Facing market changes: a health care cooperative in rural Minnesota

The Minnesota Health Care Cooperative Act, enacted as an article of the Minnesota Health Care Act of 1994, allows the creation of "health care provider cooperatives," corporations where members are licensed health care providers. Organized under Minnesota Statutes 62R, health care provider cooperatives (referred to hereafter as cooperatives) market their services to health care purchasers, including licensed health plan companies, health maintenance organizations (HMOs), and government plans on a "substantially capitated or similar risk sharing basis." Solvency and reserve standards do not apply to cooperatives because they are not engaged in the business of insurance.