Health

Affordable Care Act • Public Health and Policy: Minnesota • Public Health and Policy: National • Health Insurance: Minnesota • Health Insurance: National • General Health and Wellness • Mental Health • Complementary and Alternative Health

Affordable Care Act

• MNsure - The Homepage of Minnesota's new health insurance marketplace.
• Summary of the Affordable Care Act - A Kaiser Family Foundation report outlining the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Public Health and Policy: Minnesota

• America's Health Ratings -- Compares health indicators by state in several categories.
• County Health Rankings - The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is collaborating with the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute to develop these rankings for all counties.
• Minnesota Birth Certificates Index - Currently covers the years from 1900-1934, as well as some pre 1900 data.
• Minnesota Board of Medical Practice - The Board administers the Medical Practices Act, which creates minimum standards for licensure. Includes a link to the Health Professional Database, a directory of licensed health professionals in Minnesota and their disciplinary status.
• Minnesota Community Measurement - A non-profit website that provides objective information on the quality of health care in Minnesota and surrounding areas.
• Minnesota Death Certificates Index - The Minnesota Historical Society hosts an index of death certificates to improve access to this popular resource.
• Minnesota Department of Health - Includes health statistics, a history of the health department, Public Health is People: A History of the Minnesota Department of Health from 1949 to 1999, and much more. The Health Economics Program's reports include background information on many topics such as Minnesota health care coverage and uncompensated health care.
• Minnesota Hospital Association - MHA is a trade association representing Minnesota's hospitals and health systems. This site includes links to their hospital reports.
• Minnesota Injury Data Access System (MIDAS) - A database of injury and violence statistics from the Minnesota Department of Health. Reports can be generated by specific county, for a type of injury, or by gender, time frame, or other factor.
• Minnesota Medical Association - News, legislative alerts, and background from medicine's voice in Minnesota.
• Minnesota Public Health Data Access - The Minnesota Department of Health has created this online query and information system designed to provide public access to Minnesota data about health, the environment, and other risk factors that may impact public health. State and county data is presented for a number of topic areas including childhood lead poisoning, asthma, cancer, and drinking water quality.

Public Health and Policy: National

• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) - This agency measures trends in healthcare quality and produces State Snapshots of healthcare quality including strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement.
• American Public Health Association - News and information relating to disease prevention and health promotion, including the American Journal of Public Health.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - This federal site provides access to health information, health for travelers, public health statistics and publications. There is a great deal of information about diseases at health topics A-Z. National Center for Health Statistics provides health data and publications.
• The Commonwealth Fund - Researches health care policy and practice with the goal of improving the health care system. Numerous reports on state health care and policy including the interactive State Health Data Center .
• Division of Medical Ethics --The University of Pennsylvania's center discusses moral implications of science, medicine, and research.
• Georgetown University Health Policy Institute - Provides state-by-state guides for consumers as well as reports.
• Health News - From stateline.org, a project of the Pew Center on the States and an excellent source of current information including newspaper stories from around the country.
• Health Resources and Services Administration -- Tracks and disseminates statistics on the health care workforce.
• The Joint Commission - A national organization which evaluates and accredits health care organizations. They provide a searchable database of their evaluations of health care organizations from all over the country.
• Kaiser Family Foundation - An independent health care philanthropy focusing on health policy information with information about Medicaid, Medicare, the uninsured, HIV/AIDS, and reproductive health. Kaiser State Health Facts contains the latest state-level data on demographics, health, and health policy, including health coverage, access, financing, and state legislation. 
• National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) - A forum of state health policy makers, NASHP provides statistical information and state-by-state comparisons regarding a variety of public health and policy issues.
• National Academy of Medicine -- Founded in 1970 as the Institute of Medicine (IOM), the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) is one of three academies that make up the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
• National Conference of State Legislatures: Health - News and information on current health issues including the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Free registration required.
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation - Statistics and research reports on a variety of public health topics, from alcohol and drugs to health insurance coverage and end-of-life care.
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - Includes information on the department and its activities as well as subject access to health topics.

Health Insurance: Minnesota

• Minnesota Council of Health Plans - Represents Minnesota health care organizations.
• Minnesota Department of Human Services - This Minnesota agency oversees Minnesota's publicly funded health care programs, including Minnesota's Medical Assistance Program (MA), General Assistance (GA), and MinnesotaCare. DHS also has a page on managed care reporting, including state contracts and how much each managed care organization made on various state programs in recent years.
• State Health Access Data Assistance Center, from the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health, provides targeted policy research and technical expertise on the collection and use of policy-relevant data on health services, including insurance coverage, access to care and utilization. Includes state reports, state health access profiles, and research papers.
• State Health Facts: Minnesota - Minnesota information on Medicaid and the uninsured, from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Other states can be found at State Health Facts.

Health Insurance: National

• Census Bureau's Health Insurance Data - Children's health insurance data, general data on health insurance coverage, and recent health insurance publications.
• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) - Formerly known as the Health Care Financing Administration. This site includes policy, statistics, and consumer information on Medicare, CHIP, and Medicaid. The statistics and data section is a valuable source of data, especially about Medicaid, as is the medicare coverage database.
• Medicare.gov - The official Medicare website. Includes contact information and evaluation tools in addition to basic information, as well as a nursing home comparison database with information about the past performance of every Medicare and Medicaid certified nursing home in the country.
• Coalition Against Insurance Fraud - State and federal legislation, news and statistics regarding insurance fraud. Includes a database of state anti-fraud statutes.
• National Committee for Quality Assurance - Accreditation and performance measurement information for managed care plans throughout the country including plan report cards.

General Health and Wellness

• American Dental Association - Dentistry-related information, including an A-Z topics list.
• American Medical Association - Consumer health information, as well as recent issues of the JAMA and American Medical News.
• American Nurses Association - News and information related to the profession of nursing.
• FDA Consumer Health Information - Includes consumer updates and publications about medicine, food and nutrition, and medical devices and procedures from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
• Healthfinder - Sponsored by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, this is a gateway to many sources of consumer health information.
• Mayo Clinic - Featuring Mayo Clinic publications and information and tools for healthy living.
• National Institutes of Health - Health information, such as publications, fact sheets, and clinical trials, and scientific resources, such as journals and research protocols. The NIH also provides access to PubMed, the free Internet version of Medline, a database containing over 11 million references to medical articles, and MedlinePlus, which includes authoritative information from NLM, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other government agencies and health-related organizations. MedlinePlus also has extensive information about drugs, an illustrated medical encyclopedia, interactive patient tutorials, and latest health news.
• National Library of Medicine - A wealth of health information from the world's largest medical library.
• New England Journal of Medicine - Full text of one of the preeminent U.S. medical journals.
• PubMed - The free Internet version of Medline, a database containing over 11 million references to medical articles, provided by the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.

Mental Health

• Behavioral Health - The Minnesota Department of Human Services' behavioral health programs.
• Center for Mental Health Services - From the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Includes statistics and information on state agencies, facilities, and grants.
• Mental Health Minnesota - News and information about mental illness and Minnesota's mental health system.
• Minnesota Office of the Ombudsman for Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities - Minnesota's government advocate for citizens in Minnesota's mental health system.
• NAMI - Produced by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, this site provides information and advocacy issues relating to mental illness.
• National Institute of Mental Health - Research and publications on the symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of mental illnesses.
• Mental Health America - News, legislative information, and advocacy from this national nonprofit organization.
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration - The federal agency charged with administering mental health and substance abuse treatment and prevention programs.

Complementary and Alternative Health

• Office of Unlicensed Complementary and Alternative Health Care Practice - From the Minnesota Department of Health, this page has regulatory and other information for practitioners of alternative medicine in Minnesota.
• ConsumerLab.com - An independent organization which tests the quality and potency of a variety of dietary supplements and other alternative care products.
• National Center for Complementary amd Integrative Health - A branch of the National Institutes of Health dedicated to exploring complementary and alternative healing practices in the context of rigorous science. Includes a link to evidence-based literature reviews on PubMed, with access to citations to journal articles related to complementary and alternative medicine.
• Office of Dietary Supplements - Dietary and herbal supplement information and research from the National Institutes of Health.

The sites listed on this page are not created, maintained, or endorsed by the Minnesota Legislature.