The State Systems Development Initiative supports Wisconsin’s need for improved availability, timeliness, and utilization of program data to support informed decision-making and resource allocation for Wisconsin’s Title V program. The State Systems Development Initiative is designed to provide infrastructure support that serves all women, children, and families in Wisconsin, with special emphasis on high-risk populations. In 2022, this support was primarily given through the funding of the State Systems Development Initiatives Program Coordinator position at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

Over the years, the State Systems Development Initiative has contributed to Title V program progress in gaining access to multiple data sources for needs assessment and surveillance purposes and new data linkages. For example, supplemental State Systems Development Initiative dollars funded a collaborative project between Title V Program staff and the Office of Health Informatics to provide access to provisional birth data on a quarterly basis. Currently, Wisconsin has consistent, direct access to birth, death, newborn hearing and critical congenital heart disease screening, hospital discharge, the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, and Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data.

In 2022, Wisconsin’s Title V program hired a Title V Evaluator and Epidemiologist. While previously dividing Title V epidemiological and evaluation needs between data staff throughout the Family Health Section, the Title V team now has a dedicated epidemiologist and evaluation expert to coordinate and manage data needs. The Title V Evaluator and Epidemiologist worked closely with the State Systems Development Initiatives Coordinator throughout 2022 to ensure key activities for the Title V Block Grant Application/Annual Report were carried out. This included collaborating closely with state staff content experts to develop and track effective strategies and accountability measures and meeting monthly with staff to document progress of strategies and their measures. The Title V Evaluator and Epidemiologist also worked directly with many Title V partners in 2022 to prepare 2023 contracts with Scopes of Work that included effective, realistic, and useful measures of success.

In December 2022, the Title V Evaluator and Epidemiologist, Title V Director, and State Systems Development Initiative Coordinator met for an all-day data management strategic planning session. In this time, they developed a plan for:

• Incorporating State Systems Development Initiative Objectives into Title V workflows

• Updating the structure of monthly performance measure check-ins to incorporate data management

• Collecting quarterly data reports from local and tribal health agencies using the online survey platform Alchemer

• Establishing annual data management goals

• Developing data management templates, including a master State Action Plan spreadsheet

• Organizing data, reports, and supplemental information in MS Teams for Title V-related work

• Ensuring completion of Block Grant submission forms in HRSA’s Electronic Handbooks (EHB) system

Throughout 2022, the State System Development Initiatives Coordinator participated in the planning and coordination of the 2023 State Action Plan strategies, ensuring this work will reflect the results of the 2020 MCH Needs Assessment. In February 2023, Wisconsin’s Title V Director stepped down and the State Systems Development Initiative Coordinator was named Interim Title V Director. Due to the increased workload accompanying this appointment, State Systems Development Initiative projects were temporarily put on hold. In May 2023, the State Systems Development Initiatives Coordinator was officially promoted to the role of Wisconsin’s Title V Director and Maternal and Child Health Systems Coordinator. With this change in staffing, Wisconsin’s Title V program is currently focused on identifying a new State Systems Development Initiative Project Director to ensure this work is reinitiated in a timely manner.

In late 2022 and early 2023, the State Systems Development Initiative Coordinator and Title V Evaluator and Epidemiologist met with Title V staff to introduce strategy mapping. The State Systems Development Initiative Coordinator developed a template to guide these meetings. While mapping every strategy on the 2023 State Action Plan was unrealistic due to staff capacity, the team piloted this concept with select strategies that staff really felt needed more guidance or vision. Implementation science was utilized to support Title V program staff to develop clear and intentional work plans and data plans for each strategy on the State Action Plan. The State Systems Development Initiative Coordinator and Title V Evaluator and Epidemiologist assisted staff across each Performance Measure to map at least one strategy. More information on strategy mapping can be found in the Workforce Development section of this submission.