Design and Implementation of a State‐Wide Network for Near Real‐Time Public Health Surveillance and Research: The Minnesota Electronic Health Record Consortium Experience

Objective: The Minnesota Electronic Health Record Consortium (MNEHRC) was established during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic to provide data for public health surveillance from the eleven largest health care systems in Minnesota. Methods: This is a descriptive study of the Consortium, which is a federated network that implements best practices for governance and data infrastructure to support public health surveillance and clinical research. We conducted an analysis of the Consortium members, governance structure, infrastructure, and the characteristics of the patient population. Results: The Consortium health systems collect information from 105 hospitals, 773 clinics, 100 emergency departments and 29 040 providers. Information about the health systems and the demographic and clinical characteristics of its 5 471 367 patients is provided, which represents more than 90% of the patients in Minnesota. This manuscript also details the MNEHRC governance structure, working groups, data use agreements and technical infrastructure. The Consortium has produced several studies with state-wide impact. One study, Health Trends Across Communities in Minnesota, is described in detail to illustrate aspects of this collaboration. Conclusion: MNEHRC has been a successful collaboration and vital resource for public health surveillance in the state of Minnesota. Initially, the Consortium focused on surveillance related to COVID-19 infections and vaccinations but has recently expanded into other public health and chronic disease research.