HealthEast Care: a direct contracting company

HealthEast Care has contracted directly with large self-funded Minnesota employers, including 3M, since 1992. These innovative direct contracting arrangements continue to demonstrate how collaborative efforts between health care purchasers and providers can be of advantage to those enrolled in self-funded and noninsured health plans. Insured HMO enrollment in Minnesota has been flat since 1991, while enrollment in self-funded plans and in noninsured public health plans has doubled during the same period. Minnesota is a bellwether state on the threshold of reform that will shift the power race for health care change from HMOs to purchasers and providers responding to consumer needs.