Relating to health

ARTICLE 1 - INVESTMENT IN PREVENTION AND WELLNESS

Requiring the commissioner of health in consultation with the Minnesota health improvement partnership to develop and implement a coordinated statewide action plan to improve the health status of Minnesotans and to promote primary prevention, specifying certain plan requirements, requiring encouragement and facilitation of the formation of local public private partnerships for action on certain goals; requiring the commissioner to establish a public health grant fund and program for grants to state and local partnerships to support collaborative actions to reduce the rate of increase in health care costs through improvements in health status or the prevention of illness and injury, specifying certain grant program and match requirements; requiring a commissioner report to the legislature by a certain date describing the impact of the programs funded; appropriating money to the commissioner for the grant fund

ARTICLE 2 - HEALTHIER MINNESOTANS

Modifying certain provisions under the clean indoor air act; modifying the public policy to reflect the hazards of secondhand smoke; defining or redefining certain terms; prohibiting smoking in places of employment and in public transportation vehicles; requiring family home or group family day care providers to disclose to parents or guardians of children cared for on the premises of the existence of smoking on the premises outside the hours of operation; expanding the prohibition on smoking in health care facilities to licensed residential facilities for children and modifying the prohibition on smoking in nursing and boarding care homes; authorizing smoking in public transportation vehicles used for personal purposes by the driver, passengers disclosure requirement; limiting smoking in outdoor seating areas of restaurants or bars; strengthening the responsibility of proprietors in charge of public places to prevent smoking; authorizing smoking in traditional native American ceremonies; specifically excluding private homes, residences and automobiles and hotel or motel rooms from the smoking prohibitions; enumerating violations of the prohibitions, providing an affirmative defense to the charge of failing to prohibit smoking and prohibiting retaliatory actions against violation reporters or against employees, employment applicants or customers exercising the right to a smoke free environment; increasing the tax on cigarettes and tobacco products and imposing a floor stocks tax, requiring crediting of the revenue to the health care access fund, requiring audits; authorizing more stringent city or county regulations to protect individuals from secondhand smoke; repealing the provision authorizing the designation of smoking areas in public places

ARTICLE 3 - HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM

Providing for universal health coverage, requiring state residents to obtain and maintain health coverage; specifying certain essential benefit set and guaranteed issue requirements of health plan companies, regulating premium rates; requiring the commissioners of commerce, health and human services to convene an expert advisory committee to develop a report, recommendations and proposed legislation to establish an essential health care benefit set to serve as core coverage for submission to the legislature by a certain date, specifying certain legislation content requirements and providing for community input; providing an income tax subtraction for health coverage premiums; requiring the commissioner of commerce to present to the legislature by a certain date a plan for reactivating the reinsurance pool and converting the pool for high cost cases and a report and recommendations by a certain later date to prohibit health plan companies from offering coverage plans limiting or restricting member ability to obtain coverage from qualified providers of choice; requiring the commissioner of health to prepare a submit to the legislature by a certain date a report with recommendations and proposed legislation for enforcing the requirement for individual maintenance of continuous health coverage

ARTICLE 4 - IMPROVING VALUE IN HEALTH CARE PURCHASING

Stating the intent of the legislature to promote and support a health care purchasing system for public and private purchasers of health care promoting individual consumer choice; requiring the state agency commissioners serving on the governor's health care cabinet in cooperation with certain health care organizations to identify and contract with a private nonprofit organization to serve as a statewide source of information on health care quality; requiring the commissioner of health to develop a plan by a certain date for the development of useful, reliable and valid indormaion on cost to support purchasing of health care based on value

ARTICLE 5 - HIGH QUALITY CARE

Changing best practices guidelines to evidence based health care guidelines for health care cost containment purposes and prescribing certain criteria for the guidelines; requiring the commissioners of human services and employee relations (DOER) to develop a financial reward program to compensate health care practices implementing effective quality improvement programs or systems for use in state contracts with health plans; requiring the commissioner of health to establish and implement a loan program to help physicians or physician group practices in installing electronic medical record systems, authorizing program administration rules; specifying certain borrower eligibility requirements and a loan limit and imposing a repayment time limit; establishing the electronic medical record system loan fund and revenue bond proceeds and debt service accounts within the fund and appropriating money in the fund to the commissioner for loan program administration purposes; authorizing and providing for the commissioner of finance to issue electronic medical record system revenue bonds and appropriating money to the commissioner for capitalization of the electronic medical record system loan fund; requiring the commissioner of health in consultation with the commissioners of finance and administration to submit recommendations to the legislature by a certain date to establish a quality improvement investment program for health care organization and health professional association electronic information systems establishment or upgrades
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