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HealthPartners Medical Group tops in quality for patients in state medical programs
Electronic medical record key factor in reducing health disparities
Sept. 24, 2008
Bloomington, Minn. HealthPartners Medical Group received some of the highest quality of care marks among all Minnesota medical groups that serve people in state healthcare programs according to a new report on healthcare disparities issued by Minnesota Community Measurement a non-profit dedicated to improving the quality of healthcare in Minnesota.
The Department of Human Services commissioned the report to establish a measurement and quality improvement system for medical groups that care for patients in state healthcare programs including: Medical Assistance, MinnesotaCare and General Assistance Medical Care. These programs serve patients with lower socioeconomic status and include a disproportionate share of persons of color when compared to the overall Minnesota population. HealthPartners Medical Group performed above average on seven out of eight healthcare quality measures in the report and showed no disparities between patients in state health programs compared to commercial insurance on two measures.
"We're very pleased with our performance because it validates our efforts to provide high quality care for all of our patients, regardless of their socio economic circumstances, or other factors that could contribute to health disparities such as language barriers or race," said Beth Averbeck, M.D. associate medical director primary care for HealthPartners Medical Group.
The measures which HealthPartners Medical Group performed above average are:-
Breast cancer screening
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Cervical cancer screening
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Optimal diabetes care
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Use of appropriate medications for people with asthma
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Childhood immunization
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Chlamydia screening in women
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Appropriate treatment for children with sore throats
The measures for which HealthPartners Medical Group showed no disparities between patients in state health programs and patients with commercial insurance are:-
Childhood immunizations
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Testing children for sore throats
HealthPartners clinics scored nearly 90 percent on the report's childhood immunization measure, approximately 20 percent higher than the average for all medical participating medical groups. In order to achieve this level of performance, HealthPartners electronic medical record automatically flags children on public programs when an appointment is made. The flag appears in the patient's medical record and reminds clinic staff to offer recommended immunizations and screenings appropriate for the child's age, gender and personal risk factor when the child comes in for an appointment even if the appointment is for another reason.
"We want to take advantage of every opportunity to reach these kids," said Averbeck. "So we make preventive care part of every visit."
Identifying Disparities
HealthPartners clinics also created its own system to identify and reduce health disparities among its patients. The group has race/ethnicity and language preference data on more than 425,000 of its clinic patients which it collects on a voluntary basis. HealthPartners clinics cross reference this data with data from its clinical quality measures to identify health disparities.
HealthPartners identified health disparities between racial groups on the percentage of patients who received mammograms. Only 70 percent of Native American patients and 76 percent of African American patients who, according to preventive service guidelines, were due to have a mammogram received the service. This compared to 89 percent for white patients. HealthPartners was able to use this data to reduce the gaps through: -
Customized patient education materials written in the patient's preferred language, including information on the benefits and risks of specific screening tests, what to expect with the test and why the test is important;
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Professional on-site and telephone-based interpreters;
Same-day access to tests, including mammograms for at-risk patients to increase the likelihood they will choose to have a test. Women at risk include those who were overdue for a mammogram based on their age, or personal health history. At one HealthPartners clinic, same-day mammograms decreased the disparity between white patients and patients of color who were current for recommended mammograms from 16 percent in first quarter 2007 to 2.5 percent in first quarter of 2008.
About HealthPartners
Founded in 1957, the HealthPartners (www.healthpartners.com) family of healthcare companies serve more than one million medical and dental health plan members nationwide. It is the largest consumer-governed, nonprofit healthcare organization in the nation, providing care, coverage, research and education to improve the health of members, patients and the community. For the third 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 2007" and is ranked "Highest in Member Satisfaction among Commercial Health Plans in the Minnesota-Wisconsin Region" by J.D. Power and Associates.
Contact: 952-883-5223
Pager: 612-613-4527
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