Purchaser Survey:  The results are in

Each year, we select a sample of our purchasers to be part of an annual survey. We rely on it to collect feedback that helps us improve our products and how we serve you.

So what’s top of mind this year? Here’s what purchasers said they’re looking for from their health plan providers.

Information is critical. You want employees to make informed choices about what they purchase, and a health plan that provides the information and decision-making tools to do it.

Communication is key. You want employees to be engaged – to understand their benefits and to take part in decision making.

Value matters. You want employees, and your company, to get a sound return on your health care investment.

Prevention is increasingly important. You recognize, more than ever, that health prevention and disease management are valuable tools in keeping employees healthy and costs in check.

You gave us high marks for ease of doing business, delivery of effective health improvement programs and provision of good online tools for employees. We also heard good things about our sales teams and how they represent us. We heard some say that our sales proposals could be improved in some ways, and we’ve recently doubled staff in this area to serve you better.

Other key findings follow (with percentage rating excellent, very good or good unless noted):

Does the sales team provide employees and dependents with tools and information to:

• select a plan? 88 percent
• understand benefits and coverage? 88 percent
• make good health care decisions? 88 percent

How would your rate HealthPartners performance on:

• ease of enrolling? 93 percent
• processing employee’s claims? 100 percent
• effective customer service? 91 percent
• accurate enrollment? 92 percent
• accurate billing? 91 percent

How likely would you be to choose or recommend choosing HealthPartners?

• 94 percent extremely likely, very likely or likely

If you have any questions or would like more information about this survey and how we’re responding, please contact your HealthPartners sales representative. We’re always happy to hear from you.

Coming this Fall: A new, nationwide network for HealthPartners Dental

Does your locally based company have employees or dependents in other states?

If so, we have great news. HealthPartners is introducing a new national dental network that will be available beginning Sept. 1, 2007.

For more than 30 years, HealthPartners has been recognized as a leader in innovative dentistry. We’re committed to finding the most effective ways to deliver appropriate dental care, and one critical component of that is convenience. We do this by offering the largest dental PPO network in Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

Now we’re broadening that approach by extending our network nationally.

The new HealthPartners national dental network will include 33,000 providers at more than 72,000 locations. As before, our plan designs will continue to offer the same great flexibility you have come to expect. And all of our administrative functions -- including enrollment, claims, member services, member materials and our Web site -- remain the same for your employees, wherever they may be.

Our new dental network will bring added value through HealthPartners’ competitive network discounts across the nation. That means the possibility of lower claims costs for you and lower out-of-pocket costs for your employees.

If you’d like more information right away, please contact your HealthPartners Sales Representative. Otherwise, please watch for more information coming soon, including complete details about our exciting, new national dental network as we get ready for our launch on September 1.

Regions Hospital: Top-ranked Twin Cities hospital for heart attack, heart failure quality of care

No one wants to experience a major heart problem, but it’s good peace of mind to know that high-quality care is available right nearby at Regions Hospital.

Regions, a HealthPartners Level 1 Trauma Center and teaching hospital, ranks among the best in the nation and tops among 16 major Twin Cities hospitals for providing high quality care to patients suffering heart attacks and heart failures. That’s according to a new report from the Joint Commission, an independent, non-profit organization that sets standards for health care quality worldwide.

“This report lets consumers know which hospitals are best at providing the treatment shown by scientific evidence to be most effective,” said Beth Heinz, senior director of quality at Regions. “Receiving proven medications and procedures in a timely manner can be a matter of life or death for patients.”

Analyzing performance data from more than 3,000 hospitals nationwide, the study examined how many hospital patients received 15 individual quality measures for the treatment of heart attacks, heart failure and pneumonia from 2002 through 2005.

Among the key findings: Regions provides four of the Joint Commission-recommended, evidence-based heart failure treatments approximately 90 percent of the time, compared to the national rate of 76 percent. For heart attack care, Regions Hospital provides eight evidence-based heart attack treatments, such as medications to prevent heart failure, nearly 100 percent of the time compared to the national average of 90 percent.

The hospital report, titled Improving Americas Hospitals: a Report on Quality and Safety, can be viewed online at www.jointcommissionreport.org/

HealthPartners online tools for employees: Great and getting even better

In our recent Purchaser Survey, one area in which we received high marks was how well we provide tools for employees to manage their care and improve their health online.

Employees are already managing a lot online these days, from bills to banking to shopping. Health care is a natural next step. HealthPartners has a growing set of practical and easy-to-use online tools available to registered members. With the click of a mouse, employees can calculate health care expenses, find cost and quality ratings for providers, discover cost-saving tips and more.

Here’s a sampling of what’s available at healthpartners.com, just for registering. There’s a lot you can do, right from your PC.

Tools for saving money and making good choices

• Medical and drug cost calculators to plan expenses or stay informed about the cost of care for different conditions and services.
• Online cost and quality databases for providers and clinics that allow employees to view at a glance how they compare.
• Best Choice provider search to select from among qualifying providers on the basis of cost and quality
• Patient ratings of providers on service, such as ease of scheduling appointments, wait times in exam rooms and interpersonal skills

Tools for convenience

• Member ID card ordering
• Prescription refill services
• Access to valuable health tips and money-saving deals

Tools for accessing care

• Search capabilities for locating doctors, specialists, clinics and hospitals, with search by location, specialty, gender, language spoken and more

Tools for understanding coverage

• At-a-glace viewing of benefits, claims and member information

There’s much more to come very soon. This fall, HealthPartners will introduce a completely redesigned web site for members, retaining these useful features while adding an incredible array of new services designed to allow employees to take complete control of their health care. This exciting new site is scheduled to launch in September – watch for much more information to follow.

Notes from the Annual Meeting

Once again we had an excellent turnout for our annual meeting last month. Much more than a business meeting, it’s an opportunity for us to meet with our customers to hear feedback and share ideas. This year’s meeting was no exception.

We thought a quick recap of one of the meeting’s presentations would be of particular interest to employers. Nico Pronk, Ph.D., MA. FACSM, and vice president for HealthPartners’  Center for Health Promotion, delivered a presentation entitled “Health is What We Do!” – focusing on the cost-savings associated with health prevention, the relationships between behavior and health, and some of HealthPartners’ health improvement solutions.

He had some very interesting data to share that illustrate the potential of prevention. For example, did you know:

• Only one in four people meet all four of these healthy lifestyle factors: non-smoking, healthy weight, physically active and high-quality diet.
• Twenty percent of people generate 80 percent of health care costs.
• The impact of obesity on work limitations is equal to 20 years of aging.
• A fit person of 70 has the same health/disease profile as an unfit person of 40.

Among the points underscored during the presentation is that our environment shapes our behavior – and that much of today’s environment tends to discourage activity and healthy choices, from reliance on cars, to fast food, to lots of “screen time” in front of computers and televisions. The presentation also described obesity as the first epidemic we’ve been able to witness happening right before our eyes – with staggering increases in obesity rates nationally from 1985 to the present.

The good news is this kind of knowledge can translate into action. HealthPartners offers employees many ways to make better individual health choices, from online health assessments to our 10,000 Steps® program to telephone-based health behavior change programs addressing tobacco, weight management, nutrition, stress, back pain, physical activity and more.

Visit healthpartners.com for more ways in which employees can build exercise and good choices into every day.

Attend Our Purchaser Symposium

Companies face cost-management challenges in the form of medical care, absenteeism, disability, workers comp, safety and more. Discover secrets to reducing costs through a healthier workforce at our 2007 Purchaser Symposium: Investing in Health.

Whether your company has two employees or 2,000, HealthPartners’ health and wellness programs provide solutions to improve health, combat chronic disease and address behavior-related health risks. We deliver the information, programming and support you need to improve the health and productivity of your employees, and to increase your bottom line.

Join us for a day of learning and fun as we partner together for health!

Register now!

Here are three allergy articles you can copy and paste right into an email message or your employee newsletter.

They're back... The spring allergy season is in full swing. Many types of allergies can affect people in the springtime. Allergic rhinitis, commonly known as “hay fever,” affects at least 35.9 million people in the U.S. It is caused by exposure to allergens like pollen or mold, and as a result of exposure, an allergic antibody IgE goes into action, triggering the release of histamines and other chemicals that causes sneezing, runny nose, congestion and itchy eyes and nose. Mold allergies are caused by spores released by fungi, are common from spring to fall and vary by region and weather. Cutting grass or being around fresh-cut grass, spreading mulch or being in areas with field crops or indoor molds can increase allergic reactions to mold. Common symptoms of mold allergies, similar to symptoms of hay fever, are sneezing, nasal congestion, clear runny nose, itchy, watery eyes. This condition can be best diagnosed with skin testing performed by an allergist or immunologist. According to HealthPartners allergists, there are several simple things allergy-sufferers can do to reduce their exposure to allergens “The easiest thing people can do to help relieve their allergy symptoms is to keep the windows of their home closed,” says Dr. Timothy Lind, allergist, HealthPartners. “If needed, people can run air conditioning, as this filters out some of the ragweed pollen and mold spores that are common at this time of year,” he adds. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases also recommends staying indoors in the morning when outdoor pollen levels are highest., wearing face masks designed to filter out pollen, avoiding dry clothes outdoors, and avoiding mowing the grass or doing other yard work, if possible.