News & Events

North Memorial Recognized with Quality Award for Vascular Care

North Memorial Heart & Vascular Institute was recently recognized by the Buyers Health Care Action Group (BHCAG) with a Minnesota Bridges to Excellence (MNBTE) Quality Award for optimal vascular care. The recognition is for outpatient, clinic-based care of vascular disease.

BHCAG is a consortium of large employers in the local health care market (including, among others, 3M, Medtronic, Wells Fargo, Best Buy and Target) working together to report on — and ultimately improve — clinical quality and patient safety. Their goal is to improve patient outcomes through provider pay-for-performance programs, data transparency for health care providers, and information on health plan performance and plan design.

In 2006, BHCAG introduced the MNBTE program, a purchaser-led pay-for-performance program in Minnesota. The program relies on publicly-reported clinical data to identify clinics that qualify for "achievement" rewards by meeting or exceeding optimal care standards for a specified percentage of patients.

"We are proud to have demonstrated this level of performance," said Mike Arend, executive director of North Memorial Heart & Vascular Institute. "It’s an honor to be acknowledged by our local employer community."

In 2010, BHCAG and MNBTE is recognizing clinical performance, based on care delivered in 2009, at two levels:

  • "Achievement" rewards for clinics that met the MNBTE-established performance criteria for optimal care measures for patients with diabetes, vascular disease and depression.
  • "Improvement" rewards for clinics that showed significant improvement, but did not meet the achievement criteria for patients with diabetes and vascular disease.

Clinic performance rates for diabetes, vascular disease and depression are available at www.mnhealthscores.org.