Health plan medical directors began discussing opportunities to collaborate on medical group performance reporting and agreed to pilot joint data collection and reporting for diabetes measures in 2001. The Community Measurement Project was formalized in 2002. In 2004, the first Health Care Quality Report and online performance rates were made available. MN Community Measurement (MNCM) was incorporated as a 501c-3 non-profit charitable organization in 2005.

MNCM gained a national reputation for its work in quality measurement and development of measures focused on patient reported outcomes. A new data submission process was created to gather data directly from medical groups and data was used for the first time for pay-for-performance through the Bridges to Excellence (BTE) program. Funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for the Aligning Forces for Quality grant program provided resources to launch MNHealthScores to make quality data available to the public. MNCM contracted with the MN Department of Health to support the Statewide Quality Reporting and Measurement System (SQRMS).

MNCM measures gained traction at the national level with measures adopted in the CMS Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), the Accountable Care Organization (ACO) measurement program, and the Meaningful Use program. MNCM made new strides in leveraging data to shed light on disparities in health care quality – releasing the first statewide reports on Health Care Disparities in collaboration with the Minnesota Department of Human Services. MNCM also published the nation’s first statewide public report on total cost of care (TCOC).

MNCM’s recent history has been focused on continuation of its core measurement and reporting work, and advocating for the inclusion of MNCM measures in federal programs in order to advance alignment. MNCM is also engaging with the community to evolve the way measurement is done to reduce burden, increase timeliness, and make it more actionable – and to partner on innovation projects that address challenges in the way data is shared between providers and payers for population health management and quality improvement.