Collaboration Blog | Depression Care in Minnesota: We can’t let another year go by.

April 1, 2020

by: Deb Krause, Vice President for Minnesota Health Action Group; and Liz Cinqueonce, Chief Operating Officer for MN Community Measurement

MN Community Measurement (MNCM) recently released the   2019 Health Care Quality Report. We want to highlight the good news, the troubling news, and the opportunity — with a special focus on mental health and health care in Minnesota.

First, the good news.  

  • We have a level of transparency about health care quality in Minnesota that other states only aspire to have. The Quality Report is published annually, illuminating trends overall and providing valuable access to quality data at a clinic level. This transparency helps care systems, clinics and health plans understand and improve performance. It also helps individuals (patients and family members seeking care) to make informed choices and seek care from top-performing providers.
  • The most recent report highlights one very positive trend for mental health care: Adolescent mental health and/or depression screening has increased from 39.9% of patients in 2015 to 86.1% of patients in 2019. In this time of escalating concern about the mental health of our youth, this is tremendous news. We applaud the clinics that have updated their workflows to improve patient care. Screening to identify those in need of mental health care is an important first step to getting them the care they deserve.

But, the troubling news.

  • Depression remission at 6 months remains “stuck” at a particularly low level — just 8.2% in 2019, compared to 8.0% in 2016. This measures the percentage of patients diagnosed with depression by their primary care providers, who received follow-up and were reassessed at 6 months, and have improved sufficiently to be considered in remission. Mental health conditions are treatable and there are examples of providers in our communities achieving outcomes far above the average. This is what we want for all patients — that they receive good, timely care and get better. But it isn’t happening for most Minnesotans with depression.
  • For some other depression measures there was a statistically significant rate increase in the 2019 report, but it falls far short of the outcomes our community expects to achieve. For example, depression remission at 12 months was 7.5% in 2019, up from 6.9% in 2018. Despite the higher rates, the results remain troubling and there is a large opportunity for improvement.
  • Finally, there continues to be a considerable gap in performance for mental health outcome measures relative to physical health outcome measures for conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular or asthma care.

And now, the opportunity.

Given the plateau in depression remission, we offer these words of wisdom from Henry Ford:

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”

​–​ Henry Ford

Here are examples of constructive action:

  • MNCM’s Board of Directors recently identified improving depression remission as one of its priorities for partnering with others to drive improvement. This will prioritize actions to enhance data reporting, support research to understand barriers, and work with the community to advance solutions. 
  • The Action Group is conducting important research during 2020 to identify best practices of high-performing clinics with respect to depression remission as part of a prestigious Eugene B. Washington Community Engagement Award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). The research will identify best clinical practices and other significant factors associated with clinic performance scores on the depression remission measure. Disseminating the research findings will help providers and their patients in Minnesota and beyond. 
  • The Path Forward is uniting employers, leading nonprofits, and other stakeholders in Minnesota and across the nation to execute a disciplined, private sector approach to systematically and measurably improve five established best practices of mental health and substance use care.

Measurement is the starting place. Improvement is necessary. Results are the goal.

All stakeholders have a role to play — health plans, care systems and clinics, providers, nonprofits, coalitions, and employers. Let’s hold ourselves accountable for aligning efforts to drive meaningful improvement in depression remission. We can’t let another year go by.

“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement and success have no meaning. “

​–​ Benjamin Franklin

Liz and Deb

Liz Cinqueonce
Chief Operating Officer
MN Community Measurement

Deb Krause
Vice President
Minnesota Health Action Group


Posted in Blog

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October 20, 2026
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — October 20, 2026 — MN Community Measurement (MNCM) today announced that it has completed its acquisition of Koble-MN's health information exchange (HIE) business line and the MNSHINE brand from The Koble Group. On November 1, MNCM will officially change its legal name to Minnesota Statewide Health Information Network and Exchange, known as MNSHINE. The transition follows a special joint meeting of MNCM's Board of Directors and members on October 12, at which the Board unanimously approved resolutions authorizing the acquisition, changing the organization's legal name, and establishing a new HIE Advisory Committee. Members unanimously adopted the name change and related amendments to the organization's Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws. An intentional decision to collaborate The transition is the result of an intentional decision by Minnesota health care leaders to collaborate on a health data landscape that makes sense: one that reduces redundancy, increases efficiency, and delivers needed information to those with legal authorization to receive it, where and when it is needed, without unnecessary administrative barriers. "This is not simply a merger of services. It is a deliberate choice to build the kind of health data infrastructure Minnesota deserves," said Liz Cinqueonce, President and CEO of MNCM. "For too long, organizations across our state have had to navigate duplicative systems and disconnected data. By bringing measurement and exchange together, we can reduce that burden and make sure the right information reaches the right people at the right time, with patient privacy protections firmly in place, so they can focus on improving care." The effort builds on months of work by the Executive Leadership Council, convened earlier this year by MNCM, the Minnesota Electronic Health Records Consortium, and Koble to explore how a sustainable, statewide health data utility could serve the public interest. "Minnesota is at its best when we take on difficult challenges together and align on solutions," said Mark Steffen, MD, Chair of the MNCM Board of Directors. "The Board's unanimous support reflects a shared conviction that our future depends on organizations keeping their unique strengths and missions while participating in shared infrastructure and governance. That balance is what enables greater coordination, transparency, efficiency, and impact." A trusted backbone for Minnesota's health data Minnesota's future health data ecosystem is one in which organizations retain their unique strengths and missions while participating in shared infrastructure and governance. The vision for MNSHINE is to become the health data utility, governed in the public interest with strong privacy protections and transparency, that serves as the trusted backbone connecting these efforts, ensuring data can be used more effectively to improve health, wellbeing, and outcomes for all Minnesotans. By bringing the measurement of health care quality, cost, and utilization together with the infrastructure that moves clinical data between organizations, MNSHINE will be positioned to support providers, payers, public health, researchers, policymakers, and communities alike, each within the limits of applicable law and participant agreements. The goal is healthier people, stronger communities, greater equity, better public decisions, smarter investments, and a health system that learns continuously. Continuity for HIE participants HIE services will continue without interruption. To ensure continuity of leadership and relationships, Chad Peterson, CEO of The Koble Group, has joined MNCM as Senior Vice President of HIE Services. “For HIE participants, this transition opens new possibilities,” said Peterson. “When exchange and measurement are guided by one mission, we can reduce duplication for providers and better support care coordination, while holding firm to the privacy protections patients expect. I’m proud to help lead that work, and I’m committed to making sure every participant feels supported as we grow.” MNCM has also established the HIE Advisory Committee as a standing committee of its Board of Directors. The committee continues the work of the Koble-MN Advisory Committee and will advise the Board on interoperability, participant relationships, privacy, security, data governance, and health equity. Jennifer Lamprecht of Sanford Health and Dr. Justine Mrosak of Hennepin Healthcare have been appointed to co-chair the committee, which will include consumer representatives alongside members representing a cross-section of Minnesota's health care community. Protecting patient privacy This transition changes who operates Minnesota's health information exchange. It does not change how patient information is protected or who may access it. MNSHINE will continue to operate in compliance with HIPAA and the Minnesota Health Records Act, which is among the strongest patient-consent laws in the nation, and in compliance with the participant agreements that govern how information is exchanged. Health information exchange and measurement will each remain governed by their own legal and contractual requirements, and bringing them into one organization does not change the purposes for which patient information may be used.
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