Making Wisconsin the Healthiest State

Aim 1: Catalyze community health improvement and advance health equity by increasing skills, confidence, and capacity of communities and the public health workforce to use data and evidence for local community health improvement and equity.

• Goal 1: Recognize local communities that are successfully advancing health and equity
  • Wisconsin Healthy Communities Designation – recognizing and encouraging local efforts to improve overall community health and well-being
• Goal 2: Support local health priority setting to advance equity by disseminating evidence-based and evidence-informed policies and practices through What Works for Health
  • What Works for Health – a database of policies and program that can improve health, including summaries of research on what does and does not work
    • Wisconsin Database: What Works for Health – Policies and Program to Improve Wisconsin’s Health
• Goal 3: Build alignment on health equity priority setting and implementation between healthcare and public health
  • Assessing and Improving Community Health in Wisconsin – an online tool compiling local priorities (CHA/CHNA) and improvement strategies (CHIP) selected by local health departments and non-profit hospitals in Wisconsin

Aim 2: Innovate scholarship through the development of a second-generation health equity framework to expand measurement, assessment, reporting and action on WI’s health and inequities.

• Goal 1: Create a new, second-generation population health and equity framework
  • To address the gap in both practice and scholarship related to models that support action and research questions on the root causes of social determinants of health and equity, we are developing a second-generation framework, drawing on expertise of Population Health Institute staff and outside national and local experts.
• Goal 2: Measure, assess, and report on WI’s health and inequities using the second-generation framework and strategic communications
  • In the past, the Making Wisconsin the Healthiest State project has created Report Cards of Wisconsin’s health. We are working on revising this traditional Report Card into a comprehensive report of the drivers of health and equity with clear links to the new frameworks and measures developed in Goal 1.

• What Works for Health in Wisconsin? Social and Economic Strategies to Improve Health and Equity (September 2018): Outlines strategies to create healthier and more equitable communities
• Health of Wisconsin Report Card (2016): Assessment of Wisconsin’s health and health disparities
• Wisconsin Health Trends Progress Report (2013-2015): Report of trends in various health indicators in Wisconsin
• What Works? Strategies to Improve Rural Health (July 2015): Key steps toward building healthy communities – rural, urban, and in between – along with many policies and programs that have been tested or implemented in rural areas
• Opportunities to Make Wisconsin the Healthiest State (October 2015): Report comparing Wisconsin’s health with other states to identify areas for improvement
• Small Businesses and Workplace Wellness (October 2014): Profiles of four Wisconsin companies who have adopted workplace wellness to promote employee health as well as engagement
• Find the Bright Spots: Four Wisconsin Communities and Their Health Improvement Efforts (2012): Profiles of four Wisconsin communities tackling local health challenges through partnerships
• Report: What Works? Policies and Programs to Improve Wisconsin’s Health (September 2012): Snapshot of policies and programs in the What Works for Health database