Public Reporting

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.

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 PROKids team, led by Elizabeth Cox, MD, PhD, received new NIH funding to develop standard guidance for the use of pediatric PROMIS metrics in ambulatory clinical populations.  In collaboration with leadership from prominent child health advocacy organizations and delivery systems nationally, as well as other PROMIS experts and the Institute for Clinical and Translational Research Dissemination and Implementation Program, PROKids will interview healthcare stakeholders to understand, and ultimately address in the guidance, the challenges and opportunities of assessing pediatric population health with patient-reported metrics.     

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. Learn more and view the agenda for the assembly here.

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.

The Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality recently released the Rural Wisconsin Chronic Disease Toolkit, and updated the Toolkit for Improving Hypertension Care & Outcomes and the Toolkit for Improving Diabetes Care & Outcomes.

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.

The Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality recently partnered with HIP to make 3 improvement toolkits available on HIPxChange. The toolkits present evidence-based strategies and a variety of supporting resources that healthcare provider organizations can use to improve care and outcomes in 3 areas: blood sugar (A1c) control for patients with diabetes, blood pressure control for patients with hypertension, and screening for colorectal cancer.

In a recent article in The New York Times, Dr. Gretchen Schwarze discusses the controversy surrounding the use of 30-day mortality as a surgical success measure. Focusing on reducing 30-day mortality, which is frequently used in the public reporting of quality and, more recently, to determine Medicare penalties, can result in diminished quality of life for patients after surgery and result in surgeons declining to operate on high-risk patients.