For the fourth consecutive year, HealthPartners is the top-ranked commercial and Medicare health plan in Minnesota and among the top 50 best commercial health plans in the nation according to the 2008 U.S. News & World Report/NCQA America's Best Health Plans issue.
HealthPartners commercial plan is the 33rd highest-ranked plan nationally (up from 38th last year). HealthPartners was the only Minnesota commercial plan featured in the print edition of the Nov. 7, 2008 magazine, which compares the quality of care and customer satisfaction among 700 commercial, Medicare and Medicaid plans across the nation.

America’s Best Health Plans rankings are based on prevention, treatment and customer experience scores on a range of measures that health plans voluntarily report to NCQA. HealthPartners scored in the top 25 percent nationally for the following measures:

Clinical measures

• Diabetes care: eye exams, blood pressure control, blood sugar testing and control
• Immunizations for children
• Heart disease treatment: beta blocker treatment, blood pressure control and cholesterol management
• Cancer screening for breast, colorectal and cervical cancer
• Depression medication management in acute and continuation phase treatment
• Low back pain: appropriate diagnostic imaging

Member satisfaction

• Getting the help and information members need through customer service
• Being treated with courtesy and respect by customer service
• Handling member claims correctly 

NCQA and U.S. News & World Report collaborate to rank the nation’s commercial, Medicare and Medicaid health plans based on clinical quality, member satisfaction and NCQA Accreditation scores. The 2008 America’s Best Health Plans report is available here.

HealthPartners is one of only four health plans in the nation to receive the 2008 eValue8 Health Plan Innovation Award from the National Business Coalition on Health.

HealthPartners was honored for its program that gives doctors the latest medical evidence on when an MRI, CT scan or other high-tech diagnostic test is necessary and which test is best. Seventy health plans applied for the honor and the winning programs were selected based on creativity, effectiveness and replicability.

Prior to this program, HealthPartners use of MRI and CT scans was increasing about 15 to 18 percent every year, increasing costs by $8 million a year.  The diagnostic imaging program helped reduce the number of unnecessary tests by 7,000 and decreased costs by $6.6 million in 2007.

In late 2009, the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity & Addiction Equity Act of 2008 will require employers and insurers who offer behavioral health coverage to cover mental health care and chemical dependency care at the same level as coverage for medical conditions.

The mandate applies to both self-insured and fully insured plans. Under this mandate:

• Employers are not required to cover mental health/substance abuse benefits or add benefits that they do not already cover.
• Employers that do offer coverage for mental health/substance abuse must offer mental health and substance abuse benefits that are no more restrictive than the predominant (most common) medical benefit:
• Member liability for can be no more restrictive than the member liability for medical benefits (applies to deductibles, copays, coinsurance, and other out-of-pocket expenses) and there can be no separate cost sharing requirements.
• Treatment limits can be no more restrictive than the treatment limits for medical (applies to number of visits, days of coverage or other similar limits on the scope or duration of treatment).
• If a plan has out-of-network benefits, then that plan must provide out-of-network coverage for mental health/substance abuse.

There are few exceptions to the mandate.  Those exceptions include:

• Small employers (two to 50 employees) are exempt from the new federal law, but are subject to applicable state mandates.
• Individual coverage/conversion coverage is exempt from the new federal law, but is subject to applicable state mandates.
• Employers may seek an exemption from the federal mandate, but they need an actuary to certify that implementing the benefit will cause their costs to increase two percent in the first plan year and one percent in each subsequent year.

Health plans may continue to apply medical necessity criteria, but medical policies need to be made public (HealthPartners medical policies are available on healthpartners.com).

For most plans, these changes will go into effect for plan years beginning on or after Oct. 3, 2009. Watch for more information from your broker or your HealthPartners sales executive as the effective date approaches.

On Oct. 1, we began contracting directly with the dentists in our Minnesota and western Wisconsin network. This change allows us to have a direct relationship with our entire regional network, which is 50 percent larger than any other network of its kind in the area. HealthPartners continues to have the largest dental PPO network in Minnesota and we’re growing faster than any other network in Minnesota.

Why contract directly?

• Allows for better management of provider relationships
• No “middle man” in administrative and network management processes
• Better control of provider fee schedule to maximize our network value

This change will have no impact on the service you and your employees receive from HealthPartners dental plan. For more information about our dental products, please contact your broker or your HealthPartners sales executive.

HealthPartners is pleased to announce a new way to save on eye care! We're now offering a $500 laser vision correction to appropriate HealthPartners members at the Philips Eye Institute by one of four board-certified eye surgeons. That’s a $250 discount per eye! The discount is valid through September 1, 2009.

For more information, please visit Healthy Discounts online.

HealthPartners has made it even easier for you to get the forms you need. Find all change forms, claim forms, employee applications and other vital forms online at healthpartners.com/employerforms.

These forms have always been on the employer portal – now there is a direct page for you to visit if you prefer.  We hope you find this page useful and bookmark it for future use.