We’re crossing the river to deliver the service, plans and cost-containment strategies that you and your Wisconsin customers have been looking for!

As the region’s top-rated health plan, HealthPartners delivers the results and service your clients demand:

• Flexible plans and a nationwide network that covers employees wherever they live, work and travel
• Cost management results that provide pricing stability over time
• Exceptional customer and client service that supports your client relationship – 98 percent of member calls are resolved immediately
• No. 1 rated disease management and health improvement programs that measurably improve employee health, productivity and satisfaction while lowering health care costs
• Easy administration and reports to help employers understand the value they’re getting
• Ease of access to care – members can see the doctors they want with no referrals

• Because we deliver the results your clients are looking for, you’ll spend less time managing clients and renewals
• We provide compensation opportunities that drive the value of your client relationships:
1. Competitive base compensation
2. Best-in-class bonus opportunities like our Dental Accelerator program

Ready to learn more? Contact your HealthPartners sales representative today!

Whether your clients are demanding best access or best care, HealthPartners has the dental plan for you. And as of September 1, you’ll have two new plans to offer your clients as well. In fact, we suggest that you offer these two new plans side-by-side so that your clients have the best of both worlds.

HealthPartners™ Open Access Plan

The HealthPartners Open Access dental plan will be available state-wide as of 9/1/05 for large groups. Why quote HealthPartners? Because we offer the largest PPO network in the state, flexible benefit designs and superior customer service. Plus, our dental accelerator program means more commission opportunities for you.

HealthPartners Dental Select® Plan

When it comes to cost-effective, high-quality dental care, the HealthPartners Dental Group leads the pack. That’s why we’re introducing HealthPartners® Dental Select, a new dental plan featuring best-in-class care from HealthPartners Dental Clinics.

Encourage your clients to experience the nationally-recognized care of the HealthPartners Dental Group.
At HealthPartners, we:

• Recognize that poor dental health is linked to many systematic diseases such as cardiac disease, diabetes, osteoporosis and respiratory infections.
• Realize that every patient has a unique dental risk and provide care accordingly.
• Encourage aggressive preventive care and disease management to avoid more costly procedures. We don’t just drill, fill and bill!
• Allow the provider to direct care rather than having care be directed by a plan's exclusions and limitations.
• Minimize health risks rather than maximize billing opportunities in order to lower claims, lower member liability and lower premiums.

To start selling these new plans, or any other HealthPartners dental plan, contact your sales executive today!

• Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a narrowing of the coronary arteries that feed the heart with blood and oxygen
• Can cause angina and heart attacks
• Approximately 13.2 million Americans suffer from coronary artery disease
• It’s the leading cause of death among both men and women in the United States
• Cost? $92 billion annually

HealthPartners Health Assessment identifies individuals at risk — up to two years before the disease indicators show up in claims, often before the person even knows he or she is at risk. Each person’s answers are analyzed to determine if he/she is at high risk for – or has – certain diseases, such as heart disease.

• Delivers a care plan targeted toward each individual’s needs
• Focuses on factors known to improve health and quality of life
• Decreases hospitalizations for CAD-related diagnoses

• Our CAD care is proven to reduce costs (approximately $407 saved per person per year)
• We have the lowest rate of death from heart disease in the U.S.
• We have the lowest CAD care costs in Minnesota
• Our targeted care prevents more than 50 strokes and deaths each year

To learn more about the Health Assessment and our CAD programs, contact your HealthPartners Sales Executive today.

Our “A Call to Change” phone course programs offer the support your clients’ employees need to make healthy lifestyle choices and changes. We make it easy for employers to provide more benefits and services to their employees by offering a variety of programs to help members get healthy – and stay healthy.

Whether members want to quit smoking, lose weight, ensure a healthy pregnancy or address low back pain, HealthPartners provides an individualized approach to meet each participant’s goals and personal needs. These phone courses are conducted by registered dietitians, health educators, and pharmacists, all with behavior change experience.

Our direct-to-member courses include:

• A Call to Change … Healthy Lifestyles, Healthy Weight ®
• A Call to Change … Partners in Quitting ® (smoking cessation)
• A Call to Change … Back to Health^SM
• A Call to Change … Healthy Choices, Healthy Baby^SM
• A Call to Change … Balancing Stress for Healthy Living®
• A Call to Change … Solutions for High Cholesterol^SM
• A Call to Change … Solutions for High Blood Pressure^SM

Tell your clients about these value-added benefits today.

Go ahead – run up your credit! Join us for HealthPartners Broker and Employer Education Series and earn continuing education and HealthPartners credits.This quarter we are offering a variety of educational opportunities including:

• What Consumers Need to Know About Diabetes
• What Consumers Need to Know About the New Model of Health Care
• What Consumers Need to Know About Staying Healthy
• 2004 COBRA Final Regulations
• COBRA v. Minnesota Continuation Laws

The courses are filled on a first-come, first-served basis and are held at the HealthPartners headquarters in Bloomington , Minnesota . Registration is as simple as 1-2-3 . Just visit our Broker Web site, log on, review the courses available and select the classes you would like to attend.

Classes fill up quickly, so please register today! This is a great opportunity to learn more about what’s going on in the health care industry. We look forward to seeing you at our upcoming programs.

To learn more please contact HealthPartners Sales Training and Development.

At the Broker Conference June 21, HSAs were a hot topic in the Q & A session – specifically in regard to tax deductions. We are pleased to announce that HSA contributions are now tax deductible for both Minnesota for state taxes and federal taxes. This means that your clients and their employees will be able to file amended state income tax returns to take advantage of these deductions. This applies to both HSAs and MSAs that were converted to HSAs. Wisconsin did not follow suit. All HSA tax contributions are only deductible on Federal returns and not Wisconsin state returns.

Learn more about HSAs.

Complete, accurate and timely reporting is vital to employers. To better meet their needs, we’re updating our reporting package to reflect a one-month claim run-out period rather than a two-month period. This change allows us to use more recent data when calculating fully insured rates or the self-insured expected claims rate. We’re able to use more recent data because we now process claims more quickly and accurately than ever. In fact, our auto-adjudication rate leads the industry. In 2004, we automatically adjudicated 83 percent of claims without examiner intervention. That’s fast!

Did you know that HIPAA final regulations apply to plan years beginning on or after July 1, 2005 ?

Numerous changes have been made to regulations since the 1997 interim final rules, but only a few required changes at HealthPartners. Some of the changes that we have made include:

• Amendment of the Special Enrollment language in member contracts
• Amendment of Certificates of Creditable coverage to include the new educational statement
• Amendment of the Master Group contract to make clear that the employer must provide the general notice of preexisting condition exclusion during the application process
• Implementation of restrictions around when benefits used by a member under previous coverage can be carried forward to new coverage

To accommodate these regulations, we have already made administrative changes. Language changes will appear in all of our materials as of January 1, 2006 . While employers are responsible for reviewing the regulations and determining how they will affect them, we wanted to give you a heads up, as well.

For more information, please visit: HealthPartners HIPAA Final Regulations 2005 or Federal Register.

We’re expanding into Western Wisconsin , and we hope you’re ready to join us. We’re currently approved to offer large group, self-insured plans, and have large and small group, fully insured plans available for 10/01/05 effective dates (pending regulatory approval). Our network will include the HealthPartners Open Access network combined with Associates for Health Care (AHC) for PPO plans.

To get appointed today, please call your Sales Executive at 952-883-5200 or Arlene Webb at 952-883-5216 or Arlene.A.Webb@HealthPartners.com. Please have a copy of your non-residence or Wisconsin license available.

Mark you calendars for our fall Employer Symposium. The symposium luncheon will be held Thursday, October 13 at the Bloomington Sheraton. Additional event information will be headed your way soon. Stay tuned!