Former health commissioner returns to advise Gov. Walz on Minnesota hospitals

Jeremy Olson, Star Tribune on Mar 17, 2026

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MINNEAPOLIS — An architect of Gov. Tim Walz’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic will return to public service and advise the governor on the future stability of Minnesota’s hospitals and health systems.

Jan Malcolm has agreed to join Walz’s Cabinet as a senior adviser on hospitals and health systems, three years after she retired as commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Health.

Walz announced the appointment Tuesday, March 17, calling Malcolm “one of the most respected and experienced health leaders Minnesota has ever had” and someone who can guide the state at a time when key urban and rural hospitals are in financial distress. Leaders of HCMC in Minneapolis warned earlier this year that the urban trauma center is at risk for closure given its deepening financial losses.

Malcolm said she will be the “eyes and ears” of the governor’s office for hospitals, which were under pressure even before budget cuts by President Donald Trump’s administration that could reduce how much federal money they receive. The cuts also could cause people to lose Medicaid health benefits or be unable to afford their own insurance, which could leave hospitals with more unpaid bills.

“The governor’s office really, clearly appreciates the complexities and the urgency of the HCMC situation, but also trends in health care finance more generally,” she said.

The pandemic thrust Malcolm from relative obscurity as health commissioner to a household name. She appeared at almost daily briefings in 2020 to discuss the spread of COVID-19 and announce state strategies to slow it down, including mask mandates, restaurant closures, limits on public gatherings and incentives to get vaccinated.

Malcolm gave up social media, where opponents fiercely criticized her for state strategies that were designed to protect Minnesotans but had economic and mental health tradeoffs.

“I did not need to hear 200 times a day what a jerk I was or why I should be fired,” she said at the time.

Malcolm served on the board of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, but stepped down to join the governor’s Cabinet. She also had served on a state committee examining the future of academic medicine and medical education in Minnesota, at a time when the University of Minnesota and Fairview Health were locked in a dispute over their fragile partnership.

The senior adviser role is new in Walz’s Cabinet and comes amid a changing hospital landscape. Minnesota has managed to prevent closures and maintain many of its rural hospitals longer than most states, but more than 30 are in financial distress because they have lost money in multiple years.

Several hospitals have stopped scheduling childbirths in recent years and shut down other high-cost specialty services. The hospital in Mahnomen halted all inpatient care and functions as a rural emergency center.

Malcolm’s appointment came the same day that Allina announced plans to combine with California-based Sutter Health and form a multistate health system that would rival Mayo Clinic in size and revenues. The deal would bring a new out-of-state presence to Minnesota, which historically has had in-state operators such as Mayo, Fairview Health and Essentia Health running hospitals.

Fairview last year opened a stand-alone mental health hospital in St. Paul in partnership with for-profit Acadia Healthcare, after the Legislature granted Malcolm unique authority as commissioner to decide whether the project was in Minnesota’s public interest.

Malcolm said she was looking forward to talking with leaders of Minnesota hospitals to understand their current needs: “I don’t pretend my knowledge is current until I get up to speed.”

Malcolm will bring a depth of understanding and historic knowledge of Minnesota’s hospitals to her new role, said Tim Nelson, a spokesman for the Minnesota Hospital Association.

“At stake is nothing less than ensuring that Minnesotans — no matter where they live — can access timely, high-quality care when they need it," he said. “Her appointment reflects the seriousness of this moment.”

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