Castlight Health Bolsters Health Care Management Suite With Minnesota Community Measurement Quality Data
Blanc & Otus for Castlight HealthJoan Levy, 415-856-5110
, the leading provider of health care transparency solutions for employers andpayers, and announced that Castlight has incorporated MN Community Measurement quality performance metrics into its health care management suite. With MN Community Measurement’s rich dataset of provider quality information, Castlight users can make more informed decisions based on personalized information to drive higher-quality, better-value care.
“Our goal is to improve health outcomes by imparting greater transparency in the health care system,” said Jim Chase, president of MN Community Measurement. “In partnering with Castlight, we are able to get our powerful quality and service data into the hands of more individuals – empowering them to take control of their health care.”
MN Community Measurement works with medical groups, clinics, physicians, hospitals, health plans, employers, consumer representatives and quality improvement organizations to report health care quality measures. MNCM developed , a comprehensive site for quality and patient experience of care metrics on clinics, hospitals and medical groups. The information is based on nationally endorsed standards, to support preventative care and treatment of chronic conditions for consumers in Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Wisconsin and Iowa.
Carlson, a global hospitality and travel company with headquarters in Minneapolis, recently selected Castlight’s health care management suite to help its employees take control of their health care spending and wellness. Shawn Leavitt, vice president of global compensation and benefits, said that “Castlight combines accurate cost and trusted quality information to help our employees improve their wellness, lowering costs both for themselves and Carlson. We believe the addition of MN Community Measurement quality data will make the Castlight suite even more valuable for our Minnesota-area employees, as well as the company.”
“Consumers are under pressure to manage the rising cost of health care, but have lacked the tools and data they need to manage their care and costs,” said Cathie Markow, senior director clinical quality, Castlight Health. “Our collaboration with MN Community Measurement is a prime example of how we are partnering with organizations across the health care industry to deliver transparency and change into a traditionally closed-off market.”
MN Community Measurement, (MNCM) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of health care in Minnesota by working with physicians, hospitals, health plans, employers, state government and consumers to collect, validate and publicly report performance data.
Through MNCM, the Minnesota health care community has pioneered collaborative health care quality reporting since 2004: building 76 measures that are widely accepted by payers and providers; establishing a process that allows efficient collection of data from hospitals, medical groups and health plans; and reporting results on more than 672 sites of care. MNCM measures have received national endorsement from the National Quality Forum, and Medicare now uses its measures nationwide for its value-based purchasing initiatives. See for more.
Castlight Health enables employers, their employees, and health plans to take control of health care costs and improve care. Named #1 on The Wall Street Journal’s list of “The Top 50 Venture-Backed Companies” for 2011 and one of Dow Jones’ 50 Most Investment-Worthy Technology Start-Ups, Castlight Health helps the country’s self-insured employers and health plans empower consumers to shop for health care. Castlight Health is headquartered in San Francisco and backed by prominent investors including Allen & Company, Cleveland Clinic, Maverick Capital, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Oak Investment Partners, Redmile Group, T. Rowe Price, U.S. Venture Partners, Venrock, Wellcome Trust and two unnamed mutual funds. For more information, please visit our web site at or call (415) 829-1400.