MDH recommends using instructions and guidance (2023 updates coming soon) to gather your data from each county or local health department (if your community health board has more than one county) and then use that information to convey what’s happening within the community health board as a whole.

3. Where can I find resources to help gather my data?

Use the instructions and guidance for each module (2023 updates coming soon) to gather your data and walk you through each question.

4. What does MDH do with all of this data?

During LPH Act annual reporting, MDH collects quantitative and qualitative data to describe our local public health system. We look for patterns in data and context in narrative responses.

This data helps us understand the local public health system's funding sources, expenditures, and staffing capacity of the local public health system. It informs how the MDH Center for Public Health Practice supports local public health in their efforts.

MDH subject matter experts in different divisions outside of the Center for Public Health Practice also use data to inform their own training and technical assistance.

Each fall, MDH summarizes the previous year's finance and staffing data.

For summaries of past years' data, visit: Past data: LPH Act annual reporting.
Please contact your CHS administrator for your community health board's own past reports on performance measures, please contact your CHS administrator.

5. How do I update my community health board’s contact information?

Learn more: Community health board contact information.

REDCap questions

6. Where is my REDCap account?

MDH asked CHS administrators for the names of staff who will enter data into REDCap. If you have any questions about your REDCap account, please email Ghazaleh.dadres@state.mn.us.

If you’re new to REDCap, you will not get an email from REDCap about your username and password until LPH Act annual reporting opens.
If you already have a REDCap account, you’ll be able to log in to REDCap, but you won’t see the current year's reporting forms until LPH Act annual reporting officially opens.

7. Why can't I log into REDCap?

If you are experiencing problems logging in, please first try logging out, clearing your internet browser cache, and logging back in. Remember: your REDCap username does not include the @ symbol.

If this does not work, please send a message to health.ophp@state.mn.us describing the problem and including a screenshot of your error message. MDH will respond as promptly as possible.

Find more REDCap help at: Help with REDCap for LPH Act annual reporting.

8. Will my REDCap account still lapse if I don’t log in?

Yes; if you do not continue to use your account for 180 days, your account will go dormant. If that happens, please email kerri.sawyer@state.mn.us.

9. How do I navigate REDCap?

Tutorials and guides for REDCap are available online at Help with REDCap for LPH Act annual reporting.

10. I can't see this year's forms, where I actually enter my data. Where did they go?

If you can't see this year's forms after logging into REDCap and choosing this year's project, look for small text on the left side of the screen, under "Data Collection," that says "Show data collection instruments." Click on "Show data collection instruments" to view this year's forms.

11. Can I print the REDCap forms to use as templates to gather data?

You certainly can, but you might have an easier time using the instructions and guidance for each module to gather your data. There is guidance to walk you through each module.

12. How do I access past years' data in REDCap?

If you need past years’ LPH Act annual reporting data and cannot access past years’ projects in REDCap, please email health.ophp@state.mn.us.

13. Can more than one person enter data into the same REDCap form at the same time?

Yes; more than one person can enter data into the same form because REDCap allows individuals to log in under their own accounts. Be sure to save your data early and often.

14. Will REDCap show me reporting errors?

If there are errors in your data entry for the finance/staffing module, REDCap will let you know as you enter data. MDH will review data after the LPH Act annual reporting closes.

If MDH continues to see any errors after you have submitted your data, MDH will contact you to follow up.

15. How will MDH know if I'm done reporting? Can I use the incomplete-complete indicators at the bottom of each form?

You let us know you have completed reporting via the REDCap validation form; this is the only way to complete reporting.

CHS administrators must complete validation when staff have finished entering all data.

At the bottom of each form, there is a place to mark for your own reference whether you've completed a form or not, which you can use to track your own progress, but MDH does not use these indicators to check for completion. CHS administrators must still complete validation. (You may see these complete/incomplete selections populate red-yellow-green indicators on your forms in the left-hand navigation pane; again, these are for your own internal reference only, and MDH does not use them to track progress.)

16. Where can I get a copy of the data I entered? Can I download and print my data?

After using the appropriate guidance or instructions to gather data (see: LPH Act annual reporting modules), you can use the document as a reference for the data you entered.

You can also obtain a copy of your data from REDCap.

If you need past years’ LPH Act annual reporting data and cannot access past years’ projects in REDCap, please email health.ophp@state.mn.us.

17. Why does REDCap seem to have more questions when I print out the forms than when I look at the forms on screen?

The PDF has slightly more fields than the on-screen REDCap form because some questions have branching logic and are only "viewable" (and so answerable) if you choose a specific prior answer that pops open that question.

For example, If you didn't indicate you hired any new employees for COVID, MDH won't make you then further answer how many hours those employees worked (because there weren't any new employees in the first place). We don't want to make you go through and fill in numbers for questions that aren't applicable to you.

Finance (expenditures) and staffing (workforce) questions

18. What's new for this reporting period in finance and staffing?

There are a few changes in finance and staffing this reporting period. COVID-19 staffing questions will no longer be asked. Any staff time working on COVID-19-related activities can be integrated back into regular staffing questions. COVID-19 questions related to expenditures will still be asked, the same as they have been the last couple of years.

New this year is an optional question added to both finance and staffing related to the change in spending and staffing to carry out foundational public health activities compared to what was reported in the Cost and Capacity Assessment for CY2021. This question was added to capture a snapshot of changes in work and staff to support foundational public health responsibilities.

Finance and Staffing Reporting Instructions for Calendar Year 2023 (PDF)

19. When is finance and staffing reporting due?

Please complete all finance and staffing modules by March 31, 2024.

Remember: CHS administrators must complete validation when staff have finished entering all data. Be sure to allow time for your CHS administrator to complete validation and correct any errors.

20. Where can I find resources to help gather my finance and staffing data?

Visit: Module: Finance and staffing, LPH Act annual reporting.

21. What is validation?

Validation is the name given to the automatic review of data to verify accuracy.

CHS administrators must submit the final validation form for finance and staffing. This lets MDH know you have fixed errors (if applicable) and that you’re done with finance and staffing.

Learn more: Validation.

Questions specific to finance (expenditures)

22. Does my community health board submit a budget during LPH Act Annual Reporting?

No. You do not need to submit a budget for the year ahead.

23. Where can I find the current community health board funding awards?

Visit: Funding and the Local Public Health Grant.

24. How do I submit expenditure data?

Report expenditure information based on the invoices submitted for reimbursement for services during the time period of January 1, 2023, to December 31, 2023, even if you didn't receive reimbursement until 2024.

As in last year, you'll report COVID-19-related expenditures only in the module specific to COVID-19 expenditures.

Learn more: Modules: Finance and staffing.

25. Do I report on what my community health board was awarded or what it actually spent?

You should report on what your community health board spent, regardless of the original award amount.

26. Where should I put specific funds and FTEs for programs like SHIP, Early Hearing Detection and Intervention, or other topics?

Consult the instructions at: Modules: Finance and staffing.

27. What if my community health boards spent SHIP or PHEP funds on COVID-19? Where should I put those funds?

MDH wants to account for the total amount spent on COVID, so if your community health board spent SHIP or PHEP funding on COVID, please include this in the COVID-19 section of finance reporting.

Questions specific to staffing (workforce)

28. When estimating the number of volunteers, should I include volunteers participating through Minnesota Responds or Minnesota Reserve Corp?

Yes.

29. Where should we categorize AmeriCorps staff?

If you contracted with AmeriCorps for staff, you would likely categorize them in Staffing Section II. Number of Contracted FTEs within the role and area of responsibility in which they’re working.

Performance measures questions

30. What's new for this reporting period in LPH Act performance measures?

Community health boards will report in 2024 on LPH Act performance measures for the 2023 calendar year.

These are national measures from PHAB version 2022. CHBs are asked to report on a 4-point scale from Fully Met to Does not Meet related to their capacity to meet the measure.

31. What should be considered when determining our CHB's capacity to meet the measure?

The instructions include guidance related to each measure, including the elements from PHAB version 2022. Review each element and consider whether it is substantially carried out.

32. Our CHB includes multiple counties and individual counties within the CHB meet the measures at different levels. How do we report this variation as a CHB?

A multi-county community health board should report on the lowest capacity of its individual health departments. For more information and an example, review the guidance and instructions.