April showers bring flowers – and foster allergies and asthma. Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases in the U.S. and is associated with missed school days and missed workdays – which means lower productivity for your clients.

• One in 10 adults in Minnesota report having asthma at some time in their lives
• Asthma cost Minnesotans more than $33 million for emergency room visits and hospitalizations in 1999
• Hospitalizations for asthma have increased for children and young adults under 20

What’s HealthPartners doing to combat this problem?
Our CareSpanSM Asthma program combines disease management, case management, behavioral health services and pharmacy programs to deliver coordinated care. This unique, integrated mix ensures that members receive the right care at the right time – and contains employer costs.

CareSpan in Action
Bill is 53 and diagnosed with severe asthma. Though mentally challenged, he’s determined to live an independent life and works for a shipping company. Bill was identified through medical claims and enrolled in CareSpan.

Bill is 53 years old and was diagnosed with severe asthma. He has numerous allergies that require the use of an Epi Pen at all times for anaphylactic reasons. In the past year, Bill was seen in the emergency room 34 times.

Beginning with the initial telephone visit conducted by a respiratory care manager, Bill also gets regular visits from his home respiratory therapist and an outpatient case manager. Together, Bill’s integrated health care team helps him get the right prescriptions and follow his medication schedules, answers his questions between doctor visits and reduces his visits to the ER.

In the past four months, Bill has visited the ER only four times. He reports he’s satisfied with the program and less anxious because he better understands how to manage his conditions. HealthPartners CareSpan is there to help Bill live his life independently – and to help his employer maintain productivity and reduce health care costs.

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Many of you have been retaining and growing your book of business by bringing HealthPartners medical and dental options to your clients and prospective clients in Greater MN.

In the past few months, you’ve given us the opportunity to serve your clients in the following communities: Albert Lea, Alexandria, Austin, Baxter, Brainerd, Clara City, Cokato, Dassel, Detroit Lakes, Duluth, Glenwood, Janesville, Le Center, Litchfield, Little Falls, Mankato, Marshall, Milaca, New Prague, Nisswa, Pelican, Rapids, Pierz, Pine City, Princeton, Randall, St. Peter, Wanda and Willmar.

Brokers have told us our Frequent Fitness program is important to selling the HealthPartners advantage. To better support your efforts in Greater MN, we want you to know where and when we will be adding new clubs for the remainder of 2005. If you have suggestions for clubs to add in 2006 – give us a call.

The following clubs are joining HealthPartners Frequent Fitness in program in 2005:
Adrian – MC Fitness & Sports (July)
Alexandria – America’s Fitness Centers (September)
Bemidji – Anytime Fitness (October)
Brainerd – Brainerd Family YMCA (Invited) (October)
Detroit Lakes – Detroit Lakes Community and Cultural Center (November)
Duluth – Duluth Area Family YMCA (April)
Fairmont – MC Fitness (July)
Fargo – Fargo-Moorhead Family YMCA (Invited) (TBD)
Faribault – Buckham Center   (May)
Hutchinson – America’s Racquet & Fitness (September)
Jackson – MC Fitness (July)
Mankato – YMCA of Mankato (May)
Marshall – Marshall Area YMCA (June)
Owatonna – America’s Racquet & Fitness Center  (May)
Sauk Center – Fitness Guru (September)
Shakopee – Gold’s Gym (June)
Sioux Falls – YMCA of Sioux Falls (Invited) (November)
Willmar – Kandiyohi County Family YMCA (July)
Worthington – MC Fitness & Sports (July)

Visit Frequent Fitness for program details and a complete listing of all current clubs.


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Q. On a self-funded proposal, will HealthPartners ever change the quoted number after the group has accepted the offer?

A. No. One advantage of our self-funded option is that once you make a recommendation to go with HealthPartners, you know that your recommendation is solid.  Once the Employer Questionnaire is signed by the employer and approved by HealthPartners underwriting department, our administration fees, stop loss rates and expected claim rates are firm. More importantly – we won’t change our rates at the "eleventh hour”. More importantly  – we won’t ask you for updated information through the 10th or 11th month and then make changes to our rates that you or the client are not expecting. And – we won’t "laser" any high claimants that may have popped up. This allows you and your clients to make firm plans knowing that you don't have to worry about last-minute rate changes. We give you all the information you need up front so that you can communicate with your clients and their employees.

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To get started, please visit:

Employer Set-Up
Employer Implementation Guide - three forms required:

1. Employer Application
2. Administrative Services Agreement
3. Authorized Signature List

Employee Set-Up
Employee Enrollment Booklet – required
Direct Deposit for Reimbursements – optional

Following these steps should minimize set up time and provide optimal service to employers and participants.
Submitting forms individually, or submitting incomplete forms, could result in a processing delay.

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If you haven’t heard, the Department of Labor (DOL) recently provided guidance to carriers on the need to include bonus payments made to Agencies when reporting insurance fees and commissions paid for Form 5500 filings. While bonus payments are based upon total book of business factors like net growth and as a result are not directly attributable to individual groups, the DOL has directed carriers to determine a “reasonable” allocation of bonus payments back to individual groups.

We are working through this process as quickly and efficiently as possible. Please direct any questions to Tim Haley at 952-883-5200.

For more info, visit these helpful links:

DOL Guidance

5500 Filing Tips

Please pencil the HealthPartners Broker Conference in for Tuesday, June 21. Details to follow.

We hope to see you there!