatric hospital system. Children’s announced Wednesday that it has terminated its contract with Eagan-based Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, which is one of the state’s largest health insurers, and is mailing letters to patients that will notify them about the potential change. (Snowbeck, 3/8)

Wall Street’s three major debt rating firms are warning Partners HealthCare to stem financial losses or risk a downgrade of its credit rating. Analysts at Fitch Ratings, S&P Global Ratings, and Moody’s Investors Service revised their credit outlook for Partners from stable to negative, which is more bearish than their view on the nonprofit hospital industry as a whole. Fitch also downgraded Partners’ credit rating by one notch, a troubling sign for the state’s largest health network and largest private employer, which has historically posted steady profits. (Dayal McCluskey, 3/9)

Mercy Community Healthcare has expanded and renovated its offices in Franklin’s Williamson Square. The health care provider has added a new patient and family support center and renovated its counseling center and health center. It took about a year to complete the $685,000 project. “First and foremost our patients are uninsured or underinsured,” said CEO Cindy Siler. About 70 percent of Mercy’s patients are uninsured or have TennCare. (Balakit, 3/8)

One of the east metro’s key hospital systems, HealthEast, has agreed to merge with competitor Fairview Health Services. If the merger goes through as planned, it would likely create the largest health system in the Twin Cities with hospitals and clinics throughout the metro. It will also connect HealthEast patients with the University of Minnesota’s teaching hospital. HealthEast operates Bethesda Hospital, St. John’s Hospital, St. Joseph’s Hospital and Woodwinds Health Campus, as well as 14 primary care clinics. It has around 7,200 employees and took in 8.3 percent of Twin Cities hospital revenues, according to health industry analyst Allan Baumgarten. (Montgomery, 3/8)

In a sign of the challenge ahead for supporters of a new Republican health care plan, two GOP lawmakers from Colorado — U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner and U.S. Rep. Ken Buck — said Wednesday that they have concerns about the package unveiled this week. Neither would say whether they would support the proposal as written, though both legislators said they are skeptical — for different reasons — of how it would begin in 2020 to phase out an expansion of Medicaid created under the Affordable Care Act. (Ingold, Matthews and Frank, 3/8)

Fairview Health Services and HealthEast Care System announced merger plans Wednesday morning to form the Twin Cities’ largest network of hospitals and clinics, a move that would combine a strong primary care presence in the East Metro with the medical sophistication of the University of Minnesota Medical Center in Minneapolis. Leaders of the two health systems said merging would create efficiencies and save money — a particular concern for HealthEast given recent financial losses — and expand the referral base of clinics sending patients with complex needs to the university hospital. (Olson, 3/8)