Partners for better health
Health care happens outside the doctor's office
For more than 20 years, HealthPartners has been setting ambitious health goals about every five years to improve health, deliver a great patient experience and make health care more affordable.
These goals, known as Partners for Better Health Goals, are influenced by research by David Kindig, a professor of population health science at the University of Wisconsin. His studies show that a person’s health is determined more by lifestyle and social and economic factors than by the health care they receive. Learn how we're assessing the health and well-being of our members, patients and community.
What determines health
- 20 percent: Health care
- 40 percent: Social and economic factors such as income, education, employment
- 30 percent: Health habits such as tobacco and alcohol use, diet and exercise, and unsafe sex
- 10 percent: Environment including urban design, clean air and water
We made great progress in reaching Health Goals 2014, successfully reaching the target on 159 measures (out of a total of 372). Success stories include:
- We offered more screening choices and send automatic reminders for colon cancer screening to African-American and Native American patients and their providers. As a result, the number of patients of color at HealthPartners Clinics who received recommended screenings for colon cancer has increased from 43 percent to 66 percent since 2009 compared to 78 percent screening rate for white patients.
- To reduce disparities for breast cancer screening, HealthPartners Clinics began offering same day mammograms and also making outreach phone calls to women who were overdue for a test. In 2014, the gap between women of color and white women was 4.6 percent, compared to 12.4 percent in 2007.
- To help make health care more affordable and to make health care costs easier to understand, we developed a tool to measure the cost of care. This measure was endorsed by the National Quality Forum and is now being used across the country.
Many 2014 goals will continue with our Health Goals 2020. These include reducing disparities, preventive care, supporting healthy lifestyles, providing an exceptional experience and reducing the total cost of care.
New goals in 2020 include:
- Improving children’s health
- Getting the best care and value from medications
- Linking oral, mental and physical health
- Developing a summary of health measure to capture the total health of a community or population
Learn more about our 2020 goals
Our goals are deliberately set high. But our progress shows that they are the best road map to achieve our mission to improve health and well-being in partnership with our members, patients and community.