For many years, we as Minnesotans have believed that our state’s health and health care system are among the nation’s finest. Now, there is an innovative report to prove it.

The Minnesota Business Partnership recently released Minnesota’s Health Care Performance Scorecard, a report that was co-authored by HealthPartners president and CEO Mary Brainerd and her MBP Health Policy Committee co-chair, Mike Fiterman, Chairman and CEO of Liberty Diversified International. The purpose of the Scorecard is to objectively measure the state’s health using a set of 84 distinct data points.

Here is a summary of Minnesota’s health care system performance relative to those of other states:

• Coverage and access: #1 in the nation
• Population health: #2 in the nation
• Health care delivery: #4 in the nation
• Status of health care reform efforts: #5 in the nation
• Health care cost: #22 in the nation
• Overall ranking: #1 in the nation

As you can see, our state ranks at or near the top in terms of coverage, access and quality of care. However, the research also exposed gaps in data that are required to properly evaluate our programs, and makes clear where Minnesota ranks in terms of containing the growth of health care spending. This information will be used to help pinpoint reform to address our state’s most pressing needs, and continue to improve on our already impressive rankings.