Wisconsin eHealth Initiative

The mission of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services' eHealth Program is to facilitate improvements in Wisconsin's health care quality, safety, transparency, efficiency, and cost effectiveness through statewide adoption and use of electronic health records (EHR) and health information exchange (HIE). Access to the right health care information at the right time by providers and patients will promote the delivery of safe, optimum health care in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Health Information Technology (HIT) Strategic and Operational Plan: Wisconsin's Plan was approved by the federal Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health IT in December 2010. The Wisconsin Statewide Health Information Network (WISHIN), Inc. is the state-designated entity for statewide HIE governance and is responsible for implementing Wisconsin's HIT Plan.  WISHIN is a nonprofit organization formed by the Wisconsin Hospital Association, the Wisconsin Medical Society, the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality, and the Wisconsin Health Information Organization. As a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Wisconsin received a total of $9.441 million for the planning and implementation of a statewide electronic HIE network and services that will enable health care providers to be meaningful users of EHR technology and promote better coordination of patient care. The statewide network will also help improve the quality and efficiency of health care delivery in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin HIT Strategic and Operational Plan Executive Summary (PDF, 724 KB)
Wisconsin HIT Strategic and Operational Plan (PDF, 4289 KB)
Wisconsin HIT Strategic and Operational Plan Appendices (PDF, 7931 KB)

Wisconsin HITECH Programs Update (PDF, 61 KB) November 7, 2011.  Provides information on the Wisconsin Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive Program, the Wisconsin Health IT Extension Center, the WIRED for Health Program, and the HIT Workforce Programs.

Wisconsin HIT Workforce Development.  Get into a high-demand field implementing and supporting EHR in only 6 months. Employers are expected to need as many as 50,000 HIT professionals within the next 5 years.

Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) and Madison College offer advanced certificate training programs for professionals in health care, IT and project/analyst occupations.  MATC HIT Brochure (PDF, 368 KB) December 8, 2010

Register your email to subscribe to eHealth and WIRED for Health updates and notices.

Have a question about an eHealth-related acronym?  Please take a look at our acronym list. (PDF, 26 KB)

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Last Updated: November 22, 2011