Wisconsin has a number of requirements dealing with public health reporting and data collection in order to give providers and consumers information on health care providers and quality assurance.1  The Wisconsin Department of Health Services is required to maintain a public health system in collaboration with local health departments and medical clinics operated by federally recognized American Indian tribes.  The Department must assess the public health needs of the state, identify key health problems, and educate the public, by looking at statewide data collection.2  The Department must maintain surveillance activities to detect the occurrence of any communicable, hazardous, or chronic disease.  The Department can use hospital records and information collected by the federal and state government to gather information regarding chronic and acute health problems.3

        The law requires various health care entities to collect data and report on a number of elements.  Wisconsin requires all hospitals to collect and report inpatient discharge data, emergency department data, and ambulatory surgical data, including patient race and ethnicity, to the Department of Health Services.4   The Department requires providers to collect specific claims data, including a patient’s identifying information and clinical information regarding the condition and diagnosis.5  The Department of Health Services requires ambulatory surgery centers to collect claims data, including patient identifying information, clinical information regarding the condition and diagnosis and type of surgery, and patient race and ethnicity.6  Private health insurance plans are also required to report financial data, market conduct, quality indicators, and grievance data to the Department.7

        Wisconsin requires health care providers to report data on specific diseases, conditions, and treatments.  For example, hospitals, clinics, and other facilities that perform abortions are required to file an annual report of the induced abortions performed.8  Wisconsin also requires reporting of specific sexually transmitted diseases,9  birth defects, 10 cancer cases11 and controlled substance use by mothers or expectant mothers.12  All licensed providers, including physicians, laboratories, health care facilities must report a case or suspected case of specific communicable conditions to the local health officer.13 Providers, health care facilities, social workers, and marriage and family counselors must report incidences of elder abuse to the Department of Health Services.14

        The Department is required to use these data generally to produce public reports, including cost and quality reports.15  The law requires a hospital quality indicators report to be written based on the collected data to show differences in the delivery of care among different hospitals in the state.16 Wisconsin gives the Department the authority to establish rules regarding the collection and dissemination of health care information.17

        In collecting and disseminating data, Wisconsin law imposes a number of confidentiality requirements on the Department of Health Services.  The Department must aggregate data and take steps to ensure individually identifiable data is not released, except in certain limited circumstances.18