The Wisconsin Pharmacy Quality Collaborative--a team-based approach to optimizing medication therapy outcomes.

The Wisconsin Pharmacy Quality Collaborative is an initiative of the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin, which connects community pharmacists with patients, physicians, and health plans to improve the quality and reduce the cost of medication use across Wisconsin. In 2012, the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin received a $4.1 million Health Care Innovation Award from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to expand the Wisconsin Pharmacy Quality Collaborative statewide. The aims of the Health Care Innovation Award are to help reduce health care costs in Wisconsin by over $20 million and improve health and health outcomes during the 3-year project period. Methods include implementing a redesign of community pharmacy practices and facilitating medication management services, which include intervention-based services and comprehensive medication review and assessment visits for eligible commercial and Wisconsin Medicaid members. The goals of the project are to: (1) improve medication use among participating patients; (2) improve patient safety; (3) reduce health care costs for participating patients and payers; and (4) establish partnerships between pharmacists and physicians to enhance health outcomes.

Wisconsin's health department-university partnership model for comprehensive cancer control.

Cancer causes substantial morbidity and mortality every year in the United States. To address cancer prevention and control in Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Division of Public Health and the University of Wisconsin Paul P. Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center forged a unique partnership. Using funds from the state legislature, the university, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Control Program was created. This health department-university partnership model has allowed both institutions to contribute their distinct strengths to projects that neither organization would have been able to complete on its own. Some challenges also have arisen during development and execution of the program, but overall, this collaborative partnership has brought diverse groups together to develop and implement evidence-based cancer control programs and policies in Wisconsin.

Enhanced Arboviral Surveillance to Increase Detection of Jamestown Canyon Virus Infections, Wisconsin, 2011-2016.

Jamestown Canyon virus (JCV), a mosquito-borne Orthobunyavirus (within the California serogroup), can cause severe neuroinvasive disease. According to national data during 2000-2013, 42% of the 31 documented JCV disease cases in the United States were detected in residents from Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Division of Public Health enhanced JCV surveillance by implementing routine use of JCV-specific immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibody testing followed by confirmatory JCV-specific plaque reduction neutralization testing on all patients with suspected cases of arboviral infection who had tests positive for arboviral immunoglobin at commercial laboratories. During 2011-2016, of the 287 Wisconsin specimens tested on the Arbovirus IgM Antibody Panel, 30 JCV cases were identified (26 confirmed and four probable). Twenty-seven (90%) JCV cases were detected after 2013. Among all cases, 17 (56%) were male and the median age was 54 years (range: 10-84 years). Fifteen patients had neuroinvasive disease, including meningitis (n = 9) and meningoencephalitis (n = 6). Although historically considered rare, the relatively high rate (0.12 cases/100,000 population) of diagnosis of JCV infections among Wisconsin residents during 2013-2016 compared with that in previous years suggests occurrence is widespread throughout Wisconsin and historically may have been under-recognized. This study aims to raise awareness of JCV infection for differential diagnosis among the arboviral diseases. Improved and timely diagnosis of arboviral disease is important in that it will provide more information regarding emerging infections and promote preventive measures to avoid mosquito-borne exposure and infection among residents of and visitors to affected areas.

The detection of monkeypox in humans in the Western Hemisphere.

BACKGROUND: During May and June 2003, an outbreak of febrile illness with vesiculopustular eruptions occurred among persons in the midwestern United States who had had contact with ill pet prairie dogs obtained through a common distributor. Zoonotic transmission of a bacterial or viral pathogen was suspected. METHODS: We reviewed medical records, conducted interviews and examinations, and collected blood and tissue samples for analysis from 11 patients and one prairie dog. Histopathological and electron-microscopical examinations, microbiologic cultures, and molecular assays were performed to identify the etiologic agent. RESULTS: The initial Wisconsin cases evaluated in this outbreak occurred in five males and six females ranging in age from 3 to 43 years. All patients reported having direct contact with ill prairie dogs before experiencing a febrile illness with skin eruptions. We found immunohistochemical or ultrastructural evidence of poxvirus infection in skin-lesion tissue from four patients. Monkeypox virus was recovered in cell cultures of seven samples from patients and from the prairie dog. The virus was identified by detection of monkeypox-specific DNA sequences in tissues or isolates from six patients and the prairie dog. Epidemiologic investigation suggested that the prairie dogs had been exposed to at least one species of rodent recently imported into the United States from West Africa. CONCLUSIONS: Our investigation documents the isolation and identification of monkeypox virus from humans in the Western Hemisphere. Infection of humans was associated with direct contact with ill prairie dogs that were being kept or sold as pets.

Preventable causes of death in Wisconsin, 2004.

INTRODUCTION: While heart disease, cancer, and injuries are leading proximate causes of death, research has demonstrated that about half of all deaths in the United States are actually due to preventable causes, including tobacco use, poor diet, and physical inactivity. Using state vital statistics data and findings from national studies, we report on the trends in the preventable causes of death in Wisconsin from 1992 to 2004. METHODS: The leading proximate causes of death in Wisconsin were obtained from Wisconsin Interactive Statistics on Health (WISH) data derived from individual death certificates. Information on the preventable causes of death was either obtained from the underlying cause information on the death certificate or from peer-reviewed epidemiologic studies. RESULTS: While the overall age-adjusted death rate declined from 837 to 744 per 100,000 from 1992 to 2004, the top 10 causes of death remain largely unchanged. Nearly half of the deaths in Wisconsin in 2004 resulted from 11 preventable causes, similar to the findings in 1992. DISCUSSION: Epidemiologic research demonstrates that nearly half of all deaths in Wisconsin are due to preventable causes. Programs and policies must continue to address these preventable causes of disease if Wisconsin is to meet its goal of promoting and protecting population health.

Updating progress in cancer control in Wisconsin.

BACKGROUND: In 1989, experts in cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment met in Madison to set the public health agenda for cancer control. Part of the plan defined target percent change in cancer mortality rates to be met by the year 2000. During the 1990s, public health and health care professionals developed programs and policies to reach these goals. The purpose of this analysis is to evaluate Wisconsin's progress in reducing cancer mortality and success in meeting the year 2000 objectives. METHODS: Wisconsin mortality data for 1984-1986 and 1999-2001 were obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC Wonder. Percent change was calculated between the 2 time periods and compared to the 2000 target percent change for all-site cancer and site specific cancer mortality. RESULTS: All-site cancer mortality decreased by 7% from 1984-1986 to 1999-2001 with a greater than 16% decline in age groups <65 years. Mortality from breast, colorectal, and cervical cancer each decreased by at least 25%. Lung cancer and malignant melanoma mortality rates increased by 5% and 17%, respectively. Among additionally analyzed cancers, mortality decreased in prostate, stomach, and childhood cancers and increased in liver cancer and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. CONCLUSION: The results of the state's cancer control effort are mixed. The year 2000 objectives were met for breast and colorectal cancer. Progress was made in reducing mortality from cervical cancer and from all sites combined, but the other year 2000 objectives were not met. Mortality rates increased for lung cancer and malignant melanoma during the 15-year period.

Meningococcal disease incidence and mortality in Wisconsin, 1993-2002.

Neisseria meningitidis is a major cause of sepsis and meningitis in children and young adults in the United States. To examine recent epidemiologic features of meningococcal disease in Wisconsin, we evaluated Wisconsin case surveillance data collected during 1993-2002. Surveillance data for cases with onsets during this time were analyzed; statistical trends were assessed. Mortality was examined with regard to age, sex, serogroup, college student status, and young adult status by unadjusted and adjusted analyses. During 1993-2002, 462 cases of meningococcal disease were reported in Wisconsin; 55% of case patients were aged < 19 years. The annual incidence was 0.9 cases per 100,000 persons per year, and incidence was highest among children aged <2 years. Two seasonal peaks in cases were observed during January-April and September-October. The annual mortality rate during the 10-year interval was 0.09 deaths per 100,000 persons per year. Adjusted analysis indicated that serogroup C infection, young adult, and college student status (but not sex) were associated with mortality. Meningococcal disease remains uncommon and sporadic in Wisconsin. Incidence and mortality rates are highest among young children, but young adults who acquire the disease appear to be at an increased mortality risk.

Occupational risks during a monkeypox outbreak, Wisconsin, 2003.

We determined factors associated with occupational transmission in Wisconsin during the 2003 outbreak of prairie dog--associated monkeypox virus infections. Our investigation included active contact surveillance, exposure-related interviews, and a veterinary facility cohort study. We identified 19 confirmed, 5 probable, and 3 suspected cases. Rash, headache, sweats, and fever were reported by > 80% of patients. Occupationally transmitted infections occurred in 12 veterinary staff, 2 pet store employees, and 2 animal distributors. The following were associated with illness: working directly with animal care (p = 0.002), being involved in prairie dog examination, caring for an animal within 6 feet of an ill prairie dog (p = 0.03), feeding an ill prairie dog (p = 0.002), and using an antihistamine (p = 0.04). Having never handled an ill prairie dog (p = 0.004) was protective. Veterinary staff used personal protective equipment sporadically. Our findings underscore the importance of standard veterinary infection-control guidelines.

How readable are child safety seat installation instructions?

OBJECTIVES: To measure the required reading level of a sample of child safety seat (CSS) installation instructions and to compare readability levels among different prices of CSSs to determine whether the lower cost seats to which low-income parents have greater access are written to a lower level of education. METHODS: A CD-ROM containing CSS installation instructions was obtained from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Pricing information was obtained for available models from an Internet-based company that provides comparative shopping information. Paper copies of the instruction sets were generated, and their readability levels were determined using the SMOG test. A second rater was used in addition to the primary investigator to assess interrater reliability of the SMOG as applied to the instruction sets. RESULTS: The readability of instruction sets ranged from the 7th- to 12th-grade levels, with an overall mean SMOG score of 10.34. No significant associations were found to exist between readability and seat prices; this was observed whether the data were treated as continuous or categorical. CONCLUSIONS: CSS instruction manuals are written at a reading level that exceeds the reading skills of most American consumers. These instruction sets should be rewritten at a lower reading level to encourage the proper installation of CSSs.