MNCM Services
Who We Serve
MNCM services empower health care decision makers with meaningful data to drive improvement. We strive to deliver products that meet the specific needs of each community partner.
Health Care Providers and Payers
For health care providers and payers, MNCM is a trusted community collaborative offering data that illustrate performance on health care quality and cost with comparison to peers in the market. MNCM data recognize excellence and shed light on opportunities to improve quality outcomes and address disparities.
Providers, health plans and other payers that contribute data to MNCM receive a standard set of feedback reports. Founding and supporting members of MNCM have access to additional benefits, and all are welcome to join MNCM in our efforts to support the community in improving together.
Policy Makers and Researchers
For policy makers and researchers, MNCM is a trusted community collaborative offering timely data that illustrate statewide performance on health care quality and cost measures, as well as valuable expertise that can be used to inform sound policy. The data collected by MNCM are also valuable for program evaluation and other research that advances the body of knowledge supporting improvement in health care quality, equity and affordability.
Policy makers are encouraged to review MNCM Community Reports for the most recent statewide data. Additional detail on MNCM research and evaluation partnerships are available under Contract Services.
Employers, Patients and Caregivers
For employers, patients and caregivers, MNCM is a trusted community collaborative offering key insights into how medical groups and clinics score on health care quality and cost measures. This information provides helpful insights to patients and caregivers in their efforts to access high value care.
Employers, patients and caregivers are key community partners that participate in MNCM governance and inform the strategic direction for measurement and reporting in our community. Those interested in engagement opportunities can subscribe to the Measurement Minute newsletter.
Key resources to check out include our community reports and the MNHealthScores website.
Measurement & Reporting
MNCM is proud to partner with several organizations that support statewide measurement and reporting. Measurement and reporting services include measures of both clinical quality and health care cost. Many health care experts and community members help shape our work.
The Measurement and Reporting Committee (MARC) recommends measurement priorities, specifications, guiding principles and policies for public reporting of measurement data.
MARC Members
Current members of the MARC include:
Co-Chairs:
Anne Katherine Hust*, MD, MPH - Hennepin Healthcare
Sue Knudson*, MA - HealthPartners Health Plan
Members:
- Matt Flory - American Cancer Society
- Jamie Galbreath - UCare
- Cara Hull - HealthPartners Clinics
- Steve Inman, MD* - Pediatric Services, PA
- Craig Johnson - Therapy Partners, Inc.
- Dave Johnson - Hennepin County Public Health
- Clarence Jones* - Hue-MAN Partnership
- Sterling Kowalski - MN Department of Human Services
- David Kurtzon - Minnesota Department of Health
- Jennifer Lamprecht* - Sanford Health
- Tim Miller, MD* - South Country Health Alliance
- Christine Norton - Consumer
- Angela Olson - Fairview Range Medical Center Hibbing
- Bridget Olson - Planned Parenthood
- Carmen Parrotta - NorthPoint Health and Wellness
- Laura Pelaez, MD - Olmsted Medical Center
- Angie Pokharel - Blue Cross Blue Shield Minnesota
- David Satin, MD - University of Minnesota and University of Minnesota Physicians
- Denise Schneekloth - MN Rural Health Cooperative
- Meetul Shah - North Memorial
- Anne Stephen, MD - Consumer (retired physician)
- Amanda Strom - Allina Health
- Sean Wherry, MD* - CentraCare
*MNCM Board member
MARC Meetings
MNCM Slate of Measures
Each year, the MNCM Slate of Measures is reviewed by the Measure Review Committee (MRC). The MRC is a sub-committee of the MARC that provides ongoing evaluation of existing measures to ensure continued value to the community. Value criteria indicate a measure must:
- Be consistent with evidence-based standards of care and guidelines
- Address a high-priority aspect of health care (i.e. high disease burden, high resource use, severity of illness)
- Demonstrate a gap in performance
- Meet reliability and validity standards
The feasibility and burden of data collection, current use of the measures in accountability programs and/or quality improvement activities, and harmonization with existing local and national measures and/or programs – are also considered.
Recommendations from MRC inform development of the annual Slate of Measures recommended by the MARC and approved by MNCM Board of Directors each December.
Measure Review & Prioritization
Measure Review
Each of the publicly reported quality measures on the Slate of Measures undergoes a thorough review by MARC every three years. During these evaluations, the committee employs specific criteria to assess each measure:
- Presence of performance gap
- Impact on improving care
- Effort needed for data collection
- Effort needed to improve outcomes
- Denominator inclusivity
- Biases in calculations/algorithms
- Patient-reported outcome (PRO) tool accessibility
- Numerator based on inclusive guidelines
- Ability to stratify results by demographic variables
- Appropriateness of risk adjustment variables
- Known disparities within condition being measured
After thorough discussions, the committee votes on the future of each measure with options to continue, retire, monitor, or suggest changes (or submit comments for modifications if not measure steward).
The 2025-27 measure review schedule can be found here.
Measure Prioritization
In conjunction with the measure review process, MARC also implements a measure prioritization process every three years. This process aims to assess MNCM’s set of measures to ensure the topics addressed remain relevant and beneficial to the community. This process is outlined below:
- Survey community partners to prioritize measure areas.*
- MARC reviews survey results to identify top five focus areas.
- MNCM staff analyze and assess feasibility of existing measures in national landscape.
- MARC evaluates analyses and recommends adoption and/or development of measures.
- MNCM Board reviews recommendations and decides actions.
Last prioritization cycle: Fall 2023 | Next prioritization cycle: Fall 2026
*Information on how to provide input will be sent out via MNCM's quarterly newsletter, Measurement Minute. Sign up here to receive updates.
Public Comment
MNCM invites public comments for all publicly reported measures at any time. These comments will be considered during MARC's standard measure review cycle for each measure. Additionally, public comments regarding measure priorities are encouraged and will be evaluated during MARC's measure prioritization process.
All comments can be submitted at publiccomment@mncm.org. Please be sure to include your name, title, organization, and measure(s) you are commenting on in your submission.
CHIRP Governance Committee Members
The CHIRP Governance Committee advises the MNCM Board of Directors on the use cases, policies, and procedures for the CHIRP facilitated data sharing program. It includes equal representation from health care payers and health care providers.
Members include:
Jennifer Lamprecht (Co-Chair/Board of Director Representative) – Sanford Health
Chelsey Doepner (Co-Chair) – UCare
Annette Baumann – Hennepin Health
Shari Black – Mayo Clinic
Jill Coleman – Essentia Health
Sue Gentilli – Allina Health
Chad Heim – HealthPartners
Matt Hoenck – South Country Health Alliance
Bethany Krafthefer – Primewest Health
Maikin Farrington – Blue Cross Blue Shield of MN
Erica Schuler – Medica
Hannah Wieshalla – CentraCare
CHIRP Resources
CHIRP Payer Participants
Status of Health Plans participating in the CHIRP program:
- Blue Cross Blue Shield of MN - Active
- HealthPartners Health Plan - Active
- Hennepin Health - Active
- Medica - Active
- PrimeWest Health - Active
- South Country Health Alliance - Active
- UCare - Active
Definitions:
Pending: Working through agreements to participate in the program
In Progress: Working through PIPE onboarding
Active: Completed PIPE onboarding and can receive CHIRP facilitated data
CHIRP Provider Participants
Status of medical groups participating in the CHIRP program:
- North Memorial
- Status: In Progress
- Expected Validation Date: 12/1/2025
- Northfield Hospital and Clinics
- Status: In Progress
- Expected Validation Date: 12/1/2025
- Olmsted Medical Center
- Status: Validated
- Validation Date: 12/1/2023
- Sanford Health
- Status: In Progress
- Validation Date: 12/1/2026
- Southside Community Health Services
- Status: Validated
- Validation Date: 12/1/2023
- Stellis Health
- Status: Validated
- Validation Date: 6/1/2024
Definitions:
- In Progress Status: Medical group is eligible for facilitating CHIRP data, but has not yet gone through or is going through re-validation in the NCQA Data Aggregator Validation Program for validation to be considered standard supplemental.
- Validated Status: Medical group is eligible for facilitating CHIRP data and have gone through the NCQA Data Aggregator Validation Program for validation to be considered standard supplemental.
- Validation Date: Date in which medical group successfully completed validation through the NCQA Data Aggregator Validation Program.
CHIRP Facilitated Data Sharing Program
MNCM’s Common Health Information Reporting Partnership (CHIRP) offers a facilitated data sharing program, streamlining the bi-directional sharing of patient-level data between health care payers and providers for specified use cases that have been defined and agreed upon by MNCM’s CHIRP Governance Committee. The goal of CHIRP is to drive health care improvement by facilitating standardized data sharing that is timely, actionable, consistent, and complete. As part of the provider-to-payer component of CHIRP’s facilitated data sharing program, medical groups participate with MNCM in data validation through NCQA’s Data Aggregator Validation program.
For more information, contact the CHIRP Program Manager, Maegi Yang, at support@mncm.org.
Collaboration & Innovation
Obesity Measure Development, Testing and Use
MN Community Measurement (MNCM) and the Endocrine Society (ES) have entered a collaboration agreement to develop and test measures focused on obesity care. This work is supported by a grant to the Endocrine Society from Novo Nordisk.
The purpose of this project is to build on work completed previously through Obesity Care Model Collaborative (OCMC) sponsored by the American Medical Group Association (AMGA) Foundation to develop excellent outcome measures that will improve the health and well-being of patients with obesity. MNCM and ES will recruit experts to participate in interrelating Specification Engineering Group (SEG) and Technical Expert Panel (TEP) to prepare specifications for pilot testing and use.
This multi-year measure development and testing project aligns with MNCM’s mission to empower health care decision makers with meaningful measures and data to drive improvement for a condition that affects a large percentage of the population and can contribute to early mortality from chronic conditions or increase susceptibility to other diseases[1].
MN Community Measurement’s role:
- Review and evaluate measures developed for OCMC
- Create draft measure specifications
- Work with the Endocrine Society to recruit workgroup members for SEG/TEP
- Facilitate SEG and refine measure specifications; facilitate TEP for feedback
- Finalize detailed measure specifications, algorithms, data dictionary, value sets
- Pilot testing and technical assistance, data collection, analysis, and reporting
Endocrine Society’s role:
- Grant application and administration
- Work with MNCM to recruit workgroup members for SEG/TEP
- Work with MNCM to secure pilot participants for testing measures
- Collaborate with MNCM to determine steps for use in federal programs/ NQF endorsement, use dissemination
[1] https://www.endocrineweb.com/conditions/obesity/obesity-health-consequences
Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) Dashboard Initiative
In November 2023, MN Community Measurement launched a new data analysis tool for medical groups and clinics onboarded into PIPE related to chronic kidney disease (CKD) and diabetes.
The Dashboard will support medical groups in tracking and assessing improvement efforts related to CKD prevention, diagnosis, and treatment among patients with diabetes. Data included in the Dashboard will be available only to participating medical groups, and not publicly reported. It will feature nine metrics covering topics related to CKD and diabetes such as CKD screening, blood glucose and blood pressure management and guideline-recommended treatment. Participating medical groups will be able to view their own medical group and clinic performance, including stratifications by demographic variables. Additionally, medical group level peer comparisons will also be available. Medical groups will also be able to request monthly patient-level gap reports, which will be made available through MNCM’s HIPAA-secure FTP.
This Dashboard will be available free of charge to all medical groups that have onboarded into MNCM’s PIPE system and authorize MNCM to include their data in the dashboard.
To learn more, please view the previously recorded information sessions:
Information Session #1: Session Recording | Slides
Recorded 9/28/2023
Information Session #2: Session Recording | Slides
Recorded 10/24/2023
If you are interested in participating in the project, please complete this form.
Health Trends Across Communities in Minnesota (HTAC) Collapse
Contract Services
MNCM offers a variety of contract services to support other organizations, academic institutions, grantors, and researchers in efforts that are aligned with our mission.
Measure Development, Testing & Redesign
MNCM is highly skilled in measure development, evaluation, testing and implementation. Several of our developed de novo measures have achieved National Quality Forum (NQF) endorsement and/or acceptance into federal quality payment programs. MNCM is recognized for its development of patient reported outcome based performance measures in the areas of depression, asthma, orthopedics and COPD.
MNCM measure development, testing and redesign services offer:
- process for measure development based on consensus from multiple community partners
- Innovative, evidence-based measure creation and refinement
- Detailed, feasible specifications for data collection and implementation
- Robust pilot testing that incorporates appropriate clinical sites
- Expertise working with data from disparate sources
- Diverse data sets to draw from for testing
- Credibility to move your measure through to acceptance
MNCM has spent years fine tuning our process to make it as efficient as possible. Each stage of our standard process has been thoroughly tested and can be customized to meet your needs and goals.
MNCM Process for Measure Development
To inquire about measure development, testing or redesign services, please contact support@mncm.org.
Research and Evaluation Partnerships
MNCM is a community resource with key assets to support program evaluation and research to advance improvement in health care quality, equity and cost. This includes:
- Rich data on health care quality, equity, and cost,
- Expertise on clinical quality and cost measurement and analysis
- Data infrastructure and experience in supporting aggregation of data from multiple sources
- Existing relationships with medical groups and health plans enable MNCM to be a key partner in rapidly engaging partners for new research or evaluation projects.
Summary of MNCM Data Resources
Example of Model for Research Projects
Example of Model for Evaluation Projects
To inquire about a research or evaluation partnership, please contact support@mncm.org.
Technology Services
Time is priceless to your staff working to improve quality —repetitive, essential, and timely tasks can be automated by a rule-based process through MNCM software called Process Intelligence (PI).
Your employees’ skills and creativity are essential to your success in improving health care quality and affordability. Let MNCM help you to automate tasks, streamline processes and increase employee productivity. MNCM Process Intelligence Softbots work 10-15 times faster than employees, can be executed simultaneously and work 24/7. MNCM PI provides consistency and allows for scalability. Implementing PI enables employees to focus on more valuable and non-repetitive activities, which helps to boost morale, job satisfaction, and productivity.
Contact support@mncm.org for more information!
