Essentia Health recently received the Innovation Award at Medica’s Sixth Annual 2023 ACO Engagement Summit, which was held October 10. The award recognizes a provider partner who has put great effort into growing awareness and support for delivering care through an ACO. By improving the how care is viewed differently within their system to meet the needs of the community, Essentia has received national recognition and created opportunities for its voice to be heard at a congressional level and influence public policy. 

“At Essentia Health, we are committed to finding creative ways and solutions to care for the patients we are privileged to serve,” said Essentia CEO Dr. David Herman. “We are proud to receive this award, yet the real winners are our patients and communities whose health and well-being are improved through this innovative patient-focused work.” 

The awards ceremony is new in 2023. Awards were made to providers in five categories: Member Engagement (M Health Fairview), Quality of Care (Nebraska Health Network), Stewardship (Mercy Oklahoma), Creative Courage (Hennepin Healthcare), and Innovation (Essentia Health).  

“It’s a privilege to have our provider partners take the time to gather to share about best practices in the areas that are vital to our common goal of improving care and value to members and patients,” said Dr. David Webster, Medica’s Chief Clinical and Provider Strategy Officer. “This is our Sixth ACO Engagement Summit and each year we are in awe of the great work our provider partners are doing.”

Medica’s annual ACO Engagement Summit brings together value-based care teams from across Medica’s service area for best practice sharing and connecting and collaborating on ways to further improve delivery of value-based care. The 2023 summit featured topics included: 

• Gaining Clinician Engagement in Value-Based Models   

• Patient and Member Engagement    

• Innovative Behavioral Health Strategies   

• The Future of Value-Based Care 

• Alternative Care Delivery Strategies   

Medica is a health plan headquartered in Minnesota. The company serves communities by providing health care coverage and related services in the employer, individual, Medicaid and Medicare markets. It operates in Minnesota, Arizona, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming.