MINNEAPOLS – The giant Fairview Health Services is closing 16 clinics by the end of the year in a financial crisis. Included in the closings is Bethesda Hospital in St. Paul. The company hopes to stem losses — $163 million in the first six months of 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19. Eliminated will be 900 positions. The company has 34,000 employees in all. Outstate clinics being closed:

> Farmington

> Pine City

> Roseville

> Savage

> Ellsworth (Wisconsin)

> Spring Valley (Wisconsin)

What went wrong

Fairview said it was caught in long-term financial challenges facing healthcare companies:”Our country’s health system is broken.” The system “is unaffordable and inaccessible for too many people, and it hasn’t evolved to meet today’s care needs and opportunities.”