Aligning with the Public Sector

Aligning with the Public Sector

Innovation > Private/Public Alignment

The Minnesota Health Action Group has been a leading voice in health care public policy for nearly three decades. Because no single purchaser has the breadth of influence or geographic presence to influence health care policy on their own, The Action Group serves a vital role in connecting private purchasers and public sector purchasers and initiatives to drive greater value in the market. Multiple and confusing demands on health plans, clinics, hospitals and physicians can slow down any progress toward value based purchasing and improvement in quality and patient experience. By agreeing on common purchasing principles and sharing strategies for promoting and rewarding higher value, private and public purchasers will accelerate Minnesota’s progress towards safe, efficient, high-quality health care and improve the health status of all Minnesotans.

The Minnesota Health Action Group lends its influence and energy, both locally and nationally, to further the following beliefs:

  • The way in which health care is purchased should be based on quality and outcomes, not quantity of services provided. True payment reform begins and ends with this concept.
  • Transparency in all things related to health care is the key to effective reform. The Action Group works with other industry leaders to standardize performance measures and to increase public reporting of performance data by health care providers.
  • Health care works best when delivered locally, driven by common goals and metrics.
  • Personal health information always has, and always should, belong to the individual consumer. As such, consumers need to be actively engaged in the process and be able to make informed decisions.

Examples of key public sector partnerships include:

  • The Minnesota Health Action Group designed and facilitated educational workshops for private sector, self-insured purchasers on the State of Minnesota’s Certified Health Care Homes.
  • Several public sector purchasers are members of the Action Group, strengthening the alignment of purchasing strategies in Minnesota.
  • The Minnesota Health Action Group was a founding member of the SMART Buy Alliance, a group of private and public sector health care purchasers in Minnesota that fostered improvement in health care delivery by aligning best-practice purchasing principles.

The voice of the Minnesota Health Action Group is important to shaping health care policy. Click here to see the influence of the Minnesota Health Action Group.