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July - September 2003
Newsletter
Focus for 2003 will be to continue to build membership and to continue to work on improving health plan contract language and reimbursement. Two main benefits come from increased membership: 1) decreased member dues per physician and hospital bed; and 2) more bargaining power with vendors and health plans.
So far this year we have successfully increased our physician membership by about 25% and increased our hospital bed count by about 15%. If we
don’t add any new members and are able to retain all current members, I would estimate at least a 10% decrease in member dues for 2004, unless the Board decides to increase the services we offer instead. We also
hope to build on our success through the remainder of the year. Last week we sent out marketing material to 27 hospitals and 77 clinics. While we are unlikely to experience result explosive growth, we hope to add
many new members in the next year or two. As we mentioned during the last annual meeting, we intend to extend an offer of membership to any interested clinic or hospital that is of similar size and philosophy as our
existing members. Geographically, we think we could logically extend from roughly Moorhead east to a spot northeast of Brainerd then south to Blue Earth. This would cover the entire west central and southwestern
Minnesota and approximately 29,000 square miles. We plan to avoid the Twin Cities metro region for several reasons. To start with, we will focus on a 90-mile radius of Granite Falls that will consist of much of the
same area but not go much further north than Alexandria. I assume most of the larger systems, clinic or hospital, may not appreciate the benefits of joining us, but I think many of the smaller independents, groups
like our own members, will sign up if they give us fair consideration.
The other benefit of larger membership is group negotiation strength with vendors and health plan contracting. We have had some success
with health plan contracting but very limited success with group purchase activities. As you all know, MRHC holds nine (9) health plan contracts on behalf of our membership. We review new and updated contracts,
negotiate the most favorable language and reimbursement terms possible, act as liaison on behalf of our members, and renegotiate as necessary. We also review all new contracts of health plans just coming to rural
Minnesota as they appear. If we turn these down, we inform interested members as to the reason we declined the contracts. One of the reasons we will not approach the metro area soon is due to the difference in
contracting there. In rural Minnesota, hospitals tend to be paid much better than clinics while in the metro it is the opposite. Trying to reconcile contracts from the different areas is problematic and we won’t go
there early on in our expansion. We are currently trying to improve our existing HealthPartners and Medica contracts and will soon approach PreferredOne. While health plans want to push reimbursement to the bottom
we are trying hard to raise up the worst reimbursing to the level of the best reimbursing.
The group purchase aspect of our co-op is in need of improvement. While we have several opportunities available there is really so much more we can
do. Size is all that matters in vendor relationships. We currently have a group arrangement for clinics with Advantage/Amerinet and all clinics not signed up with a GPO (group purchase organization) should sign up
this fall for next year…the cost is about $120 per physician, which you could save in a month or two. If there is interest, we may be able to do a similar group deal with Advantage/Amerinet for hospitals. Members
need to let us know of ways to bring the power of the group to better use.
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West Central Health Care Purchasing Alliance Update. As mentioned previously it 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. This is an effort to
create a small employer group (1-49 employees, i.e. farmers, small businesses) health insurance like product that will be locally controlled with the goal of stabilizing annual premium increases. Chuck Ness of MRHC
and Mary Rapp of ELEAH are members of the Executive Committee and Dr. Lyle Munneke is on the Steering Committee. We will remain involved in the process with the goal of creating a marketable product that “spreads
the pain” evenly between all involved stakeholders. A public information meeting is scheduled for 8:00am – 10:00am Wed. July 16 at the Pizza Ranch meeting room in Montevideo.
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Current Membership
Clinics
Allergy & Asthma Specialty Clinic, Willmar
Appleton Medical Clinic
Divine Providence Clinic, Ivanhoe
Divine Providence Minneota Clinic
ELEAH Medical Center, Elbow Lake
Family Practice Medical Center of Willmar
Glencoe Regional Health Services
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
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
Glencoe Regional Health Services
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
Lake Area ENT, Watertown, SD – NV
LCM Pathologists, Sioux Falls, SD – NV
Lyle Munneke, MD, Willmar - 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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Health Plan Status. We continuously review the contracts we hold on our members’ behalf and try improve reimbursement or contract
language or both. We are currently working with the following plans:
- HealthPartners
- Medica
- UCare
- PreferredOne
- Blue Plus
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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Minnesota Rural Health Cooperative Meeting Schedule
- July 4 Independence Day
- July 16 Quality Council Quarterly
- July 17 Compliance Quarterly
- July 21 Credentialing Teleconference
- July 24 Board of Directors Meeting
- August 4-10 Sturgis week
- August 6 MediSota Board Meeting
- August 7 Contracting Committee Meeting
- August 18 Credentialing Teleconference
- August 28 Board of Directors Meeting
- September 1 Labor Day
- September 3 MediSota Board Meeting
- September 4 Contracting Committee Meeting
- September 11 Clinic Managers Human Resources /Physician Recruitment
Meeting
- September 15 Credentialing Committee Meeting
- September 23 Autumn begins
- September 25 Board of Directors Meeting
- October 1 MediSota Board Meeting
- October 2 Contracting Committee Meeting
- October 9 Clinic Managers Strategic Planning & Budget Meeting
- October 20 Credentialing Teleconference
- October 23 Board of Directors Meeting
- October 26 Daylight Savings Time ends
- October 31 Halloween
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Visit our website for meeting times and places 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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Quality Corner
Our Primary Care Clinic 2003 Quality Projects are well underway. With baseline data collected, we are now in the intervention stages. If you have
reports that are overdue, please get them in ASAP.
The next meeting of the Quality Council will be Wednesday, July 16, from 2:00-4:00 p.m. at the Chippewa County Montevideo Hospital. The
Immunization Team will meet at 1:15 p.m. that day to evaluate baseline data and set goals.
Primary Care Clinics – Please note that in 2003 the Blues are starting a quality program directly with clinics for Blue Aware entitled,
“Recognizing Excellence.” This is a voluntary program based on outcome measures, which rewards clinics or health systems that perform the highest. In 2004, they plan to roll this program over into Blue Plus instead
of using the Blue Plus Quality Incentive Program (Attachment A) that we have used for the past several years. If clinics choose not to participate in the program, they will still be required to meet the minimum
requirements for QI, which is part of any standard contract with the Blues. We will discuss this further at the Quality Council Meeting on July 16th.
Mendy Lange, Quality Manager
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2003 Board Members
Brendon Cullinan, M.D., Montevideo Clinic - Chair
Larry Grong, D.O., Lac qui Parle Clinic, Madison– Vice Chair
Leroy Meyering, CFO, Rice Memorial Hospital – Secretary/Treasurer
Mark Huntington, M.D., Northside Medical Center, Ortonville
Romulo Kabatay, M.D., Appleton Clinic
Fred Knutson, Administrator, Chippewa County Montevideo Hospital
Dale Kruger, Administrator, Tyler Healthcare Center
Alan Roiseland M.D., Family Practice Medical Center, Willmar
Richard Mulder, M.D., Ivanhoe Clinic
Tom Richter, Administrator, Madison Hospital
Dean Slagter, Administrator, Renville County Hospital
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