MINNEAPOLIS, March 13, 2008—The MMA met Wednesday with a small group of community stakeholders and Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt to discuss a new federally designated health care collaborative and a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services/Health and Human Services electronic health record demonstration project.

The meeting took place at Woodwinds Hospital in Woodbury.

Stratis Health, Minnesota’s CMS Quality Improvement Organization, along with the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI), MN Community Measurement, and the Buyers Health Care Action Group (BHCAG) recently applied for and received federal designation as Minnesota’s Chartered Value Exchange (CVE).

Only 14 collaboratives in a dozen states have received this designation from HHS Secretary Leavitt.

The goal of CVEs is to bring together stakeholders—including physicians—to increase transparency through public reporting, to develop a network for learning about quality improvement, to align quality improvement efforts, and to ensure patient-centered care.

Secretary Leavitt asked the community stakeholders to help this collaborative grow to become one of several networks across the country working together to improve quality and value in health care.

Secretary Leavitt also outlined a new five-year demonstration project, which CMS hopes will encourage small- to medium-sized primary care physician practices to use electronic health records (EHR).

Secretary Leavitt encouraged Minnesota to apply to become one of the 12 initial demonstration sites in order to support other public-private efforts already occurring in Minnesota.

Over a five-year period, Secretary Leavitt said, the demonstration project will provide financial incentives to physician practices that use certified EHRs. Bonus payments will be available based on the number of EHR functions a physician practice has incorporated into their practice.

Secretary Leavitt encouraged Minnesota’s private and public payers to offer similar financial incentives to physicians to encourage implementation of electronic health records.

CMS will announce the communities in June 2008, and then begin working with the communities to recruit physician practices for participation in the demonstration.