Requirements of the Local Public Health Act

Community health boards are statutory responsibilities under the Local Public Health Act. Compliance consists of two components: statutory requirements and performance-related accountability requirements.

Statutory requirements

Community health boards must meet all of the duties outlined in Minn. Stat. § 145A.03-04. 

Specifically, the statutory requirements are:

• Meet the composition requirements specified in Minn. Stat. § 145A.03
• Hold at least two community health board meetings per year
• Have, in place, written procedures for transacting business; and keep a public record of transactions, findings, and determinations, as required by Minn. Stat. § 145A.03, subd. 5
• Employ/contract with a CHS administrator who meets the qualification requirements of Minn. Rule 4736.0110 in accordance with Minn. Stat. § 145A.04, subd. 2.
• Employ/contract with a medical consultant in accordance with Minn. Stat. § 145A.04, subd. 2a
• Identify local public health priorities and implement activities to address those priorities and the areas of public health responsibility Minn. Stat. § 145A.04, subd. 1
• Submit health priorities (as a proxy for the community health assessment) and community health improvement plan (at least every five years) Minn. Stat. § 145A.04, subd. 1 See also Assessment and planning for local public health - MN Dept. of Health;
• Implement a performance management process Minn. Stat. § 145A.04, subd. 1
• Annually report on a set of performance measures Minn. Stat. § 145A.04, subd. 1  (done through Local Public Health Act annual reporting).

Performance-related accountability requirement  

The Local Public Health Act (Minn. Stat. § 145A.131) outlines the accountability requirements for community health boards. Compliance is a requirement for community health boards accepting Local Public Health Grant funds.

2024 measure

Community health boards (CHBs) will demonstrate their ability to meet the following national measures from the Public Health Accreditation Board:  

Measure 1.3.3 Use data to recommend and inform public health actions.  

Reporting on the requirement has two parts: providing an example and contributing to system learning. CHBs must submit these by March 31, 2025.

1. Example: In narrative form, provide an example that demonstrates how the CHB (or health departments within) used data to recommend and inform public health actions aimed at improving the health of the population. The example could also address discontinuing an intervention that data findings show has been ineffective. The example should be from the past 2-3 years (CY2022-CY2024). See instructions for information on what to include in the narrative description, which should be limited to 1 page in length.  Accredited agencies can submit what was used for accreditation, regardless of length and format.
2. System learning: To make real change across our public health system, we must understand what conditions are holding problems in place. CHBs are asked to complete a checklist and reflections to provide insight into what changes need to be made to use data more effectively across our system. The checklist and reflections are structured using learnings from The Waters of System Change: The Water of Systems Change FSG 2018 (PDF). 

Use these instructions to guide your reporting: Performance-related Accountability Requirement Instructions CY 2024 (PDF)

2023 measure

Community health boards will not report on the performance‐related accountability requirement for calendar year 2023 in spring 2024.