Capsules

Kidney Specialists of Minnesota Partners with Evergreen Nephrology

Following a growing trend of venture capital investment in independent medical specialty practices, Kidney Specialists of Minnesota (KSM) founded in 1977, with 16 Twin City locations, has announced an affiliation with Evergreen Nephrology. Evergreen investment in KSM will focus on preventative measures in kidney care such as home dialysis and nutrition with a goal of changing a system that focuses on end-stage treatment. Dr. Kyle Onan of KSM said he and other doctors have grown disheartened and discouraged by the large amount of spending that still ends in unappealing outcomes. “Over the last few years, we’ve started to move towards care models that focus on better outcomes, as opposed to fee-for-service arrangements,” Onan said. “But we also realized that even a group of our size needs help to do that, so we sought out a partner that would help us create an infrastructure and give us a backbone to really change the way we see and take care of kidney patients.” KSM CEO Carrie El-Halawani said insurance companies have tried to tell its doctors how to treat their patients. “Under this model it allows the nephrologist to really be at the forefront, because they are the specialists. They are the ones that are seeing and treating these patients every day,” El-Halawani said. Evergreen was launched in August of 2021 by Rubicon Founders with a goal to provide financial backing to take on the increased cost of care associated with value-based care. Adam Boehler is the founder of both Nashville-based companies and worked during the Trump Administration in the Health and Human Services Agency. He drove efforts at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center (CMMI) and the department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to introduce improved kidney care models (KCC) models. Boehler said the nephrology sector is ripe for disruption, because it accounts for 25% of all Medicare spending. “We’re going to try to prevent kidney disease, we’re going to try to do dialysis at home, and we’re going to try to really accelerate transplants.” Boehler added Evergreen’s partnership with KSM and other nephrology practices nationwide is turning the industry around by incentivizing patient care and outcomes. Boehler said. “At the end of the day, healthcare delivery should be physician-driven.” 

Sanford Health Expands Virtual Health Care Footprint

Sanford Health, one of the largest rural health systems in the country, serving 1.2 million people across 250,000 square miles recently unveiled plans to expand its 24/7 access to acute and specialty care through The Sanford Virtual Care Center. The center is designed to become a premier training ground attracting retaining and preparing medical students, residents, and nurses for the next generation of care delivery. With the goal of reimagining care delivery in rural America and transform the health care experience for those living in these communities it will bring affordable, comprehensive, and seamless medical care to people, regardless of their zip code. Through a $350 million gift, design is underway for the 60,000 square–foot Sanford Virtual Care Center and five rural hubs, with construction scheduled to begin on the first phase in the spring of 2022. The center will serve communities across the sprawling Sanford service area and beyond through a network of hospitals and clinics, allowing patients to access health care using the most advanced technology as close to home as possible, with a particular focus on underserved rural areas. Already a pioneer and leader in the field, Sanford Health providers have performed more than 432,000 virtual consults over the last decade — amounting to roughly 18.8 million miles saved by patients who didn’t have to travel great distances on country roads or through harsh winter weather to get top-notch care. This connectivity has the potential to be a game-changer for the senior care industry by connecting to providers at Sanford-related Good Samaritan Society long-term care locations. This expanded access for seniors who have acute care needs or need to see a specialist will reduce emergency room and hospital visits, lower overall health care expenses, and improve care outcomes. Initial projections include more than 350,000 outpatient visits a year to care from home, reaching more than 11 million lives, and extending care to more than 275 rural clinics across the Midwest. The Virtual Care Center and interconnected satellite clinics will also provide opportunities to host medical residents, fellows, and nursing students for virtual rotations, helping to develop the next generation of virtual care clinicians.

MNA Proposes Bedside Act to Address Staffing Crisis

The Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) and Senator Erin Murphy (DFL-St. Paul), Representative Liz Olson (DFL-Duluth), and Senate Minority Leader Melisa López Franzen (DFL-Edina) have introduced the Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act, a bill to address the hospital short-staffing and retention crisis. Addressing conditions that are driving nurses away from the profession and hurting patient care, the bill hopes to fix the under-staffing and retention crisis while improving the quality-of-care patients receive at Minnesota hospitals. The bill would set a firm upper limit on the number of patients any one nurse can be responsible for in the State of Minnesota. It would establish committees of nurses and management at Minnesota hospitals to set staffing levels for units at those facilities. At least sixty percent of all members on these committees would be nurses. “Minnesota’s nurses are indispensable, providing care for the critically sick and dying under soul-crushing conditions. The pandemic is illuminating a staffing crisis that existed long before Covid. Nurses have warned us for years about inadequate staffing, and now our system is breaking under the weight of a sustained pandemic. We can’t staff our hospitals with the National Guard forever. We need to retain our nurses,” said Senator Erin Murphy. “We must move this legislation forward as quickly as possible to address the critical situation facing our state.” The bill includes new measures to recruit and retain workers, including $5 million to launch a new student loan forgiveness program for nurses working at the bedside in Minnesota hospitals and another $5 million for grants to hospitals to establish new mental health programs for nurses and other health care professionals. In recent weeks, hundreds of nurses have spoken out about the unsustainable conditions in Minnesota hospitals. “After twelve months of COVID-19, witnessed from a unique perspective as a union steward and chairperson, I knew that I was not keeping myself healthy, that I was dreading going to work, and I was becoming so disgusted by my employer’s treatment of the nurses and disregard for our safety, that I left nursing,” said Jean Forman, RN. “I left with the conclusion that my moral compass no longer aligned with my employer. The nursing shortage is due to unsafe conditions that are within the power of our elected officials and hospital CEOs to improve. I firmly believe that. It’s time to respect the viewpoint and voice of nursing. Protect us so that we can protect our patients.”

St. Luke’s Announces New Obstetrics & Gynecology Clinic

St. Luke’s Obstetrics & Gynecology Associates recently announced it will be moving to a new $4.5 million clinic. The clinic will relocate from the lower level of Northland Medical Center to the third floor of St. Luke’s Lakeview Building. “We’re moving the clinic just one building away, but it will be a significant change.” said St. Luke’s Co-President CEO & CMO Dr. Nick Van Deelen. “The project will double the size of the clinic to nearly 16,000 square feet, and greatly enhance the patient experience.” With experienced specialist physicians, midwives and advanced practice clinicians the new space will help maintain the mission of providing compassionate, contemporary, high quality care. This includes serving both high and low risk pregnancies, infertility counseling and a full range of gynecological care. Robotic-assisted surgery is available as are LGBTQ+ services, a spa-like birthing center and a healthy mom safe baby program. “We’re beyond excited to be modernizing our clinic and providing patients with more comfort, privacy and efficiency,” St. Luke’s Director of Women’s & Children’s Services Lori Swanson said. “Not only will it offer patients a great experience, it will allow us to create more access for our patients to get the services they want. We couldn’t ask for a better space for the new clinic.” The new clinic feature larger exam rooms and increase the number of those exam rooms from 15 to 24. The number of procedure and ultrasound rooms will also increase, it will feature breastfeeding pods for private nursing and private recessed scales. It will also have a larger lab, a designated non-stress testing room and provide patients with a view of Lake Superior. DSGW is providing architectural services and construction will begin this spring. The clinic is projected to open in January 2023.

Mayo Cuts Service to Some Medicare Advantage Patients

To address capacity concerns, the Mayo clinic has recently stopped making appointments for patients in Medicare Advantage health plans whose insurers haven’t negotiated contracts for in-network access. Further concerns could involve reimbursement rates between Mayo and non-network insurers, particularly UnitedHealthcare. Mayo has seen significant increase in patients coming to Rochester with coverage from “non-contract” Medicare Advantage health insurers — so much so, that the increase threatens to crowd out patients covered by in-network insurers. “There was not a change in policy, but a change in enforcement due to ensuring Mayo has access for our contracted plans (not just Medicare) and those who truly need Mayo’s medical expertise,” said a Mayo Clinic public affairs spokesman. “The impact is to non-contract Medicare Advantage plans. Mayo does not have contracts with these plans so there should not have been any expectation of access to the Mayo Clinic by these plans.” Non-contract Medicare Advantage plans are insurance companies who have not negotiated payment rates with Mayo to provide health care services. Between 2019 and 2021, the number of Minnesota patients coming to Mayo with coverage from non-contract Medicare Advantage insurers nearly doubled — reaching 3,200 patients last year. During that same two-year period, Mayo also saw a 42% increase in out-of-state patients with non-contract Medicare plans, last year exceeding 7,000 patients. At least half of that increase came from seniors with UnitedHealthcare coverage. Non-contract Medicare Advantage plans usually reimburse the hospital at a lower rate than contracted plans. Among the state’s largest Medicare Advantage insurers, Mayo Clinic is out-of-network at UnitedHealthcare, HealthPartners and Allina Health Aetna. As of January, more than 111,000 beneficiaries in Minnesota were enrolled in Medicare health plans offered by those three insurers. Mayo is in-network for Medicare Advantage plans from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, Humana, Medica and UCare.  

Allina Health Names Chief System Research Officer 

Badrinath Konety, MD, was recently announced as Chief System Research Officer. This new role is in addition to his current role as President of the Allina Health Cancer Institute. “This position links research with all clinical activities, and I’m excited to see Dr. Konety’s vast experience and knowledge build upon the tremendous, life-saving research connected with the Allina Health name,” said Hsieng Su, MD, Allina Health senior vice president and chief medical executive. “This head of research role is a perfect fit for Dr. Konety who has more than a decade of health care leadership experience and is a well-published researcher.” Continuing the mission to advance studies and research that improve patient outcomes, refine models of health care delivery and enhance population health, Allina Health has conducted more than 600 research studies in the areas of cancer, cardiovascular, care delivery, infectious disease, neuroscience, nursing, rehabilitation, spine, and sports and orthopedics. “I look forward to forming additional partnerships that allow us to build upon the exceptional work at Allina Health and explore more research opportunities,” said Dr. Konety. “Medical research is an integral piece in our mission to improve the well-being of those we serve. What we learn through research impacts how we care for our patients, the treatments we use and the way our patients are able to live their lives both day-to-day and long term. Medical research provides the knowledge and insight to become better health care providers so we can continually enhance care for our communities.” Dr. Konety came to Allina Health in October 2021 from the Rush University System for Health in Chicago where he served as The Henry P. Russe, Dean and Senior Vice President for Clinical Affairs. He is a urologic surgeon and previously had served as the Associate Dean of Strategy and Innovation at the University of Minnesota Medical School.

MDH launches Naloxone Finder 

In an ongoing effort to prevent drug overdose deaths, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) is making it easier to get the potentially life-saving medication naloxone to people who need it by launching a digital map of where it can be found in nearby. People can access the Naloxone Finder map online, type in a zip code or address, filter by distance, and the map will display pharmacies, naloxone access points, and syringe service programs that typically have naloxone in the area chosen. The Naloxone Finder tool provides contact information, address, and other guidance so one can confirm with the sites whether it currently has naloxone available. Naloxone, also known as Narcan®, is a potentially lifesaving drug that can reverse an opioid overdose. Since the map’s launch in December, more than 4,600 visitors have accessed it.