I’ll say this about the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) — the union sure knows how to hold a grudge. Last week, the MNA blasted Tom Horner, calling the Independence Party candidate for governor and former public relations executive “disingenuous and borderline condescending.”

Long before healthcare reform, medical home, and quality metrics became today’s buzz words, there was the Buyers Health Care Action Group (BHCAG).Founded in 1988, the coalition of large Minnesota companies, including 3M, Target, Medtronic, Best Buy, and General Mills, pioneered concepts of paying doctors for good performance and promoting transparency in the quality and value [...]

To improve healthcare in Minnesota, the state is now offering providers a little more than the proverbial pat on the back.Earlier this month, Minnesota health officials launched an incentive-based payment system for hospitals and ambulatory firms who treat state employees and patients enrolled in the state’s health insurance programs.Providers who compare favorably to benchmarks measuring [...]

With Twin Cities nurses now poised to strike indefinitely against local hospitals, the debate has descended into the familiar roles of hardworking, resourceful nurses versus financially besieged hospitals, with both groups claiming the role of patient advocate.But one crucial voice has been noticeably silent — the doctors.On the top issue dividing the Minnesota Nurses Association [...]

Minnesota Nice is a not so flattering term that refers to a certain passive aggressiveness among the state’s residents, a tendency to complain about things that bug us, but we do everything we can to avoid direct conflict.I thought of this after reading a story this morning in the Star Tribune of Minneapolis. The article [...]

The Ohio State Medical Association (OSMA) and the Minnesota Medical Association have joined a petition drive to urge Congress to fix what they consider a flawed Medicare payment formula that could drive some doctors out of the system.Medical associations nationwide had hoped President Obama and Congress would take care of the onerous Sustainable Growth Rate [...]

Is the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice too lax on discipline, or are Minnesota doctors just that good?Public Citizen, the consumer watchdog group founded by Ralph Nader, released a stinging report Monday that calls Minnesota the worst state in the nation in punishing wayward docs. From 2007 to 2009, Minnesota issued only 1.07 serious disciplinary [...]

Drug companies face bills that require disclosure of industry payments to doctors and funding for medication waste disposal.