Health Equity

Where people live, and the health-related characteristics of their communities, has a significant impact on the health and health outcomes of residents. Differences in health care quality and outcomes for rural and urban populations has been a focus of national priority and attention.

Researchers at UW-Madison distinguished the unique health-related characteristics of rural and urban ZIP codes across Wisconsin to identify important factors (e.g. health care providers, insurance status, poverty) that contribute to health, resulting in six groups of rural and urban ZIP codes in Wisconsin: Rural Underserved, Rural, Rural Advantaged, Urban Underserved, Urban, and Urban Advantaged.

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.

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:

HIP Investigator, Dr. Elizabeth Cox in collaboration with the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ), Dr. Melissa Gilkey (University of North Carolina), and members of the PROKids team received a Carbone Cancer Center Rural Cancer Pilot Award. The project, “On-Time HPV Vaccination for Rural Wisconsin Youth” will help inform interventions at the healthcare system-level that focus on low rates of HPV vaccination in rural Wisconsin. The project will use WCHQ data to develop and validate metrics of on-time HPV vaccination initiation and completion in Wisconsin health systems.

With the release of the 2015 American Thyroid Association (ATA) Management Guidelines for Adults with Differentiated Thyroid Cancer, treatment decisions for low-risk thyroid cancer became more complicated. Although the guidelines were meant to supplement shared patient-healthcare provider decision-making, the patient-provider deliberation often fails to meet the informational standards for patients and can often exclude available treatments. Low-risk thyroid cancer patients often don’t know what questions to ask, while the physicians report not knowing how to obtain patients’ preferences and include them into treatment decisions.

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.

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. Heather Johnson was recently invited to participate in the Wisconsin Hypertension Symposium, which brought together clinical providers, policy makers, health insurers, and state and national organizations such as the American Medical Association and the American Heart Association to develop action plans to improve hypertension diagnosis and control in Wisconsin. Dr. Johnson's research showing that young adults are less likely to be diagnosed and treated for hypertension was reference during the symposium to demonstrate disparities in hypertension care between populations in Wisconsin.

Individuals in Wisconsin can now view the prevalence of obesity at the Zip Code level. The Obesity Prevention Initiative, funded through the Wisconsin Partnership Program, has released a report that was co-authored by HIP staff Lauren Bednarz, MPH and Maureen Smith, MD, PhD, MPH, along with an interactive mapping tool on the Wisconsin Health Atlas website, that describes the obesity epidemic in Wisconsin.