Minnesota Health Care Performance in 2020 Reflects Pandemic Challenges

March 29, 2022

New Online Tool Allows Easier Comparisons Across Medical Groups

Statewide performance on many measures of health care quality declined in 2020, according to a new report from MN Community Measurement. The Minnesota Health Care Quality Report: Results for Care Delivered in 2020 is a comprehensive summary that includes statewide and medical group performance on measures for preventive care, care for chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease, depression care, and other measures.

The most recent results come from data reported to MNCM in 2021, covering services received by patients in 2020. Report highlights include:

  • There continues to be significant variation in performance across medical groups. For many measures, the gap between scores of the lowest and highest performing medical groups is more than 50 percentage points. 
  • Statewide performance fell for most measures in 2020, likely a reflection of significant disruptions in care due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Measures showing the largest declines in statewide performance were Controlling High Blood Pressure (-12.2 percentage points), Osteoporosis Management in Women Who Had a Fracture (-11.4 percentage points) and PHQ-9/PHQ-9M Utilization for Adults (-8.8 percentage points).
  • Recovery from the impacts of the pandemic will require outreach to patients who missed important preventive care or chronic disease care, along with concerted efforts to fill gaps in data that are needed for ongoing follow-up and management of chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, asthma, and depression.

“The declines in most measures that we saw for 2020 were not surprising, given the challenges faced during the pandemic,” said Julie Sonier, MNCM President and CEO. “It remains to be seen how fast Minnesota’s health care system will recover, but we know that some of the impacts of the pandemic such as workforce challenges are likely to be felt for years to come.”

The report includes performance data for approximately 150 medical groups that operate about 1,000 clinics in Minnesota and border communities in neighboring states. A new online Dynamic Tables reporting tool makes it easier to compare, filter, and sort data included in the report by medical group. Because of pandemic-related disruptions to care delivery and operations in 2020, MNCM chose not to publish results for individual clinics this year. Clinic-level public reporting will resume with 2021 performance data. The Dynamic Tables reporting tool includes data for 2019 and 2020 and can be accessed at https://www.mncm.org/dynamictables/.

This year, MNCM’s Health Care Quality Report highlights ten medical groups that achieved above-average performance on at least 50 percent of the measures that were applicable for them. These groups are:

  • Child and Teen Medical Center
  • Entira Family Clinics
  • Essentia Health
  • HealthPartners Clinics
  • Lakewood Health System
  • Mankato Clinic, Ltd.
  • Mayo Clinic
  • Mayo Clinic Health System
  • Park Nicollet Health Services
  • Westfields Hospital and Clinic

Importance of Measurement

Measuring and reporting health care quality helps consumers understand how care varies across providers, allows providers to identify improvement opportunities and how their measures compare to others, and helps health plans and other purchasers better understand and improve value for money that is spent on health care.

“Minnesota is quite unique in the capabilities that we’ve built to measure and report on health care outcomes,” said Sonier. “Having a common set of priorities and common set of data have been huge assets to our state in focusing efforts to drive improvement.”

About MN Community Measurement MN Community Measurement is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering health care decision makers with meaningful data to drive improvement. A trusted source of health care data since 2005, MNCM works with doctors, hospitals, clinics, insurance companies, and state agencies to collect, analyze, and report health care data related to quality, cost, and equity of health care. Learn more at www.mncm.org.


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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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