HBS Consulting, Inc.

HBS Consulting, Inc. HBS Consulting, Inc. provides project management in health care industry and government programs.

Projects are expertly managed to deliver the on-time, on-budget results, learning and integration that organizations need. Project management brings a unique focus shaped by the goals, resources and schedule of each project applying of knowledge, skills and techniques to execute projects effectively and efficiently. It’s a strategic competency for organizations, enabling them to tie project result

s to business goals. A visionary leader with extensive experience in project management, business analysis, operations management, and government programs, Helene has a Master of Arts degree in Health and Human Services Administration. Over 20 years experience in healthcare and human services working with federally and state funded programs including Medicare, Medicaid, Waiver Services and housing subsidies, and a combination of. She is experienced in understanding client needs and work to research, design and develop products that will meet the client demand, of programs receiving government funds, and marketing of health care programs. Helene has worked with Medicare and other government programs with the direct consumer, service providers, health insurance companies, and government entities.

11/15/2013

Affordable housing fund gets boost from UnitedHealth

November 14, 2013 Curated by William Wilcoxen BMTN

A new effort to get “socially motivated” businesses to invest in low-income housing projects across Minnesota gained its first taker, with UnitedHealth Group putting $50 million into the fund.

The Star Tribune reports the project is a new initiative of the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund. In return for putting money in the fund, UnitedHealth – and future investors – get 15 years worth of federal tax credits, the newspaper says. While UnitedHealth is the first investor, officials expect having the insurance company on board will prompt others to follow.

As the Business Journal reports, the fund will finance low-income family housing, including some projects in other Great Lakes states. The first four projects are finished or nearly complete and are opening 118 units of rental housing, according to the Journal.

The Pioneer Press reported a ribbon-cutting was planned Thursday in Ramsey, Minnesota, where The Seasons Townhomes will house formerly homeless individuals and families.

The other three developments in the first batch are in Faribault, Red Lake Falls, Minnesota, and Jacksonville, Illinois.

10/11/2013

As UnitedHealth waits, Blues take early health-exchange lead
MSPBJ 10/11/2013

Decisions by UnitedHealth Group and other big-name, for-profit insurers to largely stay out of the new health exchanges launching around the country has opened the door for another big-name brand: Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

The New York Times reports that the various Blue Cross nonprofits are available in almost every state exchange; Wellpoint, which is a for-profit amalgam of several Blues, is also participating in exchanges throughout its 14-state territory.

And so far, the Blues have been pretty aggressive on price. In 8 of the 13 largest state markets where the federal government operates the exchange, Blue Cross is among the lowest priced for mid-tier plans.

UnitedHealth, based in Minnetonka, said that it might join more exchanges later. But it made a calculated move in staying out for now: In May, CEO Stephen Hemsley said that the insurer felt that sicker people would be more likely to enroll in exchanges early, making for a riskier patient pool.

08/08/2013

Simple solutions can help fill gaps in health care
by Dan Gunderson, Minnesota Public Radio
August 8, 2013

FERGUS FALLS, Minn. — Martha Hitzeman is legally blind, and at 87, needs medication for pain and to prevent strokes.

But sometimes she forgets to take her pills.

"She was starting to miss doses, sometimes maybe four or five doses in 10 days," said her daughter, Marie Fuchs. "So I knew she wasn't getting the medication she needed."

Fuchs, who manages her mother's medication, enrolled Hitzeman last August in MedSmart, a pilot project run by PioneerCare a long-term-care facility in Fergus Falls.

Her mother now has a small device on her kitchen table that holds two weeks' worth of medication. The automated dispenser beeps twice a day -- and keeps beeping until Hitzeman tips it over and the pills are dispensed.

"When I hear it ringing, I do what I need to do and take my time getting out here 'cause it will ring till I get here," Hitzeman said. "It's really a wonderful convenience."

By ensuring that elderly people take medications, the simple device could allow them to stay healthy and out of the hospital or nursing home. After a year, it has proved so successful that other communities plan to start using the program.

MedSmart was created in response to a state Minnesota Department of Human Services request for ideas that could help elderly patients stay at home. It is funded in part by a $117,000 DHS matching grant.

The device is connected to a phone line, and if it isn't tipped over within an hour, Marie Fuchs will receive an automated text message.

"I was able to take a week's vacation last fall and not worry about her taking her meds every day," Fuchs said. "It gives her the independence and gives me the peace of mind that she's getting what she needs."

The MedSmart program costs patients $39 a month. Data collected during the project found the device reduced medication errors for most participants.

In Fergus Falls, there are 73 people using the MedSmart program, 40 of whom are monitored each day. On a recent week, 39 took their medication as directed 100 percent of the time.

The device won't help everyone. For some, it won't provide the level of help they need. However, the project is filling a need in the community, said Todd Johnson, a pharmacist at Lake Region Healthcare in Fergus Falls.

"I know there's a case or two where family members have said, 'you pretty much allowed my family member to maintain independent living, when they weren't able to do that before,' " he said. "Non compliance, especially with chronic disease medications, or just not taking them properly or running out of them is a major cause of re-admissions, clinic visits."

"...How valuable is that medication if they're not taking it?"
- Karen Wulfekuhle, PioneerCare

There are a number of devices on the market that dispense medication, but what makes the Fergus Falls project unique is that it's not just about technology, said Karen Wulfekuhle, director of home and community services for PioneerCare. It provides a local team of health professionals who decide on the best solution for individual patients, she said.

Wulfekuhle is trying to convince insurance providers to pay for the medication reminder. She said it's not unusual for insurance to pay hundreds of dollars a month for drugs a patient needs.

"The argument is, how valuable is that medication if they're not taking it? A $39 a month charge for a machine that helps support their health - [it] makes sense to cover that expense if in turn it's going to keep them out of the hospital," she said.

Since 2003, DHS officials have awarded 400 grants to organizations that help fix health care gaps for the elderly according, Jean Woods, director of the department's aging and adult services division.

The grants cover a variety of community based projects. An earlier grant helped establish an electronic monitoring program for seniors in Fergus Falls. Another grant trained Somali volunteers in the Twin Cities to check on elders and perform basic home chores. In Aitkin County, a grant funds a volunteer program to add safety equipment to the homes of senior citizens to reduce falls.

"Minnesota has been very intent and very purposeful about wanting to make sure people, wherever they live in the state, can stay home and be served through home and community-based services," Wood said.

DHS officials awarded $2.3 million in grants during the 2012 fiscal year. The funding is appropriated each year by the legislature. The department tracks grant projects for five years. More than 90 percent become self sustaining, Wood said.

08/07/2013

Blue Cross, Allina unveil plan to be sold on exchange
Minneapolis-Saint Paul Business Journal 8/7/2013

What will the health plans sold on Minnesota’s state-run insurance exchange look like?

We won’t know the full menu of products until the exchange officially launches in October. But Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota on Tuesday offered some details about one product — BluePrint — that it plans to pitch both businesses and individuals this fall.

Eagan-based Blue Cross, the state’s largest insurer, partnered with Allina Health to create BluePrint, which aims to differentiate itself by tailoring services to individual members’ needs.

Like many products expected to pop up on health exchanges round the country, BluePrint is a so-called “narrow network” plan, which means members can only visit health providers that are part of a defined network of providers. In this case, that includes Minneapolis-based Allina’s hospitals and clinics as well as a doctors at a group of 52 independently-owned physician practices, most of whom are specialists.

The narrow network approach helps insurers keep premiums down. Blue Cross isn’t revealing the price tag for BluePrint, which will be classified as “silver” on the exchange (bronze is the lowest-cost category and platinum is the highest. Gold is second-highest).

It will be priced between 3 percent and 10 percent lower than a typical open access plan, said Garrett Black, senior vice president of health management for Blue Cross. (Open access plans allow consumers to visit a wider array of health providers, and are the sort of plans that most Twin Cities consumers with employer coverage are used to.)

Blue Cross developed BluePrint with Allina physicians’ input, and it’s betting the product will stand out by offering personalized services to members.

Consumers and employees who sign up for BluePrint are asked to take a health assessment. Once the results are in, Allina will reach out to members and help them better manage their health. Benefits also will be built around certain chronic conditions, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, and members got two free visits with a primary care doctor.

There’s also a Web portal, which combines features you typically find on an insurer’s site with those you’d find on a health provider’s website, such as the ability to view your health records.

Some states and consumer advocates have been disappointed that health plans are taking the narrow-network path to the exchange. But Black said Blue Cross and Allina aimed to ensure they were offering more than a limited choice of doctors for a lower cost.

“We didn’t want to end up with a product that was taking a narrow provider network and bolting that onto an existing insurance plan,” he said. “We wanted to have a better coordinated experience, a more member-centric experience.”

Explaining how this plan is different from any other narrow-network product likely to surface on the exchange won’t be easy, however. The state will get to regulate everything from how many words insurers have to describe their products to the size of logos. That’s one reason why Blue Cross will be out and about promoting the BluePrint brand through ad campaigns and pitches to employers (products sold inside the exchange also can be sold outside of it), Black said.

Whether Blue Cross’ personalization strategy will prove unique in the exchange marketplace is hard to say without more details from its competitors. Given the rise of accountable care organizations, it’s likely that other insurers and providers in the Twin Cities will be eager to take a wellness tact.

Fairview Health Services, for instance, is taking a more active role in offering health coaching to PreferredOne members through a plan the companies offer state of Minnesota employees, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see some version of that offering pop up on MNsure.

07/23/2013

Lori La Bey is from Maplewood, Minnesota and she is helping people world wide deal with Alzheimer's disease. She has a podcast that is picked up all over the world and she heads a support group called Arthur's Memory Cafe. Thanks to video by Nancy Chakrin and music by Barbara Lee Friedman the stor...

07/12/2013

Allina acquires one of last remaining Twin Cities independent hospitals

Allina Health has acquired Regina Medical Center, which operates a 57-bed hospital and nursing home in Hastings.

Minneapolis-based Allina had a 25 percent stake in Regina prior to the acquisition. It made that investment in 2007. Allina will assume full ownership of the medical center effective Aug. 1.

As part of the deal, Regina's senior-living business will also be turned over to Duluth-based Benedictine Health System. That transaction will close in January.

Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed. However, Allina will invest in "enhancements" to Regina's campus and expand emergency and primary care services, according to a statement sent to employees.

"Our partnership comes at a crucial time in health care," the statement read. "Most health care organizations are working toward achieving the 'triple aim' of providing a better patient experience, improved health for our population, and lower health care costs. We are confident our partnership will assist us in accomplishing these goals."

In addition to its hospital and nursing home, Regina also operates clinics in Hastings and Cottage Grove, as well as Prescott, Wis. It has more than 600 employees.

Regina is one of the last remaining independent hospitals in the Twin Cities metro area. Health reform and competitive pressures have fueled a wave of health care acquisitions in Minnesota and nationwide.

07/08/2013

How UnitedHealth will fare under Obamacare: Pretty well
MSP Business Journal 7/8/2013

Insurance giant UnitedHealth Group Inc. could be poised for a big stock surge over the next two years as the company steps cautiously into the health-reform era.

That's the take of a Barron's feature, which predicts that shares of Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth could rise 40 percent in the months ahead. That's despite predictions of pretty modest earnings growth driven by more patients returning to doctors as the economy improves (bad news for insurers) and reduced payments for profitable private-sector Medicare plans under Obamacare.

So why the optimism? Much of it is because of UnitedHealth's Optum business, which Barron's argues will keep costs down. And the company is largely staying out of new health-plan exchanges, which officials have said could raise costs because they'll attract the sick.

04/01/2013

MN overpaid health plans, boosting insurers' profit by $207M: audit

Minnesota paid health insurers more than it intended to over a nine-year period, boosting insurers' profits on state-funded health care programs by $207 million, according to an auditor's report released Thursday.

Health plans posted a 2.4 percent profit on care provided to low-income Minnesotans through programs like MinnesotaCare, the Star Tribune reports. That's twice as much as the state's initial profit target of 1.2 percent.

Segal Group conducted the report at the request of the Minnesota Department of Human Services. The audit covered the period running from 2002 through 2011.

Health plans generated $18.2 billion in revenue through the programs and posted a $430.5 million profit.

The audit was prompted by concerns over how the state and health plans set rates.

Last year, Minnesota HMOs paid the state $73 million under a plan that placed a 1 percent cap on profits earned through government health plans.

The Minnesota Council on Health Plans told the Star Tribune that the state, not insurers, sets rates.

03/26/2013

Sanford Health is negotiating a deal to take over Fairview Health Services, and Attorney General Lori Swanson plans to hold public hearings on the matter.

Negotiations between the providers are advancing quickly and Fairview's board is having a retreat on April 8 to possibly discuss the issue, Swanson told the Star Tribune. There have been rumors of talks between the two health providers for months.

Swanson plans to hold the first public hearing April 7, the Attorney General's office said in a press statement.

Swanson is concerned about the merger partly because Sanford is based in South Dakota, and the deal would put the University of Minnesota's research hospital — owned by Minneapolis-based Fairview — under the control of a company based outside the state.

"Given Fairview's charitable ties and obligations to the people of Minnesota and the state of Minnesota, I am troubled by the notion that a small group of people — apparently composed of a portion of the Fairview board of directors and representatives of an out-of-state entity — would conduct private discussions without the benefit of the public's input regarding such sweeping consequences as it relates to the control of the University health system, the quality of health care for Minnesota patients and our state's economy and international prestige," Swanson wrote in a letter to Chuck Mooty, chair of Fairview's board.

Sanford already operates hospitals in Greater Minnesota, but doesn't have a presence in the Twin Cities metro area.

03/12/2013

Nonprofit buys auto dealership site for housing

Project for Pride in Living has bought a former auto dealership on University Avenue, hoping to build a $25 million affordable-housing project along the future Central Corridor light rail line.

Finance & Commerce has details on the deal for the former Midway Chevrolet, at 1333 W. University Ave. in St. Paul, which was purchased with the help of a $2.5 million grant from the Metropolitan Council.

Project for Pride in Living is still seeking financing for the project it hopes to build there: 108 units of affordable housing in four mixed-use buildings and 14,000 square feet of commercial space.

03/06/2013

Minn. House passes health exchange proposal

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Minnesota has passed a bill establishing Minnesota's health insurance exchange, with its sponsor calling it the most substantial changes to state healthcare policy in 50 years.

The House approved the bill 72 to 58 on Monday after a debate of more than five hours. The bill establishes a new state board to oversee an online marketplace where uninsured individuals and others can shop for and purchase private coverage. It's a centerpiece of the Obama administration's health care overhaul.

The vote was nearly party-line, with just one Republican joining Democrats to pass it. The goal is to cover 1.3 million Minnesotans, including about 300,000 who don't currently have insurance.

The House approved an amendment to prohibit abortions from being covered in plans sold on the exchange.

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