12-County Group Picked For Rural Health Care Pilot

WILLMAR, (AP) - A consortium of 12 rural Minnesota counties has been selected for a three-year pilot project that could serve as a state and national model for providing services to people receiving government-funded medical care.

Southern Prairie Community Care was notified late last week that the Minnesota Department of Human Services had selected it for the project.

The 12 counties have been working for years to develop a system that could serve as a more efficient alternative to the Medicaid program offered by the state through contracts with insurance plans such as UCare and BluePlus.

Kandiyohi County Commissioner Jim Butterfield says this will be the first model of its kind in the United States, so there'll be a lot of eyes watching it.