Maureen Smith awarded grant to study disparities with WCHQ and CCHE

Dr. Maureen Smith was recently awarded a 4-year grant from the Wisconsin Partnership Program to support a Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ)-sponsored effort in collaboration with the Collaborative Center for Health Equity (CCHE) to measure and publicly report disparities in the quality of care for health systems across the state of Wisconsin. While Wisconsin ranks high in overall quality of care nationally, the state performs poorly with respect to disparities in quality of care. These disparities in health care quality contribute to the poor health outcomes noted for diverse populations such as people with lower income, less education, racial and ethnic minority populations, people with disabilities, and others. This project has the potential to benefit the most disadvantaged citizens by raising the visibility of disparities and motivating health systems to undertake targeted improvements to directly address these disparities.   

Dr. Bartels using patient input to determine how to help patients with rheumatic disease stop smoking

In a year-long study funded by the UW Institute for Clinical & Translational Research, Dr. Christie Bartels is conducting focus groups of smokers with rheumatoid arthritis and lupus to obtain their input on the best way to help patients quit smoking. "The goal of the study is really to invite people to better health and not necessarily to shame people for smoking behavior," Dr. Bartels said. In addition to seeking patient input, Dr. Bartels has developed a smoking intervention program that health providers can learn in approximately 30 minutes. A toolkit with materials to help organizations implement this intervention will be available on HIPxChange soon. Learn more about the study here. 

View all recent news