The health of a community is determined by a number of factors including the quality of health care, behaviors, socioeconomic factors and the physical environment. It is these factors that the Wisconsin County Health Rankings, a signature product of the Institute, uses to rank Wisconsin communities.
The Rankings look at population health in the form of health determinants and health outcomes. In contrasting measures of population health and its determinants, the Rankings stimulate and engage discussion with Wisconsin's health policy and public health communities.
The Rankings are a call to action for leaders in health care, business, education and media to take a comprehensive approach to improving the health of their communities.
“The County Health Rankings are my best marketing tool,” said Barb Theis, Juneau County Health officer. “(The report) rallies the community. The health rankings showed community members how they fit into the health issue.”
The first edition of the Rankings, described as a Report Card, was released in 2003 as an Institute Working Paper. Since 2003, the Wisconsin County Health Rankings have been published annually. The Institute is continually developing methods for population health reporting and ranking.
For a recent commentary on the Wisconsin County Health Rankings, see "Healthcare Reform Without Communitywide Prevention Misses The Target" by Tim Size, Executive Director, Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative, published in the RWHC Quarterly Editorial for Member Newsletters: September, 2007.
To view a webcast given by Pat Remington on the Wisconsin County Health Rankings, go to the Division of Public Health State Health Officer / Local Health and Tribal Health Officer Bi-Monthly Web Cast Meetings page.