Ucare Minnesota

“Care's bylaws describe an executive committee subject to the control of the board and with the authority to only meet between scheduled meetings of the board and to take actions on certain matters. This executive committee rarely is convened and did not meet during 2024.”

“Individuals enrolled in ucare's health plans have the right under the bylaws, and consistent with minn. Stat. 62d.06, to elect at least 40% of individuals on the board of directors from among the enrolled members.”

“The form 990 was prepared by the controller and reviewed by an independent accounting firm. Ucare provided a copy and reviewed the detail of the completed form 990 with the board's finance, audit & business development committee. Ucare also provided a copy of the completed form 990 to all members of the board of directors via on-line portal prior to the finance, audit & business development committee's report to the board. Upon approval by the board of directors, the form 990 was filed with the internal revenue service.”

“Ucare requires completion of an annual questionnaire by its board members, officers, and senior executives, which is designed to surface potential conflicts of interest. In addition, ucare's conflict of interest policy requires disclosure to the board chair and/or ceo of a potential conflict involving a director, officer, or management staff when a particular transaction arises. If the board or designated board committee determines that a potential conflict exists related to a transaction requiring action by the board, the policy calls for the board member with the potential conflict to abstain from voting. In addition, a majority of the disinterested directors must find that the transaction is fair and reasonable to the operation and that the organization could not reasonably find a more advantageous transaction from another entity without a potential conflict. The policy also requires disclosure of potential conflicts to the board or designated committee even for transactions not requiring board action.”

“On an annual basis, ucare's compensation committee reviews and approves the president and ceo's total cash compensation, including base pay and incentive pay. Compensation and benefits are reviewed, as described below, every two to three years. The most recent full review was in june 2024. The compensation committee is composed of members of the board of directors. Ucare engages an independent consultant organization that specializes in advising health care organizations about executive compensation issues. The independent consultant organization conducts a comparability analysis that incorporates multiple industry surveys and compensation for comparable positions at peer organizations. The independent consultant organization then shares the results of this comparability analysis with the compensation committee. After deliberation about the comparability analysis and recommendations, the committee evaluates the annual cash compensation package for the president & ceo. The committee brings recommendations about ceo base compensation and incentive opportunity to the board for approval, and reports other actions taken by the committee to the board. Minutes are recorded contemporaneously to accurately document the committee's discussions and actions, and the independent consultant organization's report is retained for recordkeeping purposes. The compensation committee also participates in the compensation process for other senior executives, including the treasurer & executive vice president/chief financial officer, the executive vice president/secretary/chief legal officer, the executive vice president/chief medical officer, the executive vice president/chief administrative officer, the executive vice president and chief information officer, the executive vice president and chief strategy officer, and executive vice president and chief growth officer. The process for determining compensation for these positions follows a compensation philosophy approved by the board of directors. Every two to three years, an independent consultant organization conducts a comparability analysis for these positions, focusing on total compensation data including base pay, incentive pay, and benefits for comparable positions at peer organizations, consistent with the analysis for the president and ceo position. The most recent analysis occurred in june 2023. The compensation committee receives and discusses the analysis and recommendations with the independent consultant organization and provides input for the president & ceo in determining cash compensation for the officers and senior executives. The compensation committee has delegated specific cash compensation approval for these leaders to the president & ceo, who is an independent person with respect to these compensation determinations, provided that the president & ceo follows the board-approved compensation philosophy, takes into account the comparability analysis, and obtains annual review by the committee. The committee's discussion and input are reflected in contemporaneous documentation, and a copy of the independent consultant organization's report is retained.”

“Ucare minnesota's 990 form is available on third-party websites such as guidestar and propublica, in addition to being made available upon request.”

“Ucare files its governing documents and conflict of interest policy with the minnesota department of health, and this public information would be available from this agency upon request.”

“Ucare organizes and operates a health maintenance organization (hmo) providing coordinated health care and coverage for approximately 640,000 individuals from the community enrolled in state government programs, federal medicare advantage programs, dually eligible medicare, and medicaid programs, and mnsure marketplace plans. Ucare's programs provide services to seniors, low-income families, those with physical disabilities, and other individuals who may have challenges accessing health care. Ucare is dedicated to promoting the health of the community it serves and makes quality health care available on an economically advantageous, prepaid basis to that community. Our services are guided by ucare's mission which is to improve the health of our members through innovative services and partnerships across communities. Throughout each area, ucare implemented interventions that met the needs of our culturally and ethnically diverse membership that included: - structural interventions including accessibility and availability of primary care, mental health and substance use disorder, and specialty care providers; value-based contracting; and medical record standards and advance directive audits. - community resources including member wellness and safety initiatives; community partnerships, social services referrals. - tailored interventions to support ncqa, hedis, star ratings, quality rating system, cahps, hos, member experience, member safety, focused studies, disease management and care management programs. The quality monitoring, program initiatives and services demonstrated many significant activities and outcomes. The following percentages of measure elements met or exceeded the national ncqa 75th percentile for each product: - 61.2% of essentiacare - 55.6% of ucare medicare - 48.6% of yourchoice ppo ucare medicare - 44.7% of minnesotacare - 48.3% of connect + medicare - 48.5% of m health fairview north memorial - 46.7% of msho - 65.4% of individual and family plans (based on quality rating system) - 50.7% of connect - 30.5% of pmap medicare star ratings program: cms continues to make significant measurement changes that make it harder for plans to maintain and achieve high ratings. The national average star performance declined for the third year in a row, with only seven 5-star plans remaining for the 2025 plan year - none in minnesota. Ucare plans experienced star losses but retained high ratings for our ucare medicare and essentiacare plans. Ucare medicare received a 4 star and essentiacare received a 4.5 star. Msho and connect + medicare decreased by a half star for the 2025 plan year, dropping to a 3.5 star and 3 star respectively. Overall, special needs plans (snp) offered in minnesota dropped in star ratings for the 2025 plan year. This was the first year that ucare your choice qualified for an individual star rating and earned 3.5 out of 5 stars. Ucare continuously strives to improve the health of members. Ucare identified key focus areas that support quality measure performance across all products with a continued focus on improving at or above the national 75th percentile and maintaining or achieving high performance in our star ratings program for medicare and individual and family plans. Ucare provided many health promotion, disease management, care management and wellness programs. These efforts not only benefit the health of enrollees, but positively affect their families and larger communities. Examples include: disease management programs for asthma, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and congestive heart failure; falls prevention programs to improve safety of seniors; management of maternity services (moms) programs that provide resources to enrollees and providers to improve pregnancy and post-partum health, car seat distribution, education to pregnant women and children; tobacco cessation programs and services to help members live nicotine free, and distribution of free materials on health education and prop”

“In addition to ucare's business of providing public health care program plans that seek to improve the health of our communities, ucare's community benefit efforts go beyond our everyday commitment to members. Through ucare's community benefit program, we reach out to the larger community by: - addressing social risk factors that may undermine the health of the community. - strengthening the providers that serve populations with challenges accessing care. - encouraging the wellness of families and seniors in our neighborhoods. - supporting research, programs, and organizations that benefit health care quality and delivery. - supporting medical education related to improving access to primary care. In september 2023, the university of minnesota and ucare executed a settlement agreement to resolve a governance dispute. Ucare is to contribute $100 million in $25 million increments, with the last contribution made on or before december 31, 2025. Since execution of the settlement agreement, the $100 million has been in a ucare foundation restricted money market account with the balance continuing to accrue interest. Ucare's contributions will be used to fund projects that are consistent with the missions of both organizations in four health care priority areas: health equity and access; rural health and outreach; mental health and aging; and department of family medicine priority programs. Ucare distributed over 1,500 transitional care kits to 29 nonprofit organizations in 18 outstate counties supporting people transitioning from homelessness into stable housing and entering transitional care settings. The kits included soap, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, snacks, socks, lip balm and hand sanitizer. Ucare provided financial support for the ucare foundation, a community-directed initiative of ucare. The foundation's grantmaking focuses on programs and initiatives that improve the health of underserved populations in the twin cities and throughout greater minnesota with innovative services, education, community outreach, and research. In 2024, the foundation supported dozens of projects and programs for: greater dental access in greater minnesota; disabilities initiatives to improve accessibility in provider settings and quality of life in home settings; and nutrition and food security funding to increase access to healthy food and reduce systemic barriers to good nutrition and appropriate diet during pregnancy. Other grants helped fund a mobile market serving fresh nutritious food in metro area food deserts; dental center improvement project; and transitional housing kits for homeless individuals. More than a dozen grants were awarded to support county and tribal government efforts to improve dental care, food security mental health and american indian maternal/child health. Finally, as part of an effort to expand business and impact into iowa, the ucare foundation issued 18 grants to rural and urban iowa non-profit organizations, county governments and school districts to address areas such as: food security, home and community-based nursing scholarships, transitional housing supports, preventive health, school-based mental health, and latino maternal and children's health. Ucare supports a mobile grocery store that increases access to healthy, affordable food in under-resourced area and programs that provide various supports to aging seniors who are struggling to live independently in the community and experiencing social isolation. During 2024, ucare also helped many community organizations and providers delivering services, research, and programs that reach beyond ucare's membership, including efforts to strengthen the social safety net for at-risk families and seniors and advance efforts to address issues related to social determinants of health. Ucare provided substantial funding to improve dental access in rural areas of minnesota. Grants to metro and rural counties helped to support the development and operation of various”

“Medical services: program service expenses 6,216,967,791. Management and general expenses 0. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 6,216,967,791. Temporary/contract services: program service expenses 22,760,434. Management and general expenses 21,219,479. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 43,979,913. Purchased services: program service expenses 37,180,656. Management and general expenses 7,659,551. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 44,840,207. Outsourced services: program service expenses 30,772,627. Management and general expenses 14,951,659. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 45,724,286. Broker commissions: program service expenses 29,222,942. Management and general expenses 0. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 29,222,942. Health promotion services: program service expenses 5,972,211. Management and general expenses 0. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 5,972,211. Disease management services: program service expenses 2,659,110. Management and general expenses 0. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 2,659,110.”

“The authority and process for selecting the financial statement auditor and for overseeing the financial statement audit did not change during the year.”