Recorded presentation

Patrick Remington, MD, MPH, Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 760 WARF Building, 610 Walnut St., Madison, WI 53726, 608-263-1745, plreming@wisc.edu, Paul Peppard, PhD, Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin Medical School, 610 North Walnut St., Madison, WI 53726, and David A. Kindig, MD, PhD, Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin Medical School, 610 North Walnut St., Madison, WI 53726.

Just as some people are healthy and others are not, the “health” of communities also varies. Modeled after UnitedHealth Foundation’s annual State Health Rankings, we developed the Wisconsin County Health Rankings, using publicly-available data. In creating these rankings, we chose to focus on two categories of health measures—health outcomes and health determinants. Outcomes are intended to measure the current state of health in a county, while determinants are viewed as predictors of future health outcomes. Two broad components were used to represent health outcomes: death rates and self-reported health status. We measured health determinants in four major components: access to healthcare, health behaviors, socioeconomic factors related to health, and the physical environment. Each of these four components is comprised of one or more underlying health measures (18 total). The means and standard deviations of the health measures were calculated across the 72 counties in Wisconsin. Counties were then given a score for each health measure (a Z-score—the number of standard deviation units that the county was from the counties’ mean). Weighted averages of the scores were used to calculate the overall summary outcomes and determinants rankings and the rankings for the four major categories of determinants. These health rankings, showing considerable variation in the health of Wisconsin’s counties, were shared with county health officers and then released to the media in January 2004. Local public health officials were able to discuss the reasons for variation in health determinants, and the ultimate effect on health outcomes—increased longevity and quality of life.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the concept of population health.
• Realize that health can be summarized by health outcomes and determinants.
• Understand the usefulness of ranking the health of communities.

Related Web page: www.pophealth.wisc.edu/wphi/index.html

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation