Strike’s fallout could spread beyond unionized hospitals, report warns

A nursing strike of 14 hospitals — a near certainty if negotiations falter today — could be a financial blow to the Twin Cities' health care market, according to a report issued Monday by Moody's Investors Service. The metro hospitals could be caught in a double whammy of rising expenses — because of the high cost of replacement nurses — and declining revenues as nervous patients cancel medical procedures or seek them elsewhere, the report stated.