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Events Calendar

April - June 2003
Newsletter
 

West Central Health Care Purchasing Alliance is in the early stages of being formed in our region. The current 12 county area includes Traverse, Big Stone, Lac qui Parle, Yellow Medicine, Grant, Stevens, Swift, Chippewa, Douglas, Pope, Kandiyohi, and Renville. Additional counties may include: Todd, Stearns, Meeker, McLeod, and Sibley. This is an effort to create a small employer group (1-49 employees) health insurance like product that will be locally controlled with the goal of stabilizing annual premium increases. We will remain involved in the process, possibly at the executive committee level, with the goal of creating a marketable product that “spreads the pain” evenly between all involved including employers, patients, providers/hospitals, pharmaceutical, and health insurance admin. Time line to market is 18-24 months.

PrimeWest Health Plan may be finally coming into being July 2003. They are a county-based health plan focusing initially on pre-paid medical assistance (PMAP) though they may soon branch out to cover Minnesota Care (MNCare) patients. The counties involved currently include Traverse, Big Stone, Douglas, Grant, Pope, Stevens, Meeker, McLeod, Renville, and Pipestone. We have signed a basic contract on behalf of our members, with the goal of achieving a gain sharing arrangement soon. We will be involved in a PrimeWest financial committee that will decide what to do with profits generated by this product.

Fair Contracting Coalition is a metro based organization we participate with that works with the MN Council of Health Plans and MN Chamber of Commerce and others (non-legislative solutions) and the Minnesota legislature (legislative solutions) to develop better working relationships between providers and health plans. You may see requests from us for information or examples of problems. Working with this group is part of our effort to continually improve our occasionally difficult relationships with health plans.
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New MRHC memberships starting April 1^st:

• Barnesville Area Clinic with one physician and three physicians assistants located in Barnesville, MN.
• ELEAH Medical Center that includes a clinic with two physicians, one nurse practitioner, and one physician assistant and a hospital with 20 beds located in Elbow Lake, MN.
• Glencoe Regional Health Services with a clinic with 16 physicians, two physician assistants, and one podiatrist and a hospital with 49 beds located in Glencoe, MN.

Hospital credentials verifications service is now offered by MRHC to members to assist with their privileging process. The cost is $100 per provider, plus a one-time startup fee of $120. Rice Memorial Hospital credentialing experts, that follow NCQA guidelines, are contracted for this service. They will prepare an entire credentials file, with exception of the following items that will need to be provided by the facility themselves: 1) National Practitioner Data Bank contact; 2) continuous updating of medical licenses; 3) background checks; and 4) getting provider billing numbers. The hospital’s privileging committee would use this file when considering a candidate. The service is available immediately.
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Current Membership
Clinics

Allergy & Asthma Specialty Clinic, Willmar
Appleton Medical Clinic
Barnesville Area Clinic – New Member
Divine Providence Minneota Clinic
ELEAH Medical Center, Elbow Lake – New Member
Family Practice Medical Center of Willmar
Glencoe Regional Health Services – New Member
Hendricks Medical Clinic, P.A.
Ivanhoe Clinic
JMHS Dawson Clinic
Lac Qui Parle Clinic, Madison
Marshall Eye Clinic
Minnesota Pathologists Chartered, Willmar
Montevideo Clinic, P.A.
Murray County Clinic, Slayton
Northside Medical Center, Ortonville
Peter B. Meier, M.D., St. Paul
Prairie Family Practice Renville County, Olivia
Prairie Medical Associates, Morris
Prairie Counseling Center, Morris
Rice Institute for Counseling & Education, Willmar
Sioux Valley Canby Campus Clinic
Southwest Ophthalmology Associates, Marshall
Stanley C. Gallagher, D.O., P.A., Wheaton
Tyler Medical Clinic
Counseling Associates of West Central MN, Benson
West Central Radiological Associates, Willmar
Williams IntegraCare Clinic, Sartell

Hospitals

Appleton Municipal Hospital & Home
Chippewa County Montevideo Hospital
Divine Providence Health Center, Ivanhoe
ELEAH Medical Center, Elbow Lake – New Member
Glencoe Regional Health Services Hosp. – New Member
Granite Falls Municipal Hospital & Manor
Hendricks Community Hospital & Home
Johnson Memorial Health Services, Dawson
Madison Lutheran Home, Inc.
Murray County Memorial Hospital, Slayton
Ortonville Area Health Services 
Redwood Area Hospital
Renville County Hospital, Olivia
Rice Memorial Hospital, Willmar
Sioux Valley Canby Campus Hospital
Swift County Benson Hospital
Tyler Healthcare Center 
Weiner Memorial Medical Center, Marshall
Wheaton Community Hospital

Non-Voting Members (NV)

Great Plains Eye Clinic, Ltd., Sioux Falls - NV
Hennepin Facility Associates, Minneapolis – NV
John R. Hustad, Alexandria - NV
Lake Area ENT, Watertown, SD – NV
LCM Pathologists, Sioux Falls, SD – NV
Michael B. DeBrule, Marshall – NV
Miroslaw A. Mazurczak, MD, Clear Lake, SD – NV
Rick L. Nissen, MD, Bloomington – NV
Willmar Foot and Ankle, Willmar - NV

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Minnesota Rural Health Cooperative Meeting Schedule

• April 2            Medi-Sota Board Meeting
• April 3            Contracting Committee Meeting
• April 10         Clinic Managers Leadership Seminar
• April 11         Bio-terrorism Meeting
• April 16         Quality Council Quarterly Meeting
• April 16         Healthcare Purchasing Alliance Steering Meeting
• April 17         Compliance Quarterly Meeting
• April 21         Credentialing Teleconference
• May 1            April monthly Board meeting and Annual Meeting, Blue                              Heron on the Green, Willmar
• May 1            Contracting Committee Meeting
• May 7            Medi-Sota Board Meeting
• May 19         Credentialing Teleconference
• May 21         Medi-Sota Picnic
• May 21         Healthcare Purchasing Alliance Steering Meeting
• May 22-23    Medi-Sota Planning Retreat
• May 26         Memorial Day Holiday
• May 29         Board of Directors Meeting
• June 4           Medi-Sota Board Meeting
• June 5           Contracting Committee Meeting
• June 12        Clinic Managers Finance Seminar
• June 16        Credentialing Teleconference
• June 18        Healthcare Purchasing Alliance Steering Meeting
• June 26        Board of Directors Meeting
• July 4           Independence Day Holiday
• July 10          Clinic Managers Meeting
• July 16          Healthcare Purchasing Alliance Steering Meeting
• July 21          Credentialing Teleconference
• July 24          Board of Directors Meeting
   

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Health Plan Status. - We can not provide contract information on our website. Please contact Chuck for specifics.

If you are approached regarding a health plan contract, just send us a copy and we will review it for either MRHC or provide you an analysis if MRHC declines to participate with the health plan.

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AdminConnection, located in Willmar, MN, is a business partner with MRHC and provides physician billing services, administrative consulting services and physician educational programs.  They help stabilize increasing operating budgets, while working with your current business office makeup. Through their secure networks, you would have access to clinical management applications and digital storage/retrieval applications that put you in a position to have cutting edge technology without the ongoing capital outlays that are required with most systems.  AdminConnection has worked with many physician specialties, including primary care, along with hospital based physician services.  Employees, hand picked professionals in the areas of medical coding, account representation, and data entry, work exclusively on perfecting your revenue cycle management.  For additional information please go to www.adminconnection.net or call Curtis Bach at 1.800.992.2455.

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Quality Corner

Our 2003 Quality Projects are Adult Immunization and a continuation of the Diabetes Care Software Program.  An implementation plan for each project has been mailed out to all primary care clinics. The hospitals plan to collaborate with the clinics on the Adult Immunization Project.

Our next Quality Council Meeting will be held on Wednesday, April 16, from 2:00-4:00 p.m. at the Chippewa County Montevideo Hospital. Annette Kritzler or Sue Severson from StratisHealth will be presenting education on the necessity of adult immunization and how to put a process in place in your facility to immunize Medicare patients.  Any interested staff is welcome to attend the presentation, which will be held from 2:00-3:00 p.m.

Baseline data on the Adult Immunization Project and reports on the Diabetes Project are due April 16th.  If you have a question on the reports or the projects in general, feel free to contact me.

Mendy Lange, Quality Manager

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2003 Board Members

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Visit our website at www.mrhc.net.

If you need a user ID and password, please contact Mendy Lange

at (320) 564-9118 or mlange@mrhc.net.
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Website space and e-mail or POP accounts. I keep bringing this issue up because I am certain we can save members money, provide a professional image, provide more e-mail accounts than members may have for their staff, and utilize our own resources better. What we sell is 20 Megabytes (MB) of space for your website if you have one and up to 40 free e-mail (POP) accounts for $15/month. Additional web site space and e-mail accounts are available for a small fee. If you have a single Internet Service Provider (ISP) account you usually get a little space for a website and 1-3 free e-mail accounts with additional e-mail accounts costing $3 - $5 each per month. This is common, so if you have 10 people with e-mail you would save at least $20 per month. If you are part of the MediSota Onvoy project, they sell their block of e-mail accounts for $112/month per hospital and have agreed to carve this cost out allowing you to buy from us as they realize they can’t compete with our price. If you are still unsure, have your A/P person fax a copy of your Internet bill and we will figure it out. It is totally transparent and you will keep your current web address or domain name if you have one. Current members who use this service include: Family Practice Medical Center Willmar, Granite Falls Municipal Hospital and Manor, Chippewa County Montevideo Hospital, Montevideo Clinic, and Tyler Medical Center.

Clinic Manager monthly meetings have changed. Rather than continue with the monthly meetings we have held for the last 7+ years, we have decided to host 4 “quarterly” educational events that some of our members will present in combination with some “outside” talent.

• April 10^th meeting is on Leadership.
• June 12^th meeting is on Finance.
• September 11^th meeting is on Human Resources and Physician Recruitment & Relations.
• October 9^th meeting is on Strategic Planning and Budgeting

Some ad hoc meetings may be called as the need arises. One being considered currently is a health plan changes update session.   

Medical Directors needed for MRHC teleconferences, quarterly Quality Council meetings, out of network referral review, and member site visits. Time & travel compensated at $80/hour + mileage.