Cost to care

With double digit health insurance premium increases having become the 'norm' it's easy to try and point the finger at physicians under the misguided assumption they are 'all overpaid.' This is inaccurate. The fastest growing costs in health care are new technology development primarily on the hospital side, and pharmaceuticals. Physician rate increases average only 3% approximately. Contrast that with other measures such as CPI and you can see why many independent medical practices have been closing their doors or selling to larger systems.

Patient Care Improvement

Northstar provides additional resources to its clinics in the form of quality improvement grants. This pioneering grant program helps fund care improvement initiatives within our individual clinics and provide a way to incubate new ideas, work out the 'kinks' and then roll out to our entire network of clinics.

Health Plans

One of the important roles Northstar plays in the lives of its member clinics and their patients is being the bridge to the health plans. The world of health coverage has unfortunately become complicated, convoluted and at times downright adversarial pitting health plans against physicians, employers and unfortunately patients who get caught in the middle.

Our role is to build bridges between all of the above with a goal of removing the stress each of the above encounter in the process. We work daily with our physicians and their patients to access the level of care they need, when they need it. We work closely with health plans to ensure our patients needs are being met through appropriate availability of provider networks and by handling much of the administrative burden.

Plans Northstar is contracted with include:

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota
Group Health of Eau Claire
HealthPartners
Medica
Multiplan
PreferredOne
Three Rivers Provider Network
UCare of Minnesota - all products

Through its affiliation with Integrity Health Network, Northstar also participates in:

Humana - ChoiceCare Commercial and Medicare Advantage

Through its affiliation with Carenorth, Northstar also participates in:

CIGNA -Great West / One Health
Epic/WPS
Medica's Essential and Elect products
Patient Choice - Insights, Care System Products
Security Health Plan
WEA Trust of Wisconsin