MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- HealthPartners and Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota have announced plans to work together to improve the health of children in Minnesota. Through a number of joint initiatives, the organizations will initially focus on reducing childhood obesity and improving the overall coordination of care for families.
Childhood Obesity
HealthPartners and Children’s are launching a substantial initiative to manage and prevent childhood obesity through education and programming. The work will be focused on communities and clinics in the metro area.
Recent data published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that one in six U.S. children and adolescents are obese. This new effort will build upon existing programs, with an emphasis on engaging communities to design solutions that lead to better health for children.
HealthPartners is currently working with Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools through its yumPower campaign to build healthy eating habits among elementary school-aged youth. And as one of the leading pediatric health care organizations in the U.S., Children’s sees the impact of childhood obesity every day. Obese children are more likely to have high blood pressure and high cholesterol, two risk factors for cardiovascular disease, and they are at an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Improving coordination of care
HealthPartners and Children’s also are working together to create standardized and reliable coordination of care that will result in a seamless experience for children and their families. For example, following a visit to the Children’s emergency department, a child’s family would receive a call from HealthPartners care team to proactively follow up.
Physicians at both organizations will have more complete knowledge of a child’s care needs, which will ensure timely scheduling and improved continuity of care. These enhancements will give parents greater confidence that their child is receiving the care they need at the appropriate time.
These initiatives will create an even stronger alliance between the two organizations. HealthPartners Clinics have collaborated with Children’s for decades to provide care to youth, and Children’s provides specialty pediatric services at HealthPartners Hudson Hospital.
“Children’s is one of the top pediatric hospitals in the country,” said Mary Brainerd, HealthPartners President and CEO. “These new efforts are consistent with our belief that by working together we can provide a higher quality of care at a more affordable cost – and that is so important for children and families in our community.”
“At Children’s we’re always looking for ways to improve the experience for patients and families,” said Alan L. Goldbloom, MD, President and CEO of Children’s of Minnesota. “At the same time, we also know that the best way to take care of kids is to keep them out of the hospital to begin with. Tackling childhood obesity and improving our care coordination together with HealthPartners helps us with both of these goals.”
About HealthPartners
Founded in 1957, the HealthPartners (www.healthpartners.com) family of health care companies serves more than 1.36 million medical and dental health plan members nationwide. It is the largest consumer-governed, nonprofit health care organization in the nation providing care, coverage, research and education to improve the health of members, patients and the community. HealthPartners is the top-ranked commercial health plan in Minnesota and is also ranked 19th in the nation according to NCQA's Health Insurance Plan Rankings 2011-12 - private.
About Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota:
Serving as Minnesota's children's hospital since 1924, Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota is one of the largest pediatric health care organization in the United States, with 340 staffed beds at its two hospitals in St. Paul and Minneapolis. An independent, not-for-profit health care system, Children's of Minnesota provides care through more than 12,000 inpatient visits and more than 200,000 emergency room and other outpatient visits every year. Children's is the only Minnesota hospital system to provide comprehensive care exclusively to children.
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CONTACT:
HealthPartners
Annelise Searle, 952-883-5308
[email protected]
or
Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota
Brian Lucas, 612-813-6615
[email protected]
KEYWORDS: United States North America Minnesota
INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Practice Management Health Fitness & Nutrition Hospitals Children Parenting Consumer Family General Health
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