Mankato Clinic Recognized for Improving Care Delivery and Patient Outcomes

Monday, August 10, 2015

The Minnesota Health Action Group (The Action Group) announced today that Mankato Clinic is among 437 Minnesota and border state clinics that were recently recognized for delivering optimal care and achieving optimal care measures or improving specific patient outcomes as part of the 2015 Minnesota Bridges to Excellence program and the Minnesota Quality Incentive Payment System, a State of Minnesota pay-for-performance program that is administered by The Action Group. A complete list of reward recipients can be found here.

Mankato Clinic was recognized for achieving the program’s specific clinical outcomes for patients with vascular disease and depression; which are known to be primary drivers of health care costs. Meeting achievement goals is the highest level of recognition in the program.

In addition, Mankato Clinic was recognized for meeting the improvement goal for diabetes care, vascular care, and depression care based on depression remission at six months.   

“We congratulate the health care providers across Minnesota who make providing quality care a priority for their practice, especially for the critical conditions that we know have a significant impact on health care costs,” said Carolyn Pare, president and CEO, The Action Group. “More patients than ever before received care from clinics recognized by Minnesota Bridges to Excellence, and that’s something to celebrate.”

The Minnesota Bridges to Excellence program, which was established by the Minnesota Health Action Group in 2004, and the State’s Quality Incentive Payment System implemented in 2011, uses clinical data that is publicly reported to identify clinics that qualify for a reward for meeting or exceeding optimal care standards for a specified percentage of patients with diabetes, vascular disease and depression.

To be eligible for a reward, clinics must have a certain percentage of patients at optimal levels of care or significantly increase the number over the previous year. Performance goals are set each year by the Minnesota Health Action Group and the purchasers who fund the rewards. For diabetes, measurement components include levels of blood sugar and blood pressure, along with non-smoking status and daily aspirin use for all patients at risk for cardiovascular disease. Vascular disease measurements include blood pressure levels, along with non-smoking status, and daily aspirin for all patients. And the depression measurement is remission at six months based on the patient’s improvement in their PHQ-9 score over a six-month period of time. The PHQ-9 is an assessment questionnaire completed by patients and results in a numerical score that represents the patient’s level of depression.

Financial rewards are made possible by the Minnesota Bridges to Excellence Champions of Change, a group of organizations that sponsor the pay-for-performance programs. Champions include Best Buy, Carlson Companies, Southwest/West Central Service Cooperative, State of Minnesota-State Employee Group Insurance Plan, the Minnesota Department of Human Services, the University of Minnesota, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo. These organizations provide health care coverage to nearly one million people in the state.