Chronic Conditions

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.

Report Overview

The Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ), in collaboration with Health Innovation Program, developed the Wisconsin Health Disparities Report to identify where disparities in health outcomes and care exist in Wisconsin and to help inform and accelerate programs that are working to eliminate disparities.

The Case Management Benefit Scoring System Toolkit is now available on HIPxChange. Dr. Maureen Smith (HIP Investigator), Dr. Menggang Yu (HIP Investigator), and Dr. Jared Huling (an Assistant Professor of Statistics at The Ohio State University) partnered with the UW academic health system (UW Health) to implement a benefit scoring system that is used to identify patients for enrollment into case management.

HIP collaborates annually with the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ) to sponsor a learning event on topics of current importance to health in Wisconsin. This year's event will showcase several national and state models that are successfully expanding access and integrating behavioral health services into primary care settings. HIP Investigator Rachel Grob will be speaking about HealthExperiencesUSA and the DIPEx methodology to elevate the patient voice in healthcare. The assembly will be held on October 16 at the Monona Terrace in Madison.

Dr. Andrew Quanbeck was recently awarded two 5-year NIH grants totaling nearly $5 million to implement interventions for preventing and treating substance misuse in primary care.

He will be collaborating with HIP on the project, “Promoting the implementation of clinical guidelines for opioid prescribing in primary care using systems consultation.” The project addresses the change needed in the U.S. regarding the opioid crisis and prescribing practices by determining how to implement safer prescribing practices as efficiently and effectively as possible in primary care clinics. 

Dr. Maureen Smith, HIP Director, was recently featured in a video from the Wisconsin Partnership Program about her disparities project with the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality and the Collaborative Center for Health Equity. This project aims to develop and implement a publicly reported measure of disparity in the quality of care in Wisconsin and examine the sources of disparities in the quality of care. This video was introduced by HIP Outreach Specialist Lauren Bednarz, and shown at the Healthiest State Summit on September 20-21 in Green Bay, WI.

Dr. Elizabeth Cox recently discussed the benefits that the UW Fall Research Competition has had on her research career in a UW-Madison news article. As a multi-time recipient of the award, Dr. Cox has found that the funding can be a great way to start new collaborations or support mentoring a graduate student. She has also used the funding to conduct a pilot test of an intervention to address barriers to self-management for youth and teens with type 1 diabetes, and then went on to secure a 3-year extramural award to evaluate the impact of the intervention in a multi-site randomized, controlled trial.

HIP Investigators Meghan Brennan, MD and Heidi Brown, MD were recently awarded pilot funding through the University of Wisconsin - Madison Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (UW ICTR).  

The Database of Patient Experiences (DIPEx) methodology used to develop HealthExperiencesUSA.org, a website that brings patients' voices to American healthcare, was recently featured in articles in both the New York Times and USA Today as an important resource that can enable patients with depression to identify with others who suffer from the disease.