HealthPartners and Allina Collaborate to Achieve Better Outcomes

We’ve partnered with Allina Hospitals & Clinics to help focus on more affordable care and better outcomes, specifically in northwest metro area of the Twin Cities. The goal of the collaboration is to simultaneously improve the health outcomes of the community, patient experience and the affordability of care in the market – a goal consistent with the Institute of Healthcare Improvement's Triple Aim. This collaboration is the first of its kind in the Twin Cities.
According to Mary Brainerd, HealthPartners President and CEO, “Together with Allina, we expect to achieve excellent results for the people we serve and demonstrate that high quality care and outstanding service can be more affordable, too. We will also use payment systems that reward providers for delivering value instead of volume – an approach we would like to see adopted nationally to combat rising health care costs."

The collaboration includes:

• A payment agreement that rewards quality, patient experience and total cost of care rather than paying just for individual units of service.
• Sharing electronic health information to coordinate care, improve efficiency and safety and improve the patient experience.
• Activities between hospitals and clinics to coordinate care for patients with chronic conditions and reduce unnecessary readmissions.

As an integrated system, HealthPartners brings both health care financing capabilities and four clinics in Coon Rapids, Andover, Anoka and Elk River to the collaboration. Allina brings Mercy Hospital and its clinics in Champlin, Coon Rapids, Elk River and Ramsey.

HealthPartners Retains NCQA's Top Accreditation Status

For the ninth year in a row, the National Committee for Quality Assurance has awarded HealthPartners "Excellent" accreditation status for its HMO and POS plans. NCQA reserves its "Excellent" status for health plans that demonstrate levels of service and clinical quality that meet or exceed stringent requirements for consumer protection and quality improvement.

The accreditation is based in part on the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Survey, in which HealthPartners ranked first in Minnesota in Member Satisfaction.

HealthPartners scored above the national average in seven of nine key areas, and was consistent with the national average in the other two. HealthPartners scored significantly higher than the national average in:

• Claims processing
• Rating of the health plan
• Rating of doctor
• Getting care quickly
• Customer service

Industry Leading Electronic Medical Records

We’re always looking for ways to deliver better care and save money. Becoming one of the first organizations in the country to integrate electronic X-rays, MRIs, CT scans and radiology reports into electronic patient health records (EHR) is a prime example. The images and the radiology reports can be accessed quickly by doctors at Regions Hospital and at all 25 HealthPartners Clinics.

In the past year, Regions Hospital reduced radiology report turn-around times from two days to approximately four hours. This time savings is especially significant given the fact that HealthPartners Clinics and Regions perform about 34,000 radiology exams every month. In addition to faster record retrieval, this technology will save approximately $130,000 per year on expenses to transcribe radiologists’ reports and eliminate $300,000 in annual film storage fees.

Hudson Hospital & Clinics, Westfields Hospital and HealthPartners Central Minnesota Clinic, all part of the HealthPartners family of care, are scheduled to implement electronic health records in 2010. This brings the new technology to the St. Cloud area and western Wisconsin.

Health Imaging & IT magazine recognized this technological advance in its fall issue and named Regions Hospital a Top 25 Connected Healthcare Facility in the country.

New Federal Legislative Update

The federal health care reform debate is evolving every day and it can be hard to keep up. 
To help our mutual clients stay informed, we’ve created the new Federal Legislative Update e-newsletter.

The newsletter will cover:

• What's going on at the Federal level?
• What does it mean for employers?
• What is HealthPartners stance?

As we collect updates, we will send out new editions to employer groups.

Medicare Secondary Payer Update

As previously communicated, HealthPartners will be collecting important information from employers during open enrollment in order to comply with the Medicare Secondary Payer Reporting requirement.

As you may recall, employers that offer commercial coverage are required to provide HealthPartners with the following information:

• Employer Federal Tax Identification Number
• Group size, defined as total number of people employed (full- and part-time) by the company’s total family of businesses
• Social Security Number or Health Identification Claims Number for HealthPartners-covered employees, spouses/ex-spouses/domestic partners and Medicare-eligible enrollees
• Disability identifier for employees and dependents (if known) with effective and term dates
• Employment status (active, COBRA, retired) of all employees and effective and term dates of status

Groups that are missing 10 or more Social Security Numbers (SSN) from their HealthPartners-covered group members were contacted via mail. Groups who do not receive this communication have nine or fewer employees or spouses missing SSNs. Those groups for whom we do not have all SSNs should provide them to HealthPartners no later than December 31, 2009. For more information on how groups can provide this information, log on to the broker portal at healthpartners.com.

Additionally, we will be reaching out to some groups and brokers for assistance in gathering Federal Tax Identification Numbers and group size for groups who have not yet responded to our phone, email and mail campaigns to collect this information. We appreciate your cooperation.

To make changes to the Tax Id or group size on file with HealthPartners, employers can go to the employer portal at www.healthpartners.com/msp to fill out a new form and submit this information electronically.

If you have questions, please contact your HealthPartners Sales Executive.

Flu Vaccines Coverage

Do your clients know that HealthPartners is covering both the seasonal flu vaccine and the H1N1 vaccine under the member’s in-network preventive care benefit? Here’s what you and our mutual clients need to know:

• Flu shots are covered under the member’s preventive care benefit. While many groups offer 100 percent coverage, some plans have member cost-sharing for preventive care. In these cases, the member will pay a copay or deductible/coinsurance for the flu shot.
• When a member gets a flu shot from a network provider, the provider will bill HealthPartners directly and we’ll pay the provider. The member is responsible for paying only member liability (if there is any).
• If a member uses a non-contracted provider, we will cover the flu shot at the in-network preventive benefit level, but the member will need to submit the claim manually. For example, Walgreens is not contracted to provide flu shots to our members. Members who go to Walgreens will need to pay for the flu shot and submit a claim for reimbursement.
• The federal government is supplying the H1N1 vaccine at no cost to providers. HealthPartners will reimburse providers the cost to administer the H1N1 vaccine.

For more information, please visit the Employer Flu Kit.

Regions Surgery Center Expansion

Last month, Regions Surgery Center moved into its new location. This bigger and better facility will accommodate increase demand for inpatient and same-day surgeries, which have increased by 7 percent since last year. The new Surgery Center features:

• Five new operating rooms for a total of 20 – with space for two more
• Larger operating rooms
• 28 pre- and post-surgery rooms
• The East metro's only 24-hour surgery care facility  

Wells Fargo HSA Update

Updated online Broker Toolkit – Visit wellsfargo.com/hsa to access our recently enhanced broker toolkit. These materials are designed to make selling HSAs easier for you, to make managing HSAs easier for your clients and to help employees maximize the benefits of their HSAs.

To submit new employer applications, be sure to download the new “HSA Employer Startup Guide.pdf”, which includes our new Employer Application forms. We can no longer accept the old forms. 

Register Today for the Wells Fargo HSA Webinar – This free, 30-minute HSA webinar is designed specifically for brokers. Whether you are brand new to HSAs or a seasoned HSA veteran, you will benefit from these tips and industry best practices. Learn how HSAs can help reduce your clients' healthcare expenses while maintaining employee satisfaction.
To register for this November 17 event, visit the web address below, enter your contact information and select the course titled “Intro to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) – for Broker / Agents”. Register at https://wellsnet.wellsfargo.com/tmcr/wftraining. The webinar will begin at noon CST.

In Every Issue

Frequent Fitness Update

Frequent Fitness Update
Our Frequent Fitness program continues to grow. Members now have even more choices and chances to save money while achieving a healthy lifestyle. Now members enrolled in the Frequent Fitness program have access to more than 880 locations in the HealthPartners service region.

The Frequent Fitness program offers fully insured members (two per household) up to a $20 reimbursement for working out at least 12 times a month.

New clubs to join Frequent Fitness effective October 1, 2009

1. Le Sueur Area Community Center – Le Sueur
2. Rockford Area Community Center – Rockford
3. Barron Area Community Center  - Barron, Wisc.
4. PhyEd Health Club – Superior, Wisc.

Learn more about Frequent Fitness.

Network Updates

As our client base and membership continues to expand, so does our network. In fact, we’ve recently added a large number of providers. We’re committed to providing access to the providers your clients demand – nationwide. No matter where your clients live, work or travel, we’ve got them covered. Additions last month included:

Medical – North Dakota
Tioga Medical Center Clinic – Tioga

Medical – Wisconsin
Willow Creek Woman’s Clinic, SC – Eau Claire

Dental – Minnesota
Benke Dental Care – Inver Grove Heights
Esthetic Family Dentistry, PC – Hector
Excel Dentistry, PLLC – Albertville
Jason L Friesz, DDS, PA – Saint Cloud
Joseph M. Haack, DDS – Alexandria
Mounds View Family Dental, PC – Mounds View
Pro Dental, LLC – Blaine

Dental – Wisconsin
Dental Health Center – Eau Claire

Try out our new search function to see just how easy it is to find a network provider quickly and simply. Provider Search.