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• The federal government will pay 90 percent of the cost of the initiative, which will be analyzed after two years to determine if it's effective in improving health care and cutting costs. Malsam-Rysdon said 105 providers have signed up for the program.
• Dave Hewett, president of the South Dakota Association of Health Care Organizations, said the Affordable Care Act itself has helped slow the rise in medical costs by reducing Medicare reimbursements to hospitals and other providers. Hospitals also are working to reduce errors, infections acquired in hospitals and patient readmissions. Family doctors, specialists and others are increasingly sharing information as part of an effort to keep people well instead of just treating them when they are sick, he said.
• "We see health care going in a different direction, recognizing that the health care delivery system we had in the early, early 2000s is not going to be sustainable," Hewett said.
• Heinemann said doctors also are learning more about the cost of different services so they and their patients can choose appropriate treatments. Doctors are working with patients to make sure they follow instructions to take medications, get follow-up treatment and change their lifestyles, he said.
• Heinemann, who was a primary care doctor before becoming chief medical officer for the Sanford Health Network, said the Affordable Care Act should provide insurance coverage that will allow people to get checkups and early treatment.
• "We can avoid the heart attack. We can avoid the complications of diabetes. We can do a variety of other things that help reduce the cost of care by averting it or avoiding it," Heinemann said.
• "We know that people who have health coverage are healthier and live longer than people who don't," he said.
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• BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- Farmers say they're pleased with efforts by the federal Risk Management Agency to clarify rules for prevented planting insurance in five Upper Midwest states.
• The insurance pays farmers if their cropland is too wet or dry to plant. They must meet certain rules to qualify, and confusion over those rules led many farmers, particularly in North Dakota, to wonder if they would qualify on land they couldn't plant last spring because of wet weather.
• North Dakota's congressional delegation asked the Risk Management Agency to clarify the rules, and the agency has done so starting with the 2014 crop year. Risk

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