Improving health care
HealthPartners is transforming the delivery of health care and has aligned its mission with the Triple Aim: improving the health of the population, enhancing the patient’s experience, and making health care affordable.
Total Cost of Care (TCOC) is a name for a method of measuring health care affordability. HealthPartners has developed a unique TCOC model which incorporates an innovative approach to measuring resources used in providing care (the "Total Resource Use Index"), in additional to the cost of care provided to a patient (or “Total Cost Index”). When used in combination, these measures yield more comprehensive, revealing and actionable results than cost measures alone. The HealthPartners TCOC framework provides a robust, scalable measurement system for both cost and resource use, as well as patient-level predictions to identify high-risk individuals. Having been in development and use for over a decade, these measures have helped providers, payers, employers, researchers, and government entities to make a meaningful difference in their efforts to manage population health. TCOC measures can help pinpoint ways to make health care more affordable in ways that do not compromise quality or experience.
An Accountable Care Organization (ACO) is a model that rewards care that improves health and helps lower the cost of care. It’s an alternative to the fee-for-service health care model which rewards volume of services.
While the concept is still developing, an ACO is a group of doctors, hospitals, clinics and other care givers who join together to provide a group of patients with the best care at the lowest cost.
HealthPartners is proud to have two ACOs within its organization:
The Northwest Metro Alliance (PDF) is a long-term collaboration between HealthPartners and Allina Health. It was established in 2010 to address specific health needs in the northwest metro area of Minneapolis–St. Paul. It serves a community of 600,000 people who receive care at HealthPartners clinics, Allina Health clinics and Mercy Hospital. The Alliance has implemented more than 60 programs and care model changes.- Park Nicollet and HealthPartners Medical Group participates as a Direct Contracting Entity (DCE) in the Global Professional Direct Contracting (GPDC) Model. All members of Park Nicollet Health Services Accountable Care LLC agree to work together to give their patients better quality care. We transitioned from the Park Nicollet Next Generation Accountable Care Organization (NGACO) at the end of 2021.
Affordable health care coverage for all is a key step in reaching the Triple Aim, and future reforms should ensure every person can easily get coverage.
High quality care doesn’t necessarily mean high cost. We provide information for our members and patients on quality and cost for primary care, specialty care and hospitals to help determine the best health care value for themselves.
We’re committed to providing the best quality care and coverage for our patients and members. We strive to provide services that are member- and patient-centered, timely, effective, efficient, equitable and safe.
We’re committed to giving our members and patients the best experience possible, and the best way to do that is by listening to your feedback. Join one of our member or patient feedback groups to easily share your insights with us through online surveys or virtual discussions.
We believe our patients and members should be able to use the tools they want to better manage their health and well-being. That’s why we make certain data about our patients and members available (with approval) to third-party health applications.
If you’re considering using a third-party health app, you should understand how that app works and how it uses information you share.
It’s always your choice to disclose health information – you don’t have to share any information if you don’t want to. No information is shared until you choose to share it.
Certain HealthPartners data are available to health app developers through established API protocols that facilitate interoperability.