Public Use Files

In response to recommendations from Voices for Racial Justice, who we worked with to obtain input on the collection and use of stratified quality measure data, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has created a first set of Quality Reporting System public use files (PUFs) that focus on geographic, health insurance type, and gender breakdowns of the data.

These PUFs are available for free upon request, and MDH is looking forward to working with Voices for Racial Justice and others representing communities disproportionately impacted by health inequities to use and learn from these data.

In a second step, MDH is working on developing PUFs that include information on race, Hispanic ethnicity, preferred language, and country of origin.

• Overview of Public Use Files Developed from the Quality Reporting System (PDF)
• Examples of PUF Findings: Care for Children and Patients with Chronic Conditions (PDF)
• Description of Currently Available Public Use Files
• How to Request Quality Reporting System Public Use Files
• We Want Your Feedback

Description of Available Public Use Files

Data for the quality measures included in the public use files (PUFs) come from Minnesota physician clinics. The currently available PUFs contain data for 2015 service dates. PUFs are available for eight quality measures. Each measure is focused on a specific medical condition or screening for a specific condition.

• Adolescent Mental Health and/or Depression Screening
• Asthma Education and Self-Management – Adult and Child
• Colorectal Cancer Screening
• Depression Remission at 6 Months
• Optimal Asthma Control – Adult and Child
• Optimal Diabetes Care
• Optimal Vascular Care
• Pediatric Overweight Counseling

The data are aggregated by patient ZIP Code. Each PUF includes counts of male and female patients in each ZIP Code, and counts of patients by health insurance type which serves as a proxy for patient income. No other demographic data are included. Future PUFs may include information on patient race, ethnicity, preferred language, and country of origin.

In order to protect individual patients, we excluded 23 ZIP Codes from the Adolescent Mental Health and/or Depression Screening PUF, and 14 ZIP Codes from all other PUFs. To further protect patient identities, we removed all data from ZIP Codes that had fewer than five total patients in a given PUF, and all data from ZIP Codes that had only one male patient or one female patient within a given PUF.

Complete the PUF Data Request Form (PDF) to obtain one or more quality measures.

How to Request Quality Reporting System Public Use Files

Complete the PUF Data Request Form (PDF) to obtain one or more quality measures. Additional information about the PUFs can be viewed in the description of available PUFs.

• The form collects contact information so that the Quality Reporting System team can stay connected to learn data users' experience and offer technical assistance.
• The form also asks for confirmation that users have read and understood relevant contextual information for appropriate use of PUFs.
• Email completed forms to the Quality Reporting System team at health.sqrms@state.mn.us.

We Want Your Feedback

We encourage data users to send us comments, questions, and ideas for improving the PUFs or sharing suggestions for new PUFs. Please email your feedback to health.sqrms@state.mn.us.

During 2019, MDH will engage with communities and data users to gain insights into what communities are learning from the data, and obtain guidance from communities about how to evolve the PUFs over time. Subscribe to Statewide Quality Reporting and Measurement System announcements to be notified of these conversations.