In order to maintain current measures of providers’ health care utilization, Minnesota law requires all licensed health care providers to collect and provide descriptive and financial aggregate data on patients.  Included in the data providers are required to collect is information regarding the number of patients served, revenue by type of payer, and other sources of revenue.1  In addition, the law requires the total cost, expenditures, and services of all hospitals and health centers should be reported to the public in a way that is easily understandable by the Commissioner of Health.2  Minnesota also requires cost reporting by nursing home facilities receiving Medicare or Medicaid payments.  The reporting must include statistical data, financial statements, and other accounting information.3  In order to gain further knowledge on health care costs within the state, Minnesota law requires state agencies that administer health programs to submit additional health information to the Commissioner if requested, in order to set spending limits and monitor actual amounts spent.4

        Minnesota also encourages health care performance measurement.  The law creates a Center for Health Care Purchasing Improvement within the Department of Health to assist the state in purchasing high quality health care services in order to make cost and quality more transparent, create more accountability for health care outcomes, and identify barriers to efficient, effective quality health care.5  Furthermore, the law authorizes a pilot program that compares data from different providers to observe the barriers and opportunities of having health care quality and cost effectiveness.6  Since Minnesota has taken steps toward the implementation of health care homes, the law requires an evaluation of health care homes, including along their performance and quality, preventative care measures, payment arrangements, and estimated cost savings from implementing the health care home model.7  Similarly, the state of Minnesota has instituted payment reforms that reward high quality, low cost providers and create incentives for those enrolled in state health care programs to receive care from such providers.8