Data Voyager Training

August 28
12:00PM-1:00PM

Learn about Data Voyager, WCHQ's healthcare data analysis tool. Explore features and get hand-on training. This training is open to employees of WCHQ member organizations only.

“Colon Cancer Screening Demystified”

September 17, 2024
12:00PM-1:00PM

Part two of the WCHQ three-part webinar series, "Improving Colorectal Cancer Screening Rates and Shared Decision Making"

Featuring: Jennifer Weiss, MD, MS, Associate Professor of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Wisconsin – Madison

Learning Objectives:

• discuss common barriers to colorectal cancer screening and resources to support patients
• share current guidelines for both colorectal cancer screening and surveillance post colorectal cancer screening
• describe the colonoscopy process in depth, including the various options for bowel preparation

Funding provided in part by the Funding Opportunities for CRC Screening Uptake Strategies (FOCUS) grant through Exact Sciences.

“Alcohol and Cancer Risk”

October 29, 2024,
12:00PM-1:00PM

Part three of the WCHQ three-part webinar series, "Improving Colorectal Cancer Screening Rates and Shared Decision Making"

Learning objectives:

• describe cancer risks related to alcohol
• discuss barriers to lifestyle change in clinical practice and strategies to improve
• share strategies to reduce excessive alcohol use

Funding provided in part by the Funding Opportunities for CRC Screening Uptake Strategies (FOCUS) grant through Exact Sciences.

Statewide Quality Improvement Event & WCHQ 20th Anniversary Recognition

**Registration Now Open**

‍November 7, 2024
‍DoubleTree by Hilton Madison East, Madison, WI

Featuring speakers Imran Andrabi, MD, President & CEO of Froedtert ThedaCare Health and John Toussaint, MD, one of the founding healthcare leaders of WCHQ

As June came to a close, the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ) marked the successful completion of three significant projects. These initiatives - maternal mortality and morbidity, childhood and adolescent immunization, and integrated behavioral health, have made impactful strides thanks to the collaborative efforts of WCHQ’s member health systems, community partners, and dedicated funders. Each project not only met its objectives but also laid the groundwork for continued progress in enhancing health equity and care quality for diverse populations in Wisconsin.

Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Improvement Team

WCHQ, in partnership with nine member health systems and five community partners, have been working for the last 18 months on reducing morbidity and mortality among at-risk pregnant women living in Wisconsin. The group included a focus on disparities among different populations in their work, which was funded by the Department of Health Services American Rescue Plan (ARPA).  

Objectives fulfilled during this timeframe included:

• Collaboration between WCHQ membership, community partners and other stakeholders working in the area of maternal mortality and morbidity to align efforts.
• Launch of a Maternal Health Toolkit on the WCHQ website that will provide birthing care teams a location with best practices, resources and patient information.
• Development of five new maternal health measures, which the team was able to stratify by race/ethnicity, geography and payer:
  • Hypertension
  • Diabetes control
  • Diabetes testing
  • Depression screening
  • PHQ-9 utilization
• Worked with Katinka Hooyer, PhD, cultural anthropologist with Medical College of Wisconsin to create patient documentaries. With two individuals sharing their birthing experiences, health systems can use these videos to better understand the patient's perspective. Birthing Stories from Black Mothers  
• Hosted and participated in several educational events. These events highlighted local and regional speakers, providing resources to highlight the need for this work in Wisconsin and nationally.

Childhood and Adolescent Immunization Improvement Team

WCHQ, in partnership with ten member health systems and four community partners, have been working for the last 18 months on improving immunization rates for children and adolescents, as well as increase health equity. The work was funded by the Department of Health Services Title V Block Grant.

Objectives fulfilled during this timeframe included:

• Collaboration with WCHQ membership, community partners and other stakeholders working in the area of childhood immunizations to align efforts and provide best practices.
• Launch of an Immunization Toolkit on the WCHQ website. This toolkit educates the patient care team with state resources about immunizations, as well as information about overcoming vaccination hesitancy.
• Created additional immunizations measures to add to the already publicly reported childhood and adolescent immunization sets which the team was able to stratify by race/ethnicity, geography and payer:
  • Childhood Immunization added Rotavirus and Hepatitis A
  • Adolescent Immunization added HPV to the set versus it being a separate measure
• Worked with Katinka Hooyer, PhD, cultural anthropologist with Medical College of Wisconsin to create patient documentaries with four Community Health Workers in Ho Chunk, Black, Hispanic and Hmong communities as they told stories of what barriers members of those populations face when getting immunizations. Voices to Describe Vaccination Differences
• Hosted and participated in several educational events. These events highlighted local and regional speakers, providing resources to highlight the need for this work in Wisconsin and nationally.

Integrated Behavioral Health Project

WCHQ, in partnership with the Medical College of Wisconsin and nine member health systems, worked on a three-year project to increase integrated behavioral health in primary care settings. The funding for this project was provided by the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment. The goal of the project was to break down barriers to receiving behavioral health services and particularly for the Medicaid population.  

The objectives achieved included:

• A twelve-month video series presented by the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association on different aspects of integrated behavioral health. The videos can be viewed on the WCHQ YouTube channel. The videos share insights into elements such as building a business plan, primary care and leadership buy-in, and tools that can be utilized in the clinics.  
• A series of ten videos that provide brief glimpses navigating the US health systems as Medicaid recipients. The videos can be viewed here. Recovery Stories - YouTube
• A white paper highlighting the data that was analyzed and compared performance before and after the training series.  

WCHQ is actively pursuing new funding opportunities to build upon the substantial work initiated by these teams. The momentum gained will propel these efforts into the next phases, ensuring that the innovative strategies and tools developed continue to benefit communities across the state. As some of these teams reconvene in the fall, the dedication to improving health outcomes remains unwavering, promising a future where every Wisconsinite has access to high-quality, equitable healthcare.

Are you passionate about improving healthcare quality and making a significant impact in your community?T he Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ) invites you to join our Quality Improvement Teams. These teams enhance healthcare delivery by focusing on specific clinical and public health issues.

Why Participate?

By participating in WCHQ Quality Improvement Teams, you become part of a collaborative effort to improve healthcare quality across Wisconsin. Our teams are driven by data submitted from electronic health records, which help us identify performance across more than 40 quality indicators. This data informs the targeted work of our improvement teams, each focusing on a critical area of healthcare. We can further dissect this data by disparity indicators, including our geography disparities (rural undeserved, rural, rural advantaged, urban underserved, urban and urban advantages) targeting specific areas throughout the state where improvement interventions can be implemented. Participants benefit from networking with peers, identifying educational opportunities, and setting and achieving improvement goals. Every WCHQ member is welcome to join any and all improvement teams.  ‍

Our Improvement Teams

1. Behavioral Health Improvement Team: This group focuses on integrating behavioral health into primary care, particularly around depression screening and depression remission and response. It also develops tools like a depression screening and treatment toolkit.  For more information contact Renee Sutkay at RSutkay@wchq.org
2. Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) Advisory Group: The CKD Advisory Group works to improve screening and treatment for at-risk patients with diabetes and hypertension, aiming to prevent further progression of the disease of and enhance outcomes for patients with CKD. For more information contact Jen Koberstein at JKoberstein@wchq.org
3. Colorectal Cancer Screening Advisory Group: This team examines disparities in colorectal cancer screening within rural populations and age, aligning with the National Colorectal Cancer Screening Roundtable’s goal to screen 80% of eligible patients. For more information contact Renee Sutkay at RSutkay@wchq.org
4. Disparities Improvement Team: This team tackles healthcare disparities in access and outcomes, focusing on race, ethnicity, payer, and geography, and discussing best practices to bridge these gaps. For more information contact Renee Sutkay at RSutkay@wchq.org
5. Lung Cancer Biomarker Testing Advisory Group: This group aims to improve biomarker testing for non-small cell lung cancer, developing best practice workflows and educating health systems on the importance of these tests. For more information contact Lori Bue at LBue@wchq.org
6. Obesity Advisory Group: The Obesity Advisory Group develops educational opportunities and works with payers to remove barriers to treatment. They have created quality measures and a toolkit for primary care providers to improve obesity treatment. For more information contact Jen Koberstein at JKoberstein@wchq.org

Get Involved

Joining a Quality Improvement Team not only allows you to contribute to meaningful healthcare improvements but also provides opportunities for professional development and collaboration. Your involvement will help drive significant advancements in healthcare quality and patient outcomes across Wisconsin.

If you are interested in joining a Quality Improvement Team, please contact us at the email addresses listed above.

‍In recognition of the WCHQ 20th anniversary in 2024, we are planning a member profile each month. ‍

‍

‍Member Name: Marshfield Clinic

‍Member Background: Marshfield Clinic Health System is an integrated health system whose mission is to enrich lives through accessible, affordable compassionate health care. The Health System serves Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula with nearly 1400 providers comprising 170 specialties, health plan, and research and education programs. Primary operations include more than 60 Marshfield Clinic locations, 11 hospitals, Marshfield Children's Hospital, Marshfield Clinic Research Institute, Security Health Plan and Marshfield Clinic Health System Foundation.

‍Number of Providers: : 1,350

Member of WCHQ Since: We were one of the original members

Current Quality Goals: Marshfield Clinic Health System has prioritized a group of ambulatory quality measures for the entire Health System, including breast cancer screening, colon cancer screening, cervical cancer screening, and diabetes care measures to name a few. “We use WCHQ measure definitions as a resource when writing our measure specifications,” said Marshfield Clinic Health System Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sam Klebe. “These quality measures help us at both a system and individual provider level, by determining where MCHS can focus efforts to improve early identification of conditions, initiate treatment and improve outcomes.”

WCHQ Engagement: In addition to serving in WCHQ leadership (for example Dr. Klebe is a current board member) Marshfield Clinic Health System researchers have been strongly engaged with WCHQ and other state partners in effective use of collective health care quality data to study and improve health care and community health status around Wisconsin.  

In past years, this included projects led by University of Wisconsin investigators on the role of public reporting on improving diabetes care quality, as well as expanding the statewide obesity surveillance initiative to cover the northern portion of the state. More recently, Marshfield Clinic Research Institute (MCRI) faculty have been collaborating on two projects to better understand factors influencing colorectal cancer screening performance in rural Wisconsin.  Currently, MCRI is partnering with WCHQ analysts and researchers from University of Wisconsin and Medical College of Wisconsin to lead the development of a statewide Rural Health Disparity report as part of the Healthy Metric Initiative, for release later in 2024. In future, MCRI anticipates rejoining the University of Wisconsin Institute for Clinical and Translational Research’s Neighborhood Health Partnerships program, to assist in providing navigation to communities in developing locally focused health reports that incorporate WCHQ data for planning and monitoring community health improvement interventions.

‍How WCHQ has impacted health care at Marshfield Clinic:

“Participation in WCHQ gives us the ability to benchmark against other health systems in Wisconsin,” said Dr. Klebe. “We have also learned how to advance our quality initiatives through the various collaboratives within WCHQ. Also, we believe participation in this influential statewide collaborative allows us to report on and improve the quality of health care, to identify and reduce the occurrence of health disparities, and to support our communities in their efforts to advance health and quality of life for their residents, is a productive way to help fulfill our organizational mission."

Healthy Metric, a statewide partnership dedicated to advancing health equity in Wisconsin, has released two statewide reports examining disparities in our state.  

The first report focuses on the health disparities among adult women of childbearing age (18-44) in Wisconsin. The report, titled “Primary Care Utilization and the Health of Adult Women of Childbearing Age in Wisconsin,” provides critical insights into primary care visits, diabetes A1c control, blood pressure control, and depression screening for this demographic. 

The second report evaluates the change in health disparities in blood sugar, blood pressure, and colorectal cancer screening across Wisconsin. The report titled, "2024 Evaluating Change in Health Disparities in Wisconsin: Blood Sugar, Blood Pressure, and Colorectal Cancer Screening” identifies gaps in blood sugar, blood pressure, and colorectal cancer screening across various demographics, including race and ethnicity and rural and urban geography. 

Led by the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) and the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, Healthy Metric was created to eliminate health disparities through collaboration, measurement, and action. Healthy Metric is funded by MCW’s Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment (AHW) and the UW's Wisconsin Partnership Program (WPP).

With rising health inequities, it is critical to understand where health disparities exist so that targeted interventions can be developed to eliminate them. Healthy Metric brings together the two Wisconsin medical schools and the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ), comprised of Wisconsin health systems and medical clinics; the Wisconsin Health Information Organization (WHIO), a consortium of 20 health insurers; and Marshfield Clinic Research Institute (MCRI), the largest private medical research institute in Wisconsin.