| 12/26/05 |
Inside Track: Innovative health care
“Medica and Patient Choice have been honored by the National Business Coalition on Health with the organization's ‘eValue8’ awards for innovative approaches to behavioral health care and for ranking hospitals and doctors on cost and quality.”
-- Star Tribune
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| 12/06/05 |
Single rating method urged for tiered health plans; Speakers say evaluating doctors, hospitals in same way would help build public's trust
“Tiering works because the insurers require patients to pay higher co-payments or co-insurance to see doctors who receive poorer rankings.
In 1998, fewer than 10 percent of patients in the Patient Choice tiered plan used the recommended doctors, said Ann Robinow of Medica, which recently acquired the Patient Choice plan. In 2005, nearly 50 percent of those patients used preferred doctors. Some patients switched doctors, while some doctors changed their practices to move into the higher tier.
Tiering is a ‘high-stakes’ issue for doctors, because those ranked in lower tiers risk losing their patients and their market share, said David Knutson of the Park Nicollet Institute for Research and Education.”
–- Pioneer Press
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| 08/11/05 |
Report Comparing Minnesota Health Plan Quality Released
“Minnesota plans compared favorably to the best performing national plan in most of the quality categories. …Patient Choice received special national recognition for their performance in three survey categories. …Patient Choice was [also] recognized for its efforts in measuring and publicly reporting individual provider performance.”
-- Buyers Healthcare Action Group news release
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| 05/18/05 |
Tiered health plans are here to stay
“[Tiering] is a valid idea, according to John Kralewski, a professor in University of Minnesota's School of Public Health. He says as of today there's virtually no competition among hospitals.
‘I think it's a start. It's the start of something that I think could be very, very productive,’ says Kralewski. ‘You've got to give [Patient Choice] credit for trying to get a hold of those costs and do something about it, and to get a hold of those quality issues.’"
-- Minnesota Public Radio
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| 05/11/05 |
Medica rolls out ranking system; Tiered health insurance is a trend that's here to stay.
“Medica says its plan will be launched July 1 and could save employers 10 to 12 percent on annual employee premium costs.”
–- Star Tribune |
| 04/12/05 |
Schools aim to save $2M on insurance
“With tight budgets, elected board members have to be careful to spend wisely, Smolnisky said. Health care systems still will set their prices themselves, she said.
‘Patients get to look at that price in conjunction with the value they perceive,’ she said, adding that the [Patient Choice] plan provides market competition and that the hospitals will have incentives to offer value.”
–- Sioux Falls Argus Leader |
| 3/30/05 |
Sioux Valley balks at schools contract
“We’ve had a health plan that has been running a deficit…I’m climbing my way out of the deficit, and I attribute it to the Patient Choice model.”
–- Jennifer Holsen, human resource director, city of Sioux Falls, S.D., Sioux Falls Argus Leader |
2005