Thursday, June 17, 2010
Ninety-Ninth Regular Session
The Chief Clerk makes the following entries under the above date.
__________________
The Chief Clerk makes the following entries dated Friday, June
11
, 2010.
Relating to demerit point system and graduated driver license restriction extensions.
Submitted by Department of Transportation.
Report received from Agency, June 10, 2010.
Referred to committee on Transportation, Tourism, Forestry, and Natural Resources, June 11, 2010
.
__________________
The Chief Clerk makes the following entries dated Tuesday, June
15
, 2010.
The committee on Judiciary, Corrections, Insurance, Campaign Finance Reform, and Housing reports and recommends:
Relating to use of the 2001 CSO Preferred Class Structure Mortality Table in determining reserve liabilities.
No action taken.
Lena Taylor
Chairperson
__________________
The Chief Clerk makes the following entries dated Wednesday, June
16
, 2010.
The committee on Agriculture and Higher Education reports and recommends:
Relating to administrative orders and contested cases.
No action taken.
Kathleen Vinehout
Chairperson
__________________
The committee on Environment reports and recommends:
Relating to ensuring that lands acquired with funding from the stewardship program under ss.23.0915 and 23.0917, Stats., are open to public hunting, trapping, fishing, hiking and cross county skiing.
No action taken.
Mark Miller
Chairperson
__________________
The committee on Health, Health Insurance, Privacy, Property Tax Relief, and Revenue reports and recommends:
Relating to the ambulatory surgical center assessment.
No action taken.
Jon Erpenbach
Chairperson
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Department of Health Services
Department of Employee Trust Funds
June 1, 2010
The Honorable, The Senate:
Wis. Stat. 153.05 (2s) directs the Department of Health Services and the Department of Employee Trust Funds to jointly prepare an annual report on the activities of the Wisconsin Health Information Organization (WHIO). The Departments are required to submit this report to the standing committees of the Legislature with jurisdiction over health issues.
At both the national and state levels, efforts are under way to transform health care through the use of health information technology (HIT). The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 appropriated over $35 billion to advance the adoption of electronic health records and to create standardized electronic health information exchange (HIE). Health IT allows comprehensive management of medical information and its secure exchange between health care consumers and providers. Broad use of HIT has the potential to improve health care quality, prevent medical errors, increase the efficiency of care, reduce unnecessary health care costs, increase administrative efficiencies, decrease paperwork, expand access to affordable care, and improve population health.
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WHIO is just one example of Wisconsin's leadership in using electronic health information to drive changes in the health care system and prepares Wisconsin well to move forward in developing statewide HIE-an effort that is proceeding under the stewardship of the WIRED for Health Board. As a result of the ground-breaking work done by WHIO, and once statewide HIE becomes available, both public and private sector health care purchasers will have the ability to measure the quality and price of health care services and use that information to increase the value of future purchases. Health care providers will be better able to identify where quality and cost variation exists and answer the question, "What care provides the most value to patients?"
WHIO is an excellent example of a collaborative public-private partnership and an extremely important initiative for Wisconsin to achieve transparency in health care and promote better health care outcomes for the people of Wisconsin. We continue to be fully committed to working in partnership with the other health care stakeholders across the state through WHIO.
Please find enclosed the second annual report on the activities of WHIO, as well as a fact sheet on WHIO, and a Frequently Asked Questions document. If you have any questions, please contact Denise Webb, State Health IT Coordinator, at (608) 267-6767.
Sincerely,
karen timberlake
Secretary
