MINNETONKA, Minn., April 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Medica, one of Minnesota's leading health plan providers, has agreed to acquire the Minnesota/Dakota operations of Patient Choice Healthcare, Inc. Patient Choice was spun off from the Buyers' Health Care Action Group (BHCAG), an employer group committed to bringing new approaches to the health care market, to manage their unique tiered network program in 2000. This acquisition will strengthen an innovative approach that empowers consumers and rewards providers through incentives for health care quality and value.
Patient Choice creates health care programs around the country that help consumers better understand the wide variations that exist in the cost and quality of care. Its pioneering approach enables consumers to gauge value and make informed choices about their health care -- spurring health care professionals to compete on cost and quality and allowing employers to define and manage their health care costs. The acquisition involves the Patient Choice Minnesota/Dakota program in Minnesota and North and South Dakota only, not in other states.
"Medica has long admired Patient Choice for its nationally recognized innovations in consumer-driven health care and provider incentives to improve quality in health care," said David Tilford, president of Medica. "We believe Patient Choice will be a wonderful addition to the unique options that Medica offers Minnesota employers."
"We're pleased to be joining Medica, an organization that has shown its strong commitment to improving efficiency and quality in health care," said Ann Robinow, president of Patient Choice. "This move expands Patient Choice's ability to make programs that encourage individuals to choose better performing providers more broadly available to area employers and consumers."
The Patient Choice Minnesota/Dakota program will continue operating with existing staff, led by Ann Robinow, as a business unit within Medica. Wausau Benefits, Corporate Benefit Services of America and MMSI will continue to administer the Patient Choice Minnesota/Dakota program.
Existing provider contracts will be honored and the operations of Medica and Patient Choice will be kept distinct from one another. Patient Choice currently serves a number of large self-insured customers in Minnesota and South Dakota including Cargill, Carlson Companies, City of Sioux Falls and Honeywell. The Buyers Health Care Action Group launched the current program in 1997.
About Medica
Medica is Minnesota's largest HMO, largest PPO and leading non-profit and independent provider of health plans. Medica has 1.2 million members and 24,000 providers in a regional health care network service area that includes 98 percent of Minnesotans and a growing number of adjoining counties in Wisconsin, North Dakota and South Dakota. Medica also offers national network coverage to employers who also have employees outside the Medica regional network.
Medica has the highest accreditation status, Excellent, from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA(R)) for its Minnesota and North Dakota Medicaid HMO plans and commercial health plans. 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.
About Patient Choice Healthcare, Inc.
Patient Choice works with health plans, preferred provider organizations, government agencies, employers, and payers across the country to measure variations in health care cost and quality and develop innovative programs that enable value-based health care purchasing.
The company also manages a nationally recognized tiered network program in Minnesota and North and South Dakota that differentiates providers on measures of cost, quality and service. The program, originally created in the late 1990s by the Buyer's Health Care Action Group (BCHAG), an employer coalition in Minnesota, is the longest running, most established of its kind. For more information, visit http://www.patientchoicehealthcare.com/ .
MedicaCONTACT: Larry Bussey, Communications Director of Medica,+1-952-992-8013, or Cellular, +1-612-309-8896, lbussey@medica.com , orMichelle Nied, Communications Manager of Patient Choice Healthcare, Inc.,+1-952-582-7018, mnied@pchealthcare.com
