Medica Recognizes Three Provider Groups with Innovation Awards for Role-Based Redesigns in Care Delivery

MINNETONKA, Minn. --(Business Wire)--

Medica today announced winners of its fifth-annual "Raising the Bar" innovation awards for providers. Award winners received $25,000 each and a plaque recognizing their achievement. The winners are Fairview Partners, St. Mary's Care Center and South Lake Pediatrics.

The 2012 Raising the Bar awards recognize innovations in redesigning roles and responsibilities in healthcare delivery.

"A lot of exciting work by providers is happening in Minnesota in advancing the triple aim of improving care, increasing patient satisfaction and ultimately decreasing the cost of health care," said Jim Guyn, M.D., Medica vice president and senior medical officer. "Our 'Raising the Bar' award winners each effectively demonstrated that by getting people to think about their work differently while partnering with others better and more efficiently, the triple aim can be achieved. We congratulate them all for making a positive impact on the healthcare system."

Following are descriptions of each of the award winner's programs:

Fairview Partners, a family practice in Edina, Minn., developed a model of care that integrated "NetClinic," a Skype (News - Alert)-like program for virtual visits that allows remote face-to-face interaction between primary care providers and their elderly patients at home or in assisted living. Care coordinators were actively involved in mking the unique outreach successful. Virtual visits enabled medication therapy management (MTM), interpreter services, behavioral consults and physician consults - achieving not only high patient satisfaction but reduced ER use, interpreter use, and hospitalizations. MTM alone resulted in savings of $75,000 per year for a cohort of assisted living residents.

St. Mary's Care Center, a nursing home in Winsted, Minn., created a bariatric care recovery program to serve obese patients, focusing on rehabilitation for them before they return safely home, and a safe environment for those requiring long-term complex skilled care. This purpose-driven, condition-specific rehab program helped prevent re-hospitalization by providing safety for patients needing complex skilled care, adding five days in short-term unit stays year over year that saved nearly $14,000 more per patient (vs. hospital stays).

South Lake Pediatrics of Minnetonka, Minn., designed a depression care management program for children in its pediatric medical clinics, fostering collaboration between primary care and mental health providers to achieve timely, appropriate mental health care. Standardized care coordination, a new Director of Mental Health Services position, integrated depression-care treatment protocols, and an expanded mental health registry helped make this collaborative integration of care effective. As a result, the hospitalization rate for depression was 61% lower than outside the program.

The winners received their awards during a dinner and ceremony Tuesday, November 13, 2012.

With its "Raising the Bar" innovation awards, Medica seeks to recognize the work of provider groups - from single-site practices to healthcare systems - that are undergoing unique changes to improve patient care, with proven results. Medica established its provider innovation awards in 2008 to recognize the provider community's work in defining healthcare excellence.

About Medica
Serving about 1.5 million members, Medica is a health insurance company headquartered in Minneapolis and active in the Upper Midwest. The non-profit company provides health care coverage in the employer, individual, Medicaid, Medicare and Medicare Part D markets in Minnesota and a growing number of counties in North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Medica also offers national network coverage to employers who also have employees outside the Medica regional network.

Medica's vision is to become the community's health plan of choice, trusted for its integrity, respected for its service, and admired for its commitment to innovation and efficiency.