To better understand the current state of outpatient antibiotic use in Wisconsin, the Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) Prevention Program partnered with the Wisconsin Health Information Organization (WHIO) to develop a new report detailing trends in outpatient antibiotic use and targets for improvement.
This report includes antibiotic prescriptions from 2018 to 2021 for insured Wisconsinites receiving outpatient care through clinics, urgent care settings, and emergency departments. 

Key findings

  • When stratifying by site of care, urgent care visits were more likely to result in an antibiotic prescription than visits to clinics or emergency departments.
  • The rate of visits associated with antibiotic prescriptions was greatest in the northern public health region, for female patients, and for patients living in areas of greater disadvantage.
  • By grouping common infectious diagnoses into categories based on likelihood of antibiotic
    prescribing, this report shows a reduction in both the proportion of visits for viral respiratory infection associated with antibiotic prescription and the volume of antibiotics prescribed for these indications over time. 
  • When examining the number of antibiotic prescriptions associated with viral syndromes, there were still 32,596 prescriptions in 2021, indicating further room for improvement. 

Recommendations

Based on the findings of this report, DHS recommends the following two actions:

  1. Target urgent care locations as an area for antibiotic use improvement efforts.
  2. Continue efforts to eliminate antibiotic prescribing for acute upper respiratory infections.