PeriData.NetŪ: Wisconsin's Comprehensive Perinatal Database

PeriData.NetŪ, a web-based comprehensive perinatal database was created by a partnership of the Wisconsin Association for Perinatal Care, the Center for Urban Population Health at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Wisconsin birth hospitals to serve as a platform for hospitals' internal administrative reporting and quality management functions and for secure electronic submission of selected fields to vital records and other external data registries. Launched in April 2006, more than 100,000 birth records have been input to date. Currently 87 of 102 Wisconsin birth hospitals participate, representing more than 90% of hospital births in 2008. Participation of rural hospitals was supported by a University of Wisconsin Partnership Fund grant.

Key features of PeriData.NetŪ include a more comprehensive data set than required for vital records including additional care process and outcome fields, linked maternal and newborn data with immediate access to all data fields, standard and custom reporting features, exporting capabilities, and an aggregate reporting mechanism. Features under development include custom-reporting templates, report modules sharing, a NICU module, and interfaces with point of care documentation systems.

Hospitals have reported using PeriData.NetŪ for quality dashboards, internal review of sentinel cases, care to the underserved, and county initiatives to improve prenatal care. Statewide initiatives to use PeriData.NetŪ for improving perinatal care have been launched, including development of a disparity indicators report. In collaboration with the Wisconsin Hospital Association, perinatal indicators for consumer reporting are in the final stages of development. Mechanisms for access by researchers to this rich data source are in discussion.