HealthPartners cuts costs $99.7M in 2008

HealthPartners programs designed to improve the quality and efficiency of care reduced medical expenses by $99.7 million in 2008. The group of  health care companies, which serves over a million US medical and  dental health plan members, says that decision support for diagnostic  imaging reduced unnecessary tests by more than $5.8 million, an 80%  increase over last year's savings. The program provides physicians with  the latest guidelines from the American College of Radiology to confirm  that a test is appropriate. Meanwhile, a program to encourage generic  drug use resulted in HealthPartners' members saving $64.4 million, more  than double that saved in 2007.