Wisconsin

State Demographics
RUPRI Demographics & Economic Profile: Wisconsin

Rural Assistance Center (RAC) State Profile

U.S. Census Bureau State & County Quick Facts

USDA State Fact Sheets: Wisconsin

Legislation
Bill authorizing major medical facility projects and major medic
4/2/2008--Introduced. Authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out major medical facility projects (projects) in FY2009 in: (1) Palo Alto, California; (2) Lee County, Florida; (3) San Juan, Puerto Rico; and (4) San Antonio, Texas. Authorizes the Secretary to carry out projects in FY2009, as originally authorized under the Veterans Benefits, Health Care, and Information Technology Act of 2006, for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers in Denver, Colorado, and New Orleans, Louisiana. Authorizes the Secretary to carry out specified major medical facility leases (leases) in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Oregon, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, and Wisconsin. Authorizes appropriations for projects and leases authorized under this Act.


Telemedicine
Alzheimer's Early Recognition Telephone System (ALERTS) Telemoni

Home Telehealth Programs
Telehealth programs listed by state.

Status of Investments in Advanced Telecommunications Infrastruct

Telemedicine Information Exchange
A list of telemedicine and telehealth programs for all states.

Health Information Exchange (HIE) and Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIO)
HIMSS HIT Dashboard
Click on your state to see a list of Health Information Exchanges (HIE) and Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIO) and other Health Information Technology related projects going on throughout the states.

Grant Funded HIT Projects
2007 USDA Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant Recipients
October 1, 2007 . Acting Agriculture Secretary Conner announced the selection of 78 grant recipients for Distance Learning and Telemedicine grants totaling $22.3 million in 31 states. The Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) grant program was created to improve access to education and medical services through the use of technology. Of the grants announced today, 38 will provide access to medical services and 40 will be used to improve educational opportunities. The grant funds will be awarded to the selected recipients contingent upon meeting the conditions of the grant agreement.

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) HIT Grants
In September 2004, the Agency for Health care Research and Quality (AHRQ) awarded $139 million in contracts and grants to promote the use of health information technology (health IT) through the development of networks for sharing clinical data as well as projects for planning, implementing, and demonstrating the value of health IT. Click on the link above to see what grants have been awarded in this state.

Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Telehealth G
In 2005, HRSA administered 159 telehealth/telemedicine projects. Of those, 92 were awarded funds totaling more than $34.9 million. Projects receive funds in one of four ways: The Telehealth Network Grant Program, Rural Telemedicine Grant Program, Congressionally Mandated Projects, and Special Projects.

National Library of Medicine Grant Funded Project Looking at RHI
Regional health information organizations (RHIOs) form the core building blocks of any approach to creating the National Health Information Network. RHIOs are computer-supported information sharing alliances composed of health care institutions that need to share clinical, financial or administrative data. Institutions considering joining RHIOs require trustable financial projections. Current approaches to health information technology investment rely on a net-present value analysis, which is inadequate to capture the dynamic, uncertain course likely to occur in the RHIO environment. Thus, our team of medical informaticists, operations researchers and computer scientists proposes to apply methods from operations research (real options models and stochastic programming) to aid decision makers in exploring the cost and consequences of various RHIO structures.

National Library of Medicine Grant Funded Project to Create Heal
The Informed Caring project will provide seamless, just-in-time, online access to knowledge-based medical and health information at the point of need for nursing, allied and public health professionals in ten counties that all include Health Professional Shortage Areas or Indian Reservations. The project will also create a model health information literacy training curriculum.

NLM Knowledge Management & Applied Information Grants
Grants to health-related and scientific organizations that wish to optimize the utility of clinical and research information.NLM anticipates making 8-10 new awards each year, spending approximately $4 million per year to support new awards in this program.

Rural Assistance Center's (RAC) List of Funding Opportunities fo
Up-to-date summaries of funding programs are provided by RAC for your convenience. Please contact the funder directly for the most complete and current information.

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Distance Learning
Follow the link above to see what USDA Distance Learning and Telemedicine Program Awards have been given out in this state.

Wisconsin eHealth Care Quality and Patient Safety Board



HIT Survey Information
Wisconsin's Responses for the 2006 TASC HIT Survey
The Technical Assistance and Services Center (TASC) surveyed 26 Critical Access Hospitals in Wisconsin to identify their use of HIT. All of the CAHs have at least six beds (swing and acute not including DPU) and 88% have 25 beds. A summary of the survey is as follows:
  • 77% of hospitals have a formal IT plan
  • 100% have funding included in your budget for purchasing information technology
  • 10 of 26 hospitals said they have their clinicians use handheld computers/ PDAs
  • All 10 have their physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners using handheld computers/PDA and three of the 10 have nurses using them as well.
  • All hospitals have internet (96% high-speed, 42% wireless, 4% dial-up)
  • 92% of hospitals say they have encrypted secure e-mail access for all staff to protect patient confidentiality
  • 100% have computerized claims submissions, patient billing, and accounting
  • 92% have computerized payroll
  • 100% have computerized registration and admission
  • 4 hospitals use bar-coded patient identification bracelets
  • 73% do not use electronic medical records to track patient history
  • 23% keep physician's notes and vital signs records in electronic format
  • 58% of hospital pharmacies have computerized allergy and drug interactions and dose recommendations
  • 50% of hosptital pharmacies have an automated medication dispensing machine
  • 42% of the hospitals currently use telepharmacy (using an offsite pharmacist to review orders)
  • 73% have computerized clinician review of raiology results
  • 92% of hospitals use teleradiology technology to transmit images electronically
  • 6 out of 20 hospitals use telemedicine to consult with clinicians at other sites regarding patient diagnosis and/or treatment
  • 58% of the hospitals transmit EKG tracings electronically to clinicians at other sites
  • 35% of hospitals do not share clinical data with selected other departments within the hospital
  • 31% of hospitals surveyed have physician offices or clinics connected electronically to the hospial's information system
  • 31% have long-term care facilities connected electronically to the hospital's information system
  • 31% of the hospitals share clinical data electronically with other hospitals

Other HIT Activities
Rural Wisconsin Hospitals Provide Lesson in Innovation
From Health Leaders Media: The Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative Information Technology Network will get $1.6 million over the next three years as its share of the FCC's $400 million Rural Healthcare Pilot Program. The first-of-its-kind grant will be used to offset the cost of building a collaborative information system and electronic medical records initiative.

Wisconsin State Office of Rural Health

For additional information, please visit the Rural Health Resource Center web site at www.ruralcenter.org.