Chronic Conditions

The 2020 Wisconsin Health Disparities Report: Rural and Urban Populations was released at the WCHQ Health Disparities Assembly meeting on November 12, 2020. The assembly featured urban and rural perspectives on health disparities from experts in their fields: HIP Investigator, Jennifer Weiss, MD, MS and Matt Gigot, MPH, presented the findings from the 2020 report and Malia Jones, PhD, MPH presented her research on social and spatial determinants of health at the population level.

Dr. Edmond Ramly has been named one of the 2021 ICTR-CAP Stakeholder & Patient Engaged Research Pilot Awards for his Addressing disparities in the primary care of chronic conditions in the COVID-19 era: A tool for clinics to map local barriers to known strategies project.

A new publication by Dr. Christie Bartels was recently featured in a press release by Wiley. Although smoking increases symptoms and health risks for patients with rheumatic diseases, interventions to help patients quit are rarely available at rheumatology clinics.

In this article, authors implemented a rheumatology staff-driven protocol, Quit Connect, to increase the rate of electronic referrals (e-referrals) to free, state-run tobacco quit lines (TQL). The group found that implementing Quit Connect in rheumatology clinics was feasible and improved referrals to a state-run TQL.

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The Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ), in collaboration with Health Innovation Program, developed the Wisconsin Health Disparities: Rural and Urban Populations Report to help inform and accelerate programs that are working to eliminate disparities. The 2020 report identifies where disparities in health outcomes and care exist in rural and urban areas in Wisconsin by using a unique categorization system developed by researchers at the University of Wisconsin Health Innovation Program (HIP). Funding for this report was provided by the Wisconsin Partnership Program, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

We are pleased to announce the pilot launch of the UW ICTR Neighborhood Health Partnerships Program (NHP).

Finding timely and accurate local health data – health information at the sub-county level - is a challenge we all face when prioritizing, scoping, implementing and evaluating health and health equity work. Health information is often only available at the county level or higher. Neighborhoods within counties are heterogeneous, and sub-county data can offer insight into patterns of health inequities and help identify local factors that can promote health and well-being.

HIP Investigators Christie Bartels (PI), Edmond Ramly (Co-I) and Heidi Brown (Co-I) received the 2020 ICTR Dissemination & Implementation Research Pilot Award for this project: Extending BP Connect: Implementing in diverse specialty clinics and for out-of-network follow-up

Health Innovation Program partnered with the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality, the University of Wisconsin Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR), and the ICTR Neighborhood Health Partnerships Program to feature three posters at the Wisconsin Public Health Association Virtual Public Health Conference. Check out more information about each poster below:

With the onset of COVID-19, the Health Innovation Program (HIP) determined they could use the reporting infrastructure they have been developing over the last several years, in partnership with Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ), to rapidly produce reports with reliable and accurate data for health systems who are WCHQ members. These reports can help the health systems to prepare for and respond to this pandemic.

The reports provide details on primary care provider panels, clinics, and ZIP codes for each health system and helps the health system to identify the numbers and prevalence of people who are at risk for severe complications from COVID-19.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, UW-Madison researchers within the School of Medicine and Public Health are quickly adapting to support Wisconsin health officials. Researchers at the Health Innovation Program (HIP), who have been working to improve health care using electronic health record data voluntarily provided by over 20 Wisconsin health systems through the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ), have mobilized to determine how they could rapidly use these data to help those on the front line of the battle against COVID-19 to support the direction of efforts towards the places in Wisconsin that need it most.

Diabetic eye disease is the leading cause of blindness among working-age U.S. adults. Early detection and treatment can reduce the risk of blindness by over 90%, but fewer than half of adults with diabetes obtain yearly recommended eye screening. Teleophthalmology makes it easier for patients to obtain diabetic eye screening by providing convenient access to high-quality, vision saving eye care at low cost. HIP Investigator, Dr.