Beyond report cards: a health profile for HealthPartners Health Plan and the Business Health Care Action Group

HealthPartners Health Plan and the "Business Health Care Action Group" (a buyer's coalition) operate in a market place increasingly concerned about accountability and quality improvement. Improving the population's health is a strategy that satisfies the mission and business purposes of employers and health care providers alike. Proposed quality measures and "report cards" have focused on clinical performance standards such as procedure rates or adherence to clinical practice guidelines. This paper describes a unique collaboration between an HMO and a purchasing coalition to assess member health status and health risks as a catalyst for increasing consumer involvement in health care.