Aligning for Impact: Minnesota's Health Data Evolution

A 2026 Leadership Series from the MNCM Board Chair & President

As we begin 2026, MN Community Measurement’s Board of Directors has taken an important step toward strengthening Minnesota’s health data infrastructure. In January, the Board authorized the initiation of an Executive Leadership Council (ELC), convened in partnership with the Minnesota Electronic Health Records Consortium (MN EHRC) and Koble, to explore the development of a cooperative, statewide approach to health data.

This action reflects both urgency and opportunity. Across Minnesota, health care organizations, health plans, community based service providers, and public agencies share a common challenge: our health data ecosystem has become increasingly fragmented and duplicative. Multiple reporting pathways, inconsistent standards, and overlapping infrastructure create administrative burden, strain resources, and limit the full value that data can provide to improve care and outcomes.

At the same time, Minnesota has a strong foundation—trusted organizations, engaged stakeholders, and a longstanding commitment to quality measurement and transparency. We believe this moment calls for coordinated leadership to assess whether a more cooperative, aligned model can better serve all participants in our health system, including the communities at its heart.

Why an Executive Leadership Council?

The Executive Leadership Council is designed to bring together a small group of senior executives—leaders with system-level insight and decision-making authority—to examine a fundamental question:

Is there a viable path toward a cooperative health data model that reduces burden, improves data quality, aligns with national standards, and supports statewide priorities?

The ELC is not an operational working group. It is a strategic leadership body. Its purpose is to clarify the value proposition, define success, evaluate governance and sustainability models, and ultimately make a recommendation on whether—and how—to proceed.

Participation will be intentionally limited to ensure focused, decision-oriented dialogue. Members will include executive leaders representing MNCM, MN EHRC, Koble, key provider systems, health plans, and public-sector stakeholders. Council members are expected to participate personally, prepare in advance, and serve as ambassadors for thoughtful, cooperative stewardship within their organizations.

The Board’s January action signals our belief that this level of executive engagement is necessary to address questions of this scale and importance.

A Structured, Phased Approach

The ELC’s work will unfold over four strategic phases throughout 2026, supported by staff analysis and technical expertise. The Council’s role is to review synthesized findings, set direction, and authorize progression between phases.

Phase 1: Alignment and Defining Success (Q1 2026)

The Council’s initial work will establish a shared understanding of the challenges facing Minnesota’s health data infrastructure and define what “success” would look like in a cooperative model.

Key questions include:

• What statewide problems must be solved to justify investment?
• What outcomes—burden reduction, cost savings, quality improvement—matter most?
• What decisions must be made by the end of 2026?

This phase will result in agreed-upon success criteria and a clear decision framework to guide the remainder of the year.

Phase 2: Value Proposition and Use Case Validation (Q2 2026)

In the second quarter, the ELC will evaluate where a cooperative model could deliver the greatest near- and medium-term value.

Rather than attempting to solve everything at once, the Council will prioritize specific use cases that demonstrate clear return on investment and meaningful reduction in administrative burden. Examples under consideration include advancing clinical quality measurement, improving Medicaid-related data workflows, and aligning with emerging digital quality standards.

The goal is to determine where a cooperative approach meaningfully outperforms siloed or incremental strategies—and to articulate a compelling value proposition for stakeholders and potential funders.

Phase 3: Governance, Business Model, and Sustainability (Q3 2026)

If value and priority use cases are validated, the ELC will turn its attention to structure and sustainability.

This includes evaluating governance and ownership models, assessing cost-sharing principles, exploring eligibility for federal matching funds, and identifying funding pathways that ensure long-term viability.

A core consideration throughout this phase will be trust and equity. Any proposed model must reinforce shared accountability, distribute benefits and responsibilities fairly, and leverage the strengths of existing organizations rather than displacing them.

Phase 4: Implementation Roadmap and Final Recommendation (Q4 2026)

The final phase will translate strategic decisions into an actionable roadmap.

The Council will review a phased implementation plan, identify required commitments and risk mitigation strategies, and issue a formal recommendation to the MNCM Board and partner organizations by the end of calendar year 2026.

Importantly, this process does not presume a predetermined outcome. The ELC’s mandate is to rigorously assess feasibility and value—and to recommend a path forward grounded in evidence, practicality, and shared benefit.

Guiding Principles

Throughout its work, the Executive Leadership Council will operate under a set of guiding principles:

• Executive-level focus: Strategic direction rather than operational detail.
• Value-driven decisions: Demonstrable reduction of burden, improved data quality, and statewide benefit.
• Cooperative stewardship: Trust, transparency, and shared accountability.
• Standards alignment: Readiness for FHIR, OMOP, digital quality measurement, TEFCA, and evolving CMS/Medicaid models.
• Pragmatic, phased progress: Leveraging existing assets and advancing incrementally before building new structures.
• Transparency: Clear documentation of assumptions, trade-offs, and recommendations.

These principles reflect both MNCM’s longstanding commitments and the collaborative ethos we share with MN EHRC and Koble.

Why This Matters Now

Health care organizations across Minnesota are navigating increasing complexity: federal interoperability requirements, digital quality reporting, Medicaid transformation efforts, and growing expectations for timely, actionable data.

Without coordination, these pressures risk compounding administrative burden and fragmenting investments further. With alignment, however, they present an opportunity to modernize our infrastructure in a way that better serves providers, payers, public agencies, and—most importantly—community members.

A cooperative approach has the potential to:

• Reduce duplicative reporting and infrastructure costs
• Improve data quality and consistency
• Accelerate adoption of national standards
• Strengthen Minnesota’s competitiveness for federal funding
• Enable more meaningful measurement and improvement of health outcomes

This initiative is not about building something new for its own sake. It is about thoughtfully assessing whether a shared, cooperative model can create greater value than the status quo.

Looking Ahead

The Board’s January decision to initiate the Executive Leadership Council reflects our commitment to proactive, system-level leadership. We are grateful to MN EHRC and Koble for their partnership in this effort and to the executive leaders who will consider serving on the Council.

Throughout 2026, we will provide updates on the ELC’s progress and the insights emerging from its work. We also recognize that this conversation belongs to the broader Minnesota health community. As ideas take shape, stakeholder engagement will be essential.

Minnesota has long been recognized for innovation, collaboration, and commitment to quality. By bringing executive leaders together around a shared question—and by approaching that question with rigor, transparency, and cooperative spirit—we aim to position our state for a more coordinated, sustainable, and future-ready health data ecosystem.

We look forward to the work ahead.

Signed,
Mark Steffen, MD
Board Chair, MN Community Measurement

Liz Cinqueonce, MBA
President & CEO, MN Community Measurement