Subdivision 1. Establishment; administration. The commissioner of health shall establish and administer the Center for Health Care Purchasing Improvement as an administrative unit within the Department of Health. The Center for Health Care Purchasing Improvement shall support the state in its efforts to be a more prudent and efficient purchaser of quality health care services. The center shall aid the state in developing and using more common strategies and approaches for health care performance measurement and health care purchasing. The common strategies and approaches shall promote greater transparency of health care costs and quality, and greater accountability for health care results and improvement. The center shall also identify barriers to more efficient, effective, quality health care and options for overcoming the barriers.

Subd. 2. Staffing; duties; scope. (a) The commissioner of health may appoint a director, and up to three additional senior-level staff or codirectors, and other staff as needed who are under the direction of the commissioner. The staff of the center are in the unclassified service.

(b) With the authorization of the commissioner of health, and in consultation or interagency agreement with the appropriate commissioners of state agencies, the director, or codirectors, may:

(1) initiate projects to develop plan designs for state health care purchasing;

(2) require reports or surveys to evaluate the performance of current health care purchasing strategies;

(3) calculate fiscal impacts, including net savings and return on investment, of health care purchasing strategies and initiatives;

(4) conduct policy audits of state programs to measure conformity to state statute or other purchasing initiatives or objectives;

(5) support the Administrative Uniformity Committee under section 62J.50 and other relevant groups or activities to advance agreement on health care administrative process streamlining;

(6) consult with the Health Economics Unit of the Department of Health regarding reports and assessments of the health care marketplace;

(7) consult with the Department of Commerce regarding health care regulatory issues and legislative initiatives;

(8) work with appropriate Department of Human Services staff and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to address federal requirements and conformity issues for health care purchasing;

(9) assist the Minnesota Comprehensive Health Association in health care purchasing strategies;

(10) convene medical directors of agencies engaged in health care purchasing for advice, collaboration, and exploring possible synergies;

(11) contact and participate with other relevant health care task forces, study activities, and similar efforts with regard to health care performance measurement and performance-based purchasing; and

(12) assist in seeking external funding through appropriate grants or other funding opportunities and may administer grants and externally funded projects.

Subd. 3. Report. The commissioner of health must report annually to the legislature and the governor on the operations, activities, and impacts of the center. The report must be posted on the Department of Health website and must be available to the public. The report must include a description of the state's efforts to develop and use more common strategies for health care performance measurement and health care purchasing. The report must also include an assessment of the impacts of these efforts, especially in promoting greater transparency of health care costs and quality, and greater accountability for health care results and improvement.

History: 2006 c 282 art 14 s 10; 2007 c 148 art 2 s 83; 2009 c 157 art 1 s 17