Wisconsin County Health Rankings

One signature product of the Institute is the Wisconsin County Health Rankings. This report ranks Wisconsin communities on various measures of population health in the form of health determinants and health outcomes. The purpose of the Rankings is to contrast measures of population health and its determinants and, thus, stimulate and engage discussion with the Wisconsin health policy and public health communities. Intended audiences for the Rankings include local health officers, the health policy community, health care executives, legislators, advocacy groups, and the media.

Development of methods for population health reporting and ranking is ongoing at the Institute. Each edition of the Rankings will represent iterative development of these methods and health communication strategies. The first edition of the Rankings, described as a Report Card, was released in 2003 as an Institute Working Paper. Since 2003, the Wisconsin County Health Rankings have been published annually.

• Project leaders: Patrick Remington, Bridget Booske
• Collaborators: David Kindig, Paul Peppard
• Graduate students: Jessica Athens, Angela Kempf

For a recent commentary on the Wisconsin County Health Rankings, see "Healthcare Reform Without Communitywide Prevention Misses The Target" by Tim Size, Executive Director, Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative, published in the RWHC Quarterly Editorial for Member Newsletters: September, 2007.

To view a webcast given by Pat Remington on the Wisconsin County Health Rankings, go to the Division of Public Health State Health Officer / Local Health and Tribal Health Officer Bi-Monthly Web Cast Meetings page.