HMO

CentraCare

On:
In: CentraCare, Essentia, Fairview, Healthcare, HMO, Home, Hospitals, Insurance, Issues

By Tara Fugate

MNA Strategic Researcher

Hospital and health system consolidation is a rapidly expanding trend across the country, and Minnesota is no exception. Many large and mid-sized health systems have been looking to privatize the state’s dwindling number of public hospitals, combine smaller non-profit systems, and also incorporate physicians’ groups and outpatient services into hospital systems. The driving arguments to lobby for these mergers are that larger entities can provide more integrated care and have the ability to make bigger financial investments to improve the quality of care via new tools, such as electronic health records systems. Many studies, however, have shown that price, cost and quality of care are not improved by mergers (see below for links).
… Read more about: Why Minnesotans Should Pay Attention to Hospital Consolidation  »

On:
In: Health Care Reform, HMO, Home, Hospitals, Politics

By Tara Fugate

MNA Strategic Researcher

Minnesota is a unique state in many ways. For example, the infamous “Duck Duck Gray Duck” versus “Duck Duck Goose” debate still confuses this native Michigander. The healthcare landscape in Minnesota mirrors this individuality. Unlike a vast portion of the country, Minnesota has relatively few for-profit hospitals (2 out of 145 hospitals statewide). Having experienced the impact of a for-profit takeover first-hand on my home city of Detroit, it is evident that Minnesota’s public and nonprofit hospitals are worth protecting.

In 2011, the Detroit Medical Center (DMC), a 7-hospital system in Detroit, Michigan was purchased by for-profit Vanguard Health.
… Read more about: Keep for-profit out of Minnesota: Lessons from Michigan  »

On:
In: HMO, Home, Insurance, Legislative Policy, Uncategorized

by Rose Roach

MNA Executive Director

As an organization representing 21,000 healthcare professionals, the vast majority of whom are registered nurses, MNA has long advocated for reforms that make healthcare more affordable and accessible to patients who need it because the safety and care of patients is our number one priority. As part of that advocacy we have been calling for regulations that hold Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) accountable for public tax dollars they receive to provide coverage for those who need it most.

Yet with billions going to the HMOs every year to administer public programs, the public has no information about how much of that money is actually providing care to patients who rely on MinnesotaCare and Medical Assistance, and how much is going into CEO salaries, reserves, marketing and lobbying.
… Read more about: Make HMOs Accountable for their Public Funds  »