University of Minnesota President Rebecca Cunningham announced plans for a new collaboration between the University and Duluth-based Essentia Health to create a not-for-profit healthcare organization, according to a press release to University students, faculty and staff Friday. 

The press release said the organization will tackle challenges patients face, such as rising costs, limited care access and structural inequities in the healthcare industry. The partnership proposes “a solution that benefits all Minnesotans” to these problems.

“This bold new path would shift us away from business as usual and position us to join with Minnesotans in the years ahead to address our state’s challenges head-on and deliver real transformational solutions in healthcare,” Cunningham said in an email to the Minnesota Daily.

It is unclear how the University’s partnership with Essentia Health will impact its collaboration with Fairview, which announced it would not renew its partnership with the University in November 2023. The University and Fairview have been negotiating a new contract for the last year.

“Negotiations over the letter of intent that we signed in good faith with Fairview leaders in February 2024 have not progressed in ways that I can assure you would meet the needs of our public service mission,” Cunningham said in the press release.