Leaders at Hennepin Healthcare say the Minneapolis-based health system is releasing an updated educational module for law enforcement agencies and will no longer allow its physicians to be dually employed by the health system as a medical staff member and by a law enforcement agency.
Hennepin Healthcare announced the moves March 21 on its Health Equity page.
The updated education module — which replaces a version shared with the Minneapolis Police Department last fall — "explains advancements in understanding patient behavior and offers a clear and complete rejection of the diagnosis of excited delirium, instead providing information that supports a more accurate assessment of agitation in the prehospital setting," the health system said.
Earlier in March, Hennepin County Commissioner Irene Fernando called on Hennepin Healthcare to address what she called "deeply rooted" racism within the organization. At the time, Ms. Fernando cited a Feb. 12 report about a physician at the health system who was in a training video for Minneapolis police obtained by the Star Tribune. The newspaper reported that the video shows the physician continued to train law enforcement on "a severe form of agitation called excited delirium," after the Minneapolis mayor had said the city ended this training last year.
Hennepin Healthcare said it also recently notified the Minneapolis Police Department that the health system is terminating its contract with the department for medical instruction and will no longer allow employed physicians to take side jobs in a law enforcement agency.
"These steps clarify our relationship with law enforcement and other first responders to focus on the provision of care to the patients we serve," the health system said in its Health Equity page. "We will continue to collaborate with public safety agencies to ensure that we are able to provide the highest level of care to our patients."
Hennepin Healthcare includes a level 1 adult and pediatric trauma center, an acute care hospital, as well as a clinic system, and has a large psychiatric program.
The health system's CEO, Jennifer DeCubellis, told the Star Tribune the organization has more than 800 employed medical providers, and three work in law enforcement.
Sam Erickson, vice president of the union representing paramedics at Hennepin Healthcare, told the newspaper the union supports physicians providing training to law enforcement, adding: "We don't believe this requires providers to be sworn law enforcement officers."
Read the full Star Tribune report here.