HealthPartners and Park Nicollet have agreed to a consolidation. HealthPartners is an insurer which - like Park Nicollet - operates dozens of clinics and one of the Twin Cities major hospitals. It still needs federal approval, but the deal would be Minnesota's largest health care merger in years.

Minnesota's latest effort to fight abuse of heroin and other opiates brings together a range of government departments and health care providers. The health, public safety, human services, and education departments are all involved. So are doctors, since many addictions grow out of the painkillers they prescribe.

Peter H. Bailey, of The Prouty Project, called upon one of his favorite people in the area. Geraldine Harlan provides an insider’s glimpse into one of the Twin Cities’ favored companies...

One task force will design Minnesota's version of a health insurance exchange, which is required under the new federal health care law. The other will look more broadly at ways to cut costs and improve quality in the state's health care system.

The private Commonwealth Fund ranked the St. Paul region the best out of more than 300 areas across the country. Rochester and Minneapolis were also among the top five. It's based on access to health care, prevention, treatment and healthy living. The Duluth region was placed 70th.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services announced Thursday that the state has begun implementing a 2009 law with a goal of extending MinnesotaCare health care coverage to 16,000 uninsured children. Under the plan, parents whose incomes are below a certain level will no longer have to pay premiums for their children on MinnesotaCare.

Governor Mark Dayton says Sen. David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, is holding up $25 million in federal health care money. Dayton says the money--which has no state match--goes to help children and elderly Minnesotans.

Lawmakers there could approve a bill during a special session this week to authorize a health insurance exchange system, one of the requirements of federal health reform. The idea is to create a website to help consumers compare the costs and benefits of different policies.