Evaluation of the State of Minnesota's Health Care Homes Initiative

This report to the Minnesota Legislature is an evaluation of the efficacy of the Health Care Homes Initiative. It describes differences between certified Health Care Homes clinics (HCH) and those clinics that, though eligible, choose not to be certified (non-HCH). Using Medicare and Medicaid claims data, this report addresses differences in cost, utilization, and disparities between Health Care Homes and nonHealth Care Homes from 2010 through 2014. It also presents findings related to the quality of health care and patient experience using data from the Statewide Quality Reporting and Measurement System (SQRMS) and the 2013 Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) survey.

The report addresses two major questions: 1) Was the Heath Care Homes Initiative as implemented successful in lowering the cost of care without reducing the quality of care or increasing the level of disparities in the receipt of care for persons of color and geographic location? And 2) To what extent were the effects of the initiative the result of the Health Care Homes model as opposed to the way the model was implemented? Below are the key findings. See Appendix J for a list of abbreviations used throughout the report