Minnesota Bridges to Excellence Honors Clinics
Minnesota Bridges to Excellence honored 39 clinics in 2007 for attaining a performance target for diabetes care. Clinics with at least 20% of their patients receiving Optimal Diabetes Care were awarded.

Bridges to Excellence
Bridges to Excellence is a multi-state, multi-employer coalition developed by employers, physicians, and other industry experts. As of 2006, there are nearly 100 employers participating, with a goal of leveraging their collective purchasing strength to accelerate quality improvement in local markets. Bridges to Excellence was created to encourage significant leaps in the quality of care by recognizing and rewarding health care providers that demonstrate safe, timely, effective, efficient, equitable, and patient-centered care.

Minnesota Bridges to Excellence
In Minnesota, the Buyers Health Care Action Group (BHCAG) sponsors a Bridges to Excellence program that builds on existing, locally accepted measures supported by Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI) guidelines and utilizes the measurement processes and results of MN Community Measurement to ensure consistency, comparability and reduce data collection costs. Six employers that cover 230,000 lives in Minnesota paid their first rewards in the spring of 2006. These employers call themselves the “Champions of Change” and are taking the lead in publicly signaling to the medical community that health care purchasers want to financially reward providers for delivering optimal care defined by outcomes, not by volume of services performed.

The Champions of Change keeps growing. By late 2006 the following organizations, representing 760,000 covered lives, had signed up to participate in the 2007 Bridges to Excellence Program:

  • 3M
  • Carlson Companies
  • General Electric
  • Honeywell
  • Medtronic
  • Resource Training and Solutions*
  • State of Minnesota Department of Employee Relations
  • State of Minnesota Department of Human Services*
  • Target Corporation*
  • University of Minnesota*
  • Wells Fargo
    • *New champions for 2007
    Minnesota’s Bridges to Excellence program is governed by representatives of community stakeholders to ensure collaboration, consensus and the success of the program. This leadership group calls itself the Guiding Coalition. It includes participants from all of the Champions of Change and:
  • Buyers Health Care Action Group (BHCAG)
  • Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota
  • Fairview Medical Group
  • HealthPartners
  • Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI)
  • Medica
  • Minnesota Medical Association
  • MN Community Measurement
  • Stratis Health
    • Recognizing Medical Groups and Clinics
    The Champions of Change paid rewards based on performance at the clinic site level in 2007 utilizing a new Direct Data Submission process conducted by MN Community Measurement. In this process, medical groups submitted clinical data from their medical records. These data were verified through a rigorous validation process conducted by MN Community Measurement. Ultimately, 39 clinics achieved the 2007 performance target of having at least 20% of their patients receive Optimal Diabetes Care and were rewarded by the Champions of Change.
      Rewarded Medical Groups
    • Camden Physicians*
    • HealthPartners Central Minnesota*</li>
    • Winona Clinic*

      • *New champions for 2007
      Rewarded Clinics
    • Allina - Farmington
    • Altru Clinic - Cavalier
    • Fairview Physician Associates - Cedar Ridge Clinic
    • Fairview Physician Associates - Crosstown Clinic
    • Fairview Physician Associates - Eagan Clinic
    • Fairview Physician Associates - Eden Center Clinic
    • Fairview Physician Associates - Lakeville Clinic
    • Fairview Physician Associates - Ridge Valley Clinic
    • Fairview Physician Associates - Chisago Lakes Clinic
    • Fairview Physician Associates - Elk River Clinic
    • Fairview Physician Associates - Hugo Clinic
    • Fairview Physician Associates - North Branch Clinic
    • Fairview Physician Associates - Princeton Clinic
    • Fairview Physician Associates - Rush City Clinic
    • Fairview Physician Associates - Oxboro Clinic
    • Fairview Physician Associates - Ridges Clinic
    • Fairview Physician Associates - Red Wing Medical Center
    • Fairview Physician Associates - Richfield Medical Group
    • Fairview Physician Associates - France Avenue Family Physicians
    • Family Practice Medical Center Willmar
    • HealthEast - Downtown
    • HealthPartners - Como
    • HealthPartners - Inver Grove Heights
    • Meritcare - Halstad
    • Park Nicollet - Minnetonka
    • Park Nicollet - Prairie Center
    • Park Nicollet - St. Louis Park Internal Medicine
    • Southdale Internal Medicine
    • St. Cloud Medical Group - Northwest
    • St. Cloud Medical Group - South
    • Western Wisconsin Medical Associates - River Falls Medical Clinic
    • Western Wisconsin Medical Associates - Ellsworth Medical Clinic
    • Western Wisconsin Medical Associates - Spring Valley Medical Clinic
    • Western Wisconsin Medical Associates - Hudson Physicians
    • Western Wisconsin Medical Associates - New Richmond Clinic

      • *New champions for 2007
    In 2006, the Champions of Change paid rewards to nine medical groups for providing Optimal Diabetes Care to at least 10% of their diabetic patients. The nine physician groups that received rewards in 2006 were:
    • Affiliated Community Medical Centers
    • Columbia Park Medical Group
    • Family HealthServices Minnesota
    • HealthPartners Medical Group
    • HealthPartners Central Minnesota
    • Mayo Clinic
    • Multicare Associates of the Twin Cities
    • Superiorhealth Medical Group
    • Western Wisconsin Medical Associates
    More Information
    For more information on Bridges to Excellence, visit www.bridgestoexcellence.org

    © 2008 MN Community Measurement ® ™