Advancing Evidence-Based Health Policy in Wisconsin

1. Advancing Evidence-Based Health Policy in Wisconsin A collaborative initiative UW Population Health Institute, SMPH Wisconsin Legislative Council UW La Follette School of Public Affairs

2. UW Population Health Institute David Kindig, MD, PhD Donna Friedsam, MPH Alison Bergum, MPA Sara Gustafson Christina Enders (Intern) La Follette School of Public Affairs Bobbi Wolfe, PhD Terry Shelton Legislative Council Terry Anderson Laura Rose Richard Sweet In collaboration with WI Family Impact Seminars Project Partners

3. Project Funding • Wisconsin Partnership Fund for a Healthy Future (UW BC/BS fund) • UW Chancellor’s Office • In-Kind contributions by project partners

4. What is “evidence-based health policy?” • Evidence-based medicine: “the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients.”  the principles used in evidence-based clinical practice can be extended to health services management and policy • Evidence can stimulate healthcare debates by raising the level of dialogue surrounding important policy decisions. • Acknowledging the role that values play, and working toward a greater level of transparency and understanding, will help to improve the quality of policy and management decisions. Source: What Counts? Interpreting Evidence-Based Decision-Making for Management and Policy. Report of the 6th CHSRF Annual Invitation Workshop. March 11th, 2004.

5. Project Goals • Advance Wisconsin’s health by providing policymakers, in both the public and private sectors, with timely, non-partisan, high quality information for evidence-based decision-making. • Bring the expertise of UW faculty, scientists, and researchers to inform relevant questions of state health policy. In turn, help bring the practice concerns of health policy and industry officials to the research agenda at UW. • Foster ongoing collaboration between Wisconsin’s policymakers and the research enterprise.

6. Achieving Project Goals • Provide timely and topical information in multiple formats to bridge medicine with health policy and research with practice • Facilitate discussions in non-partisan, safe harbor settings where government and academic leaders can consider available evidence and discuss the merits of various policy alternatives

7. Information Sharing Venues • Forums • Expert Panel Symposia • Just-in-Time Briefings • Methods Exchanges

8. Activities to Date • Discussion with Elliott Fisher, MD, MPH, Professor of Medicine and Community Family Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School • Methods Exchange meeting with interested Legislators and Maureen Smith, MD, MPH, PhD, regarding the Health Innovation Program • Introductory meetings with Legislators; emphasis on health committee chairs and members

9. Scheduled Events • March 26th: Briefing on California’s proposed health plan and the President’s proposed health care reform plan • May 18th: Discussion with David Durenberger, Former U.S. Senator and current Chair of the National Institute of Health Policy

10. Other Upcoming Events • Information on HPV vaccinations- spring • Commonwealth State Scorecard Release Forum- spring/summer • Symposium on developing sophisticated health care consumers and purchasers - summer

11. Contact Information • Sara Gustafson, Project Coordinator: • UW Population Health Institute • (608) 262-6318 or segustafson@wisc.edu • Alison Bergum, Policy Analyst/Researcher: • UW Population Health Institute • (608) 263-2624 or ahbergum@wisc.edu