Allina, HealthPartners alliance boosts urban health

[Star Tribune, August 08, 2015] Health care systems in Minnesota have a unique history of setting aside competitive instincts to pursue common improvements in patient care, such as the “Safest in America” partnership a decade ago, when metro hospitals agreed on a technique to mark the sites of surgical incisions.

But a joint venture by Allina Health and HealthPartners to improve care in the northwest metro has taken that spirit a step further.

Recognizing that the two health systems provided most of the primary care in the diverse and high-cost region, they formed the Northwest Metro Alliance in 2010 to identify weaknesses in health care that they could improve together. Five years later, the effort is paying off. Read the full report online at the Star Tribune.