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Allina Hospitals & Clinics and HealthPartners Collaborate to Improve Quality, Patient Satisfaction and Affordability
MINNEAPOLIS 10/13/2009--HealthPartners and Allina Hospitals & Clinics today announced that they have entered into a long-term collaboration in the 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,” said Ken Paulus, president and CEO of Allina Hospitals & Clinics. “We believe it will provide both of our organizations the opportunity to partner on innovations that will benefit the northwest metro community and help moderate rising health care costs.”
“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,” said Mary Brainerd, HealthPartners President and CEO. “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.”
As an integrated system, HealthPartners brings both health care financing capabilities and four clinics (Coon Rapids, Andover, Anoka and Elk River) to the collaboration, and Allina brings Mercy Hospital and its clinics in Champlin, Coon Rapids, Elk River and Ramsey.
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.
“We look forward to collaborating with our colleagues at HealthPartners on innovations that will coordinate care and promote better health in the northwest metro community,” said Penny Wheeler, MD, chief clinical officer of Allina Hospitals & Clinics.
“As physicians we know that patients want the best care and service at an affordable cost,” said Brian Rank, MD, medical director of the HealthPartners Medical Group. “We believe this collaboration will help us deliver on all three of these goals for patients and the community.”
About Allina Hospitals and Clinics
Allina Hospitals & Clinics owns and operates 11 hospitals, more than 90 clinics, specialty care centers, and specialty medical services that provide hospice care, oxygen and home medical equipment, pharmacies, and emergency medical transportation services. Allina Hospitals & Clinics and the latest health information can be found online at www.allina.com.
About HealthPartners
Founded in 1957, the HealthPartners (www.healthpartners.com) family of health care companies serves 1.25 million members and provide care to over 500,000 patients through the HealthPartners care delivery system which includes 70 clinics and 3 hospitals. HealthPartners 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. For the fourth year in a row, HealthPartners is rated one of the best commercial health plans in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, NCQA’s “America’s Best Health Plans 2008.”
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