Minneapolis-Area Clinics Form ACO

A group of federally-qualified health clinics in the Minneapolis area have banded together to create one of the nation's first accountable care organizations that focuses specifically on outpatients and providing safety net care.

The 10 clinics have formed what is known as the Federally Qualified Health Center Urban Health Network, or FUHN. It has entered into a contract with the Minnesota Department of Human Services to provide care to 22,000 Medicaid enrollees. The clinics provide service at 40 sites across seven counties in the Twin Cities region.

“This contract represents a fundamental shift in our relationship with the state, and in our relationship with each other, to betterserve Medicaid beneficiaries,” Jaeson Fournier, M.D., chief executive officer of West Side Community Health Services in St.Paul and chairperson of FUHN.

Under the contract with the state, the FUHN collaborative will save half the money it saves delivering care to the Medicaid enrollees, with the other half returned to Medical Assistance, Minnesota's Medicaid program.

The patient population is particularly difficult to treat: Data show that more than half of the population served by the clinics does not speak fluent English, and that virtually all of them have households incomes at or near the federal poverty level.

The clinics, which have agreed to share data, have also retained the services of Eden Prairie-based Optum Health Services to perform data analytics on the patient population. It will assess patient risk and histories, and will compiled performance data on each of the clinics.

“Minnesota has long been a leader in population health and health care issues, and the state’s contract with FUHN to improveoutcomes and reduce costs in its Medicaid program is another example of this approach,” said Steve Larsen, executive vicepresident of Optum Government Solutions.