This week, WHA initiated a statewide advertising campaign to celebrate Wisconsin’s status as the #1 health care state in the country based on quality, according to the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
“We want to make sure that everyone in the state—our employers, patients, lawmakers and people living in our communities—is aware that Wisconsin’s health care ranked top in the nation, but as or more importantly, knows that the hospitals, doctors, nurses, care providers and health care leaders in this state are strongly committed to continuing to improve, to staying among the best in the country,” said WHA President/CEO Eric Borgerding.
In 10 of the last 11 years, Wisconsin has never ranked lower than fourth best in the AHRQ report.
Wisconsin scored exceptionally well across more than 130 measures AHRQ uses to measure health system performance. The Badger state’s strongest performance was in the areas of acute and chronic care, and patient safety.
“The AHRQ rankings are a national validation of what we know here; Wisconsin’s local and regional health systems are delivering some of the best care in the country,” according to Borgerding. “Across all care settings, in rural and urban communities, we are maintaining consistently high performance, while striving to set even higher standards of care. It is that combination of performance and commitment to be better that makes Wisconsin a perennial leader.
The ads will run statewide on the Wisconsin Radio Network through September 19, print ads will appear in the Wisconsin State Journal on September 15, 17 and 20 and in the Journal Sentinel September 20, 22 and 24 and a banner ad will be in the WisPolitics Health Care Report and in their AM News product into mid-October. Listen to the radio spot here..
The AHRQ top ranking is based on the overall quality of care in the state. It arrives on the heels of Wisconsin’s critical access hospitals (CAHs) being singled out in July 2017 as the best in the nation by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for outstanding quality performance. That ranking was based on participation in and achievement on the Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Project (MBQIP). Wisconsin CAHs achieved the highest reporting rates and levels of improvement in the country over the past year. CAHs are hospitals with fewer than 25 beds that provide essential services in rural areas. There are 58 CAHs in Wisconsin.
“WHA is proud to represent some of the finest hospitals and health care systems in the country that are staffed by some of the best, most highly qualified health care professionals in the country. We know as we improve quality, we reduce health care costs, and patient outcomes are better,” Borgerding said. “That helps ensure Wisconsin will continue to be known for high-quality, high-value care, which is an economic development asset in every part of the state.”