HealthPartners is largest Minnesota provider to have all locations certified
BLOOMINGTON, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- HealthPartners has been certified by the Minnesota Department of Health as a health care home. This means that HealthPartners has met a set of rigorous standards to provide patient- and family-centered care and is working to improve both the quality and affordability of health care.
Health care homes, also known as “medical homes,” offer a team approach to primary care, making it easier for patients to communicate and partner with their care team. Care teams can include clinicians, nurses, specialists, care coordinators and community resources.
At HealthPartners, a patient’s care team is led by a physician. In a health care home, a care coordinator -- who develops a relationship with patients and their families -- works with them to coordinate their care and achieve better health. This includes streamlining access to appointments, improving communication with specialists, answering questions over the phone, and planning for care. This approach to care can be particularly helpful for people with complex and chronic conditions.
Twenty-three HealthPartners Medical Group primary care clinics in the Twin Cities metropolitan area were certified, including 250 physicians and 50 nurse practitioners and physician’s assistants.
“HealthPartners is the largest clinic system in the state that has all its primary care sites certified,” said Dr. Beth Averbeck, associate medical director for primary care for HealthPartners Medical Group. “In addition, our HealthPartners Specialty Center—Infectious Disease clinic is the first specialty clinic to be certified.”
“Certification as a health care home reflects the way we have been providing health care for several years,” said Bob Van Why, senior vice president of primary care, HealthPartners Medical Group. “Our goal has been, and continues to be, to ensure that primary care is patient centered, care is coordinated and customized to meet our patients’ needs and values. Our plans now include enhancing the patient experience by partnering with patients to set care goals and plans and to enhance access to care with tools such as phone visits and online visits.”
A national leader in health care homes, HealthPartners was the first large system in the country to be recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance as a physician practice patient-centered medical home in 2008.
Certified health care homes will be recertified annually based on outcomes. Health care homes are an important component of Minnesota’s 2008 health reform law, also known as “Minnesota’s Vision for a Better State of Health.” The goals of the law are to simultaneously improve the health of the population, the patient experience and the affordability of health care.
More information on health care homes is available online at http://www.health.state.mn.us/healthreform/homes/index.html.
About HealthPartners
Founded in 1957, the HealthPartners (www.healthpartners.com) family of health care companies serves more than one 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 2010-11 - private.
CONTACT:
HealthPartners
Wendy Burt, 952-967-5986
Media pager: 651-629-0411
[email protected]
KEYWORDS: United States North America Minnesota
INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Health Hospitals Other Health Managed Care
MEDIA:
| Logo |