February 2020

Hello.

The Wisconsin Health Information Organization is off to a great start in 2020, and we have a few updates to share with you in the new year.

Opioid Dependence in Wisconsin

Opioid Dependence in Wisconsin provides the most recent information on opioid use, dependence, and abuse rates.  With colorful data visualization, this InfoByte also provides a focused snapshot of the use of opioids in the treatment of medical conditions in our state.

Great news for the WHIO’s Applied Insights Provider Reports customers: You can look forward to a new set of Opioid Reports as part of your report package, at no additional cost to you! These reports are designed to support your organizations’ efforts to ensure appropriate prescribing of opioids.

Two examples of the types of reports you’ll have access to:

  • Opioid Claims per 1000 Lives by Prescriber Specialty with Benchmarks
  • Opioid Claims per 1000 Lives by Prescriber within your organization with Peer Group Benchmarks

We expect to make the Opioid Reports available to you in April 2020.  If you are not currently using the Applied Insights Provider Reports, please contact us at info@whio.org. 

Reports and Data Files Are Updated

In January 2020, we released an update to the Population Analyzer, available to our Applied Insights customers. This tool now contains thirty months of data, covering CY 2017, CY 2018, and the first half of CY 2019.  The Population Analyzer allows you to leverage pre-built, state-wide populations to create your own de-identified record sets for analysis by you.  High-interest populations include those with diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension, asthma, oncology, and opioid use. Of note is that Population Analyzer provides you with all of the claims for patients with one (or more) of these conditions, not just the claims related to that condition.

In case you missed it, the latest Standard Integrated Data (SID) file was released on December 16, 2019.  The SID now includes claims data through June 2019.  Detailed release information is here, including the new naming convention, installation instructions, and upcoming release dates for 2020.

Please feel free to contact me at Dana.Richardson@whio.org for more information on the WHIO.

Kind regards,

Dana Richardson
Chief Executive Officer
Wisconsin Health Information Organization