Comparing health care delivery

In 2008, the state began a process to reform health care by directing the health commissioner to design a way to rank hospitals on the quality and cost of care and to make the data available to the public.

However, the methodology and process was flawed and the information was never published. Officials went back to the table, resulting in Rep. Steve Gottwalt (R-St. Cloud) and Sen. David Hann (R-Eden Prairie) sponsoring a law that tweaks how hospital information is gathered, verified, appealed or corrected prior to publication.

The Minnesota Medical Association, Minnesota Hospital Association and the Minnesota Council of Health Plans worked with legislators on how to manage the Provider Peer Grouping process and the health provider’s right to review their data prior to public release.

A new advisory committee will help the Health Department sift through the available data. Committee members may include health care providers, health plan companies, consumers, state agencies, employers, academic researchers and other organizations.

The law, mostly effective July 1, 2012, also requires that data submitted by health care providers for comparison with their peers must be the most recent data available. Providers will have 60 days, instead of the previous 30 days, to review their data as presented by the state and prior to its public release.

The law will empower consumers and reward providers who deliver high quality and lower cost care, according to Gottwalt. Eventually, all medical clinics will be ranked.

Last year, the Health Department was also directed to work on a plan to develop and approve community health initiatives. At the same time, Statewide Health Improvement Program grants, which help pay for community health initiatives, were reduced due to budget cuts.

Hospitals and medical clinics that engage in community benefit programs said their initiatives are in response to local needs and that they don’t need the additional state oversight that last year’s legislation required. The law, signed April 5 by Gov. Mark Dayton, removes some of the department’s oversight responsibilities that passed last year.

For example, effective Aug. 1, 2012, a mandate is repealed that local community grantees must implement a plan approved by the commissioner to reduce obesity and tobacco use.

HF2237/ SF1809*/CH164