Advancing Health Equity: 10-Year Anniversary Report

In 2013, the Minnesota Legislature directed MDH and its partners to complete a report about advancing health equity in Minnesota. The Advancing Health Equity in Minnesota: Report to the Legislature (PDF) was submitted to the Minnesota Legislature on Friday, Jan. 31, 2014. This report assessed Minnesota’s health disparities at the time and recommended best practices, policies, processes, data strategies, and other steps to promote health equity for all Minnesotans.  

Ten years after the original report, MDH has embarked on an initiative to tell the story of our journey toward advancing the recommendations laid out in the report. To do this, we are collecting input from both MDH staff and from community partners on our progress to advance equity since 2014. We will use this data to create a 10-year Advancing Health Equity Anniversary Report.

We are working in partnership with members of the Health Equity Advisory and Leadership (HEAL) Council to advise on this important initiative. 

Recommendations from 2013

The 2013 report highlighted the following recommendations:  

• Recommendation 1: Advance health equity through a health in all policies approach across all sectors.
• Recommendation 2: Continue investments in efforts that currently are working to advance health equity.
• Recommendation 3: Provide statewide leadership for advancing health equity.
• Recommendation 4: Strengthen community relationships and partnerships to advance health equity.
• Recommendation 5: Redesign MDH grant-making to advance health equity.
• Recommendation 6: Make health equity an emphasis throughout MDH.
• Recommendation 7: Strengthen the collection and analysis of data to advance health equity.

Data collection methods

To measure MDH’s progress toward implementing the seven recommendations in the original report, we are using multiple strategies.

Internal data collection

In late 2023, an all-staff survey was conducted to gather input from staff across the agency. We received more than 2,000 responses from this survey.

In early 2024, staff conducted conversations across the agency to dive deeper into the progress made in each division and focus area.

External data collection

We are working with external consultants to support our community engagement efforts for this progress update. In early 2024, we conducted a survey of key community partners of the Minnesota Department of Health to gather their input on MDH’s progress over the past decade. We will also conduct key informant interviews and focus groups with key community leaders to gain a deeper understanding of their perspectives on MDH’s progress to advance equity.