The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) today released its 2023-2027 State Health Improvement Plan. This five-year roadmap for improving health and well-being for all Wisconsinites summarizes priority areas in order to guide action, alignment, and collaboration across the state’s public health system and local partners, plans, and initiatives.

"Every person in every community across Wisconsin deserves the opportunity to live their best life, and to do that communities must be able to provide the resources individuals and families need to support their health and well-being,” said State Health Officer Paula Tran. “The 2023-2027 State Health Improvement Plan lays out a pathway toward this vision. It calls for partners across Wisconsin to strengthen our shared work to create the conditions that make good health possible by addressing the immediate health and well-being issues facing Wisconsinites, prevent and protect against future challenges, and reduce disparities in health and well-being.”

The plan was developed through an extensive process that involved input of local and tribal health departments, state agencies, health care organizations, and community-based organizations and individuals. It introduces three foundational shifts in the way our state does the work of public health, and five priority areas Wisconsinites are facing in order to achieve optimal health. The foundational shifts include institutional and systemic fairness, representation and access to decision making, and community-centered resources and services, along with the following five priority areas:

• Social and community conditions, including economic well-being, supportive systems of dependent care, and healthy housing
• Physical, mental, and systemic safety
• Person and community-centered health care
• Social connectedness and belonging
• Mental and emotional health and well-being

"We heard from Wisconsinites across the state that investments, collaboration, and action are needed to improve a community's ability to be well,” said State Health Officer Paula Tran. “Based on this input, we recognize that our public health system must support efforts to improve social and community conditions, environments and systems, to improve health for everyone in Wisconsin."

Wisconsin's plan builds on and complements the recommendations of other publications, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison Population Health Institute’s Population Health and Equity Report Card, Minority Health Report, and the Governor’s Health Equity Council recommendations. These reports have shown how measures of chronic and acute diseases, rates of death and illness, and health-related outcomes vary by age, income, race, and location. They also consistently point to the need to consider and address the root causes of existing health outcomes.

The plan reaffirms Wisconsin’s continued commitment to ensuring that everyone in Wisconsin has a fair and just opportunity to live their best life and be as healthy as possible. Inequities in community, social, and economic conditions affect the health outcomes across all health conditions and behaviors. In collaboration with partners and communities, DHS will work to ensure a healthier Wisconsin by focusing on key conditions that promote and protect health. The 2023-2027 State Health Improvement Plan will be followed by a detailed implementation plan that will launch partnerships and action across the priority areas.

Visit the DHS website for more information about Wisconsin's State Health Plan.