Governor's Health Cabinet
Active dates:February 2004-2009
Authority:
Governor Tim Pawlenty
Function: Charged with implementing the recommendations of the Minnesota Citizens Forum on Health Care Costs (led by U.S. Senator Dave Durenberger). The cabinet will also consider other administrative and legislative reform ideas.
History:
The Health Cabinet was created following the report of a special 18 member citizen task force created by Governor Pawlenty in late 2003 to report on health care issues and make recommendations. The task force, known as the Citizens Forum on Health Care Costs, was led by former U.S. Senator Dave Durenberger, and issued its report in February 2004.
The Health Cabinet was organized into four main workgroups, and each workgroup used state staff and expertise, consulted outside experts, and met with groups to make recommendations to the Governor and to take action. Goals for each workgroup included:
Health Care Website: Development of an easy to find, easy to use website to provide ordinary citizens, as well as employers, health care providers, and others, with information about health care quality and costs in Minnesota.
Health Care Regulation: Streamlining state health care rules and regulations. The workgroup explored what is regulated, by whom, and how. The workgroup sought to identify gaps or duplications in regulation, and whether the regulation really seemed to be useful and serving the intended purpose.
State Health Care Purchasing: Improved state health care purchasing strategies. The State purchases health care for state employees, enrollees of programs such as Medicaid and MinnesotaCare, for prisoners in state correctional facilities, and others, at annual state costs of over $3 billion. The goal of this effort was to help ensure the State obtains the most value for what it spends, and that it is as smart about buying health care as it can be.
Budget and Policy: Budget and policy initiatives to support any changes needed.
Membership:
Members: Chair Cal Ludeman, Human Services Commissioner Kevin Goodno, Health Commissioner Dianne Mandernach, Finance Commissioner Peggy Ingison, Commerce Commissioner Glenn Wilson, and Labor and Industry Commissioner Scott Brener, Former Director of Communications Daniel Wolter.
Agency heads:
Chair: Commissioner of Employee Relations Cal Ludeman
Documents/Articles:
News clippings and documents. Agencies Notebook Collection, 2004-2009.
Record last updated:
08/11/2011
All information on this group from the Library’s collection of agency notebooks has been digitized. These
materials are incorporated into the “documents/articles” section of the record. Please contact a librarian with any questions. The Minnesota Agencies database is a work in progress.