Allina Health System, which conducts business as Allina Hospitals & Clinics, will soon market itself as Allina Health instead-a move that reflects its renewed mission to keep patients healthy and away from the hospital.

Allina spokesman David Kanihan told Twin Cities Business that the company will gradually start marketing itself as Allina Health this spring. He added that Allina's legal name, Allina Health System, will not change.

According to a Star Tribune report, Allina CEO Ken Paulus on Tuesday told an audience at the University of Minnesota that the rebranding will reflect the hospital's new emphasis on preventing chronic diseases and treating illnesses away from a hospital setting.

“We're never going to build another hospital,” Paulus reportedly said to a packed house at the U's McNamara Alumni Center.

Like many health care organizations, Allina is shifting its focus to adjust to changes brought forth within the industry by the federal health care reform act signed by President Barack Obama in 2010, the Star Tribune reported.

In the coming years, health care providers will be paid based on how effective they are at helping patients avoid costly hospital stays and emergency room visits, rather than the number of treatments they give.

“We're on life support,” Paulus reportedly said. “Like it or not, [reform] is here to stay.”

To support its renewed mission, Allina plans to launch a number of initiatives in the next one to two years, including looking for ways to deliver more health care at home and adding more employees to help coordinate care for cancer patients. The company also plans to roll out a “health score” assessment that is similar to a credit score and will quantify a patient's risk for certain diseases.

Allina is a Minneapolis-based nonprofit hospital system that operates 11 hospitals and and 42 Allina-branded medical clinics. Abbott Northwestern Hospital is its largest hospital.