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News Release
Minnesota Businesses Commit to National Initiative for Improving Quality and Value in Health Care In a meeting today in Minneapolis with HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, executives from area businesses signed statements of support for a national initiative aimed at improving health care quality, information and cost-effectiveness for employees and their families. In addition, Minnesota Community Measurement was recognized as a pilot site to pioneer new methods of reporting on quality of care. Altogether, more than 3 million people will benefit by implementation of this initiative in Minnesota. Employers signing on from Minnesota include 3M; Accenture; Berlex Laboratories; BlueCross BlueShield of MN; Buyers Health Care Action Group; Capella University; Carlson Companies; CEO Roundtable; CIGNA; Davies & Associates; Deloitte & Touche, LLP; Emerson/Rosemount; Fairview Health Services; Federated Insurance Companies; General Mills, Inc.; HealthEast Care System; HealthFront; HealthPartners; Hormel; IWCO; Johnson & Johnson; Labor Mgmt. of Upper Midwest; Mayo Clinic Rochester; MedCare Compare; Medtronic; Metropolitan Health Plan; MN Community Measurement; MN Council of Health Plans; Money Gram; Park Nicollet Health Services; Securian Financial Group; Stratis Health; SUPERVALU; Target; UnitedHealth Group; University of Minnesota; US Bancorp; Wells Fargo; Minnesota Department. of Employee Relations; Minnesota Department of Human Services; and the Minnesota Governor’s Health Cabinet. The executives pledged to provide quality and price information about doctors, hospitals and other medical providers for all enrollees in their health care insurance programs. This information will help employees choose health care providers based on the quality of care they deliver and the prices they charge. In addition, the employers will support health information technology by encouraging the use of recognized interoperability standards in the health IT products used by their health plans. They also pledged to develop incentives for achieving better value in health care, including incentives for high quality care and for more active involvement by employees in choosing their health care services. President Bush committed federal health programs to the four cornerstones through an Executive Order last August. In November, Secretary Leavitt invited all employers, in both the private and public sectors, to take these same four steps. By committing to these goals, Secretary Leavitt said, “Our individual actions will be aligned toward reaching the common national goal of better health at lower costs for all Americans. Today, purchasers in Minnesota are joining with the federal government in adopting the four cornerstones of value-driven health care.” “I am proud that leading Minnesota employers are choosing to support these four cornerstones to achieve better health care and better value for employees and their families,” Secretary Leavitt said. “Until now, it has not been possible for patients to learn in advance about the quality of care they can expect to receive from a provider, or the cost of the services they will incur. By making this information available, employers can help their employees get better care and better value in health care. Minnesota Community Measurement was recognized as a pilot site to provide better quality information (BQI) to improve care for Medicare beneficiaries. There are six collaboratives in the country that have been chosen as pilots to pioneer new methods of reporting on quality of care, especially through the use of Medicare data. The techniques proven by these pilot sites will be used by other collaboratives in the future as we build a national network of organizations for providing information to help compare the performance and costs of health care providers. “Six organizations have been chosen to lead the way as we develop a national network for public reporting, and I’m proud to officially designate Minnesota Community Measurement as one of these,” Secretary Leavitt said. “Their work will help pioneer a new era of public reporting and improved value for health care providers.” “With the commitment that Minnesota employers like these are now making, I expect many changes in health care,” Secretary Leavitt said. “Patients will come to expect quality and performance information about health care providers. They will expect to have price or cost information in advance to make good value decisions about their care. They will use this information to improve health care value for themselves and their families. And the choices they make will help improve value and health care quality across the health care sector.” More information on Value-Driven Health Care is available at www.hhs.gov/transparency. For a full list of companies who have signed statements of support, including those signing in Illinois today, visit: http://www.hhs.gov/transparency/employers/statements.html.
### Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news. Last revised: March 9, 2007 |
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