BHCAG Foundation: Improving the health of our communities
An extension of the Buyers Health Care Action Group, d.b.a. the Minnesota Health Action Group, the BHCAG Foundation is committed to improving the health of Minnesota communities by supporting, organizing and evaluating health improvement programs, projects and research. The Foundation also disseminates information to the public that fosters learning and creates opportunities for community-wide improvements in health, health care and health care delivery. Established in 2004, the BHCAG Foundation is a tax exempt 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
As it pursues this mission, the Foundation seeks partners and funding for project-specific work. Past project funding has been provided by GlaxoSmithKline, Medica, the MMIC Group, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Novo Nordisk, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the State of Minnesota and UCare.
In recent years, the BHCAG Foundation has supported projects that are driving improvements in care delivery and outcomes in the following areas:
Quality Improvement
At the Minnesota Health Action Group, we believe that everyone is entitled to high-quality medical care. But, because health care needs and health care systems vary from community to community across the state and from region to region across the country, achieving uniformity in quality outcomes can be a challenge. Identifying best practices and collaborating with other industry leaders to set and evaluate benchmarks on an ongoing basis are two vital ways that The Action Group has helped move the needle on quality improvement in Minnesota. In recent years, the BHCAG Foundation has sponsored research to identify best practices including:
- A research study on “Best Practices Associated with Optimal Diabetes and Optimal Cardiovascular Care Measures.” The purpose of this study, which was funded by Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., was to examine and compare the clinical practices employed by clinics that achieve higher and lower performance scores for patients with diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
- A research study to identify the best practices employed by medical groups that received recognition for delivering optimal diabetes care from Minnesota Bridges to Excellence in 2006 – the first year that performance rewards were distributed through Minnesota Bridges to Excellence, an employer-led pay-for-performance program managed by The Action Group. Funding support was provided by GlaxoSmithKline.
Transparency
In health care, as in many aspects of life, information is power. And we believe it’s time to shift more power to those who write the checks to pay for health care¾private and public employers and individual consumers. By making information about quality, cost and safety available in formats that are relevant and easy to use, purchasers will have the knowledge and the power to make informed decisions about their health and their health care dollars.
The BHCAG Foundation work done to advance data transparency includes:
- A study called “Direct Reporting of Performance Data by Physicians: Lessons from the Minnesota Experience” with funding support from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
- In-kind support to eight medical groups, consisting of 28 clinics, to assist them in the process of abstracting clinic data for direct data submission to Minnesota Community Measurement. Funding was provided by Medica, the MMIC Group, Novo Nordisk and UCare.
Innovation
Innovation is about driving meaningful change in Minnesota’s health care system. The BHCAG Foundation identifies opportunities to support and widely disseminate innovative new solutions ranging from care delivery redesign, payment reform, and value-based benefits. The Foundation has:
- Developed and facilitated educational workshops for self-insured employers on health care (medical) homes, with funding provided by the State of Minnesota Department of Health.
- Research on employer uptake of value-based benefit design – a strategic approach that aims to structure specific health benefits based on the medical need for service, most commonly deployed around chronic disease. GlaxoSmithKline provided the funding for this research.