Additional Data Sources

Survey of the Health of Adults, the Population, and the Environment (SHAPE Hennepin County)

Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set: (HEDIS)

National Healthcare Quality Report State Snapshots (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality)

Data Source Descriptions

 1. Mortality (death certificates). Data on causes of death come from a database of death certificates, collected and maintained by the Minnesota Department of Health Center for Health Statistics. The primary cause of death is indicated by an International Classification of Diseases (ICD) code. The single selected cause for tabulation is called the underlying cause of death, and the other reported causes are the non-underlying causes of death.

(Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/major/dvs/icd10des.htm )

  2. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). The BRFSS is designed to measure health risk behavior in the non-institutionalized adult (aged 18 years or older) population. Statewide prevalence estimates for several CVD-related behaviors are derived from this survey, including high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, overweight and obesity, cigarette smoking, poor dietary habits, and physical inactivity.

3. Minnesota Student Survey. The Minnesota Student Survey is voluntary, confidential and anonymous on the part of students. It is designed to be given to sixth, ninth and twelfth graders. It asks students questions about their activities, opinions and behaviors. The survey is offered to the traditional public elementary and secondary schools, alternative learning centers, charter schools, tribal schools and to youth in juvenile correctional facilities and residential treatment facilities. Itis offered to all school districts every three years. Statewide in 2001, there were 134,000 students participating.

4. Minnesota Heart Survey. The Minnesota Heart Survey is a population-based surveillance of CVD risk factors in adults aged 25-74 in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. The first survey was conducted in 1980-1982, and was repeated in similar fashion (sampling and survey methods) in 1985-1987, 1990-1992, 1995-1997, and most recently in 2000-2002. Results from this study provide cross-sectional snapshots of cardiovascular risk factors for the metropolitan population, which comprises over half the population of the state. This study is conducted by the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Division of Epidemiology.

5. Survey on the Health of Adults, the Population, and the Environment (SHAPE). The Survey of the Health of Adults, the Population and the Environment (SHAPE) is a health surveillance project that monitors the health of adults in Hennepin County, Minnesota’s most populated county. Data from this project include important information from racial and ethnic communities. The information in this survey include questions concerning key health indicators; CVD-related data include prevalence of heart trouble or angina (heart disease), physical activity, dietary habits, cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, overweight and obesity, and diabetes.

6. Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS). The Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS) is a set of data collection indicators developed to assist purchasers of health care (such as employers or the state government) in evaluating the effectiveness of care provided to health plan enrollees. Minnesota HMOs are required to collect data and report on standard clinical performance measures developed by the National Committee for Quality Assurance. Methodologies utilized by HMOs for data collection include administrative records (claims) or medical record audits.

7. Minnesota Community Measurement Project. In 2001 the Minnesota Council of Health Plans and the 6 health-plan sponsors of ICSI launched the Minnesota Community Measurement Project. Designed to support medical groups’ quality improvement efforts, the project makes quality performance data available in a way that allows the groups to identify what they are doing well and where improvement is needed, track performance over time, and compare their results with that of other groups.

(Amundson GM. Making Quality Measurement Work. Minnesota Medicine, October 2003, Volume 86)