ST. PAUL (AP) &045; A year ago, Gov. Tim Pawlenty rolled out the &8220;Smart Buy Alliance,&8221; promising to harness the &8220;thundering power&8221; of government, business and labor interests to push through improvements in health care and save money.

Today, the Republican governor points to small victories &045; including a rare reprieve from rising health insurance premiums for state employees &045; and says a full transformation of the health care system is three to five years away.

His vision: a world where a few mouse-clicks can connect consumers and employers to the best medical providers instead of mediocre rivals. Electronic records and claims speed everything up and eliminate time-consuming errors. Armed with information, patients make smarter choices that improve their health and slow runaway medical costs to a crawl.

&8220;This is like turning a big aircraft carrier. It’s not going to turn on a dime,&8221; Pawlenty said. &8220;The bottom line is, we can show through the early returns here, through the state employee program, if you take these kinds of approaches you can save a lot of money, maintain quality and hopefully expand access.&8221;

But many in the business of health care say they have yet to feel much oomph from the initiative. They give Pawlenty credit for sketching out a vision of reform, but say there’s still some distance to cover.

Expenses for the state’s health insurers rose 7.4 percent last year &045; the slowest growth in seven years, but still well above inflation and wage increases. Consumers were hit even harder, with out-of-pocket costs jumping 15 percent. At least there’s a payback: Minnesota consistently ranks as the healthiest state or one of the healthiest states in the nation.