MINNEAPOLIS, May 29, 2008 - With his signature Thursday, Gov. Tim Pawlenty made law many of the reform ideas that Minnesota physicians have been pressing for since 2005.

Rep. Thomas Huntley, DFL-Duluth, the bill’s chief author, spoke at the signing event and credited the MMA’s reform road map, Physicians Plan for a Healthy Minnesota, for starting the process that culminated in the passage of the bill, which he called, “the biggest thing to happen to the Minnesota health care system since the passage of the bill that created MinnesotaCare in 1992.” 

MMA Board Member David C. Thorson, M.D., representing the MMA, and joined more than a dozen others who stood behind the governor as he signed the bill that included MMA supported reform ideas, such as the medical home concept, payment reform, and increasing public health spending.

Huntley said the real focus of the bill is on improving how chronic diseases are managed, said Huntley, who expects the reforms to change the culture of health care in Minnesota to one that better supports wellness and prevention.

“About 60 percent of what we spend is on 5 diseases,” Huntley said. The bill includes new payments for coordinating care and providing patients with medical homes.

Pawlenty said the bill is a positive change that will improve the health care delivery system so it is more affordable, is of a higher quality, and can be accessed by more Minnesotans.

He said the bill is expected to result in a cost savings of about $7 billion by 2015 or about a 12 percent reduction in projected costs and will result in 12,000 more Minnesotans having health care coverage.

Tom Forsythe, an employee of General Mills and longtime health care reform advocate, said the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and the Minnesota Business Partnership in the end supported the reform bill because it encourages a market-based approach to health care.

MMA Trustee Thorson said the bill is a great compromise, which importantly did not include the Level 3 payment reform that the MMA opposed.

“I think this bill creates a foundation for a real transformation of Minnesota’s health care system,” Thorson said.

To learn more about the details of the health care reform bill, see Health care reform, point by point.