HealthPartners announces changes to help reduce COVID-19 transmission

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – HealthPartners today announced that it is taking additional steps related to identification, treatment and safety of patients, care teams and the community that will help prevent and slow the spread of COVID-19.

• Elective surgeries. Postponing all elective surgeries, procedures and non-essential radiology services through April 3, with no surgeries being scheduled until after April 27.
• Dental appointments. Suspending non-emergent dental appointments that were scheduled between March 17 and March 29. For emergency procedures, dentists will evaluate a patient’s needs by phone and determine if the patient should be referred to a clinic for emergency care.
• Office visits. Changing some routine office visits to phone calls or rescheduling.

In addition, based on recommendations from the Minnesota Department of Health in response to a national shortage of COVID-19 testing materials, HealthPartners is suspending testing in the ambulatory clinics, urgent cares and emergency centers for patients not requiring hospitalization. Its emergency rooms don’t have the ability to do COVID-19 testing unless patients require hospitalization.

HealthPartners is closely monitoring state and federal guidelines and will continue to provide regular updates about changes to care delivery operations. For the most current information, go to healthpartners.com/coronavirus.