— Researchers at UW-Madison are exploring the use of artificial intelligence to support mental health with $3 million in federal grant support.
Funding for the two-year research project comes from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, according to a release from the university. Scientists working in UW-Madison’s Center for Healthy Minds are developing a system that would deliver personalized mental health support using a mobile device like a smartphone.
Christy Wilson-Mendenhall, co-investigator for the study, says scientists “hope to discover how to offer supportive well-being practices on mobile phones that are sensitive to what a person is feeling and easy to engage with in the moment.”
In the initial phase of the project, researchers will conduct “experience sampling” with human participants through an app, combining prompts to gauge their emotional state with geolocation and other activity data.
According to the university, this process will support the creation of machine learning tools and algorithms to be used in the new platform being developed.
Richard Davidson is the founder of the Center for Healthy Minds and a professor of psychology and psychiatry at UW-Madison. He says the information that will be gathered in this phase could provide “informative context for tailoring delivery of specific micro-supports” for boosting mental health.
“There are rich streams of data that can be acquired through low-effort activities that individuals are accustomed to doing on mobile phones like creating a short video, and also completely passively from their phones, with their consent,” Davidson said in the release.
Later in this effort, researchers hope to conduct a control trial to test these “micro-supports” triggered with machine learning tools, and ultimately launch a platform that could be accessed through web, mobile and wearable technology.
See more on the study here: https://www.wisbusiness.com/2023/university-of-wisconsin-madison-artificial-intelligence-and-well-being/
— The Wisconsin Hospital Association is urging lawmakers on the Joint Finance Committee to allocate $185 million annually in the next state budget to help offset the cost of caring for Medicaid patients.
“Today, compared to even the 2021-23 budget, or the 2019-21 budget, the cost of providing health care in Wisconsin — and really across the country — has just exploded,” WHA President and CEO Eric Borgerding said in a recent interview.
He pointed to rising labor and supply costs, as well as the cost of caring for patients that can’t be discharged into other care facilities due to a lack of capacity. Plus, he noted the state reimburses hospitals about 67 cents for every dollar they spend caring for a Medicaid patient.
“That difference is over $1.3 billion a year,” he said. “So just from a purely operational perspective, that’s another major cost that hospitals are dealing with.”
In a letter signed by the leaders of 108 hospitals and health systems in the state, WHA says investing $185 million per year would take less than one-fourth of the current Medicaid surplus of $796.4 million and less than 3 percent of the general fund surplus. The latest state projection for that figure was $6.9 billion.
According to the letter, this allocation would cut the hospitals’ Medicaid losses in half.
While Borgerding noted Wisconsin hasn’t had a hospital close since 2011, he said it would be a mistake to assume that means the state’s health care system is in a strong position.
“Just in about the last six months, we’ve seen three labor and delivery programs close in hospitals in Wisconsin,” he said. “We’ve seen a 16-bed inpatient mental health facility close in southeastern Wisconsin … And we’ve seen a 22-bed expansion of an inpatient behavioral health hospital get taken off the table, because the cost to operate and sustain those 22 beds, it just can’t be done.”
He noted the hospitals’ ask is targeted at inpatient hospital reimbursement, primary care reimbursement, reducing the financial impact of boarded patients that can’t be sent elsewhere, more funding for rural hospitals and a reimbursement increase for inpatient behavioral health facilities.
See the letter: https://www.wha.org/2023-2025Budget-MedicaidReimbursement-5-22-2023
See WHA’s release: https://www.wisbusiness.com/2023/wisconsin-hospital-association-over-100-wisconsin-hospitals-ask-state-budget-committee-to-increase-funding/
<br><b><i>Top headlines from the Health Care Report…</b></i>
— The American Red Cross is calling for more donors in Wisconsin to help offset a recent drop in blood and platelet donation appointments.
<i>For more of the most relevant news on COVID-19, reports on groundbreaking health research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics.com and WisBusiness.com.</i>
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— April home sales and new listings in south central Wisconsin both declined about 25 percent over the year, according to a recent industry report.
The Realtors Association of South Central Wisconsin’s latest report shows 941 residential units were sold in the region last month, compared to 1,261 in April 2022. And new listings hit 1,388 in April, which is down from 1,864 year-over-year.
“With another month of declined sales as compared with 2022 in both Dane County and the full region, some may speculate that it has begun to affect sellers, but that hasn’t been the case,” report authors wrote. “Limited inventory is instead creating competition among buyers.”
For the period between January and April of this year, the median sale price was $309,900. That’s 6.9 percent higher than the figure for that period of 2022, which was $290,000.
See the report: https://www.wisbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/230522RASCW.pdf
— GOP lawmakers are circulating a bill that would allow farmers to operate campgrounds on their property without a license, so long as they only have one campground and it includes no more than three campsites.
Under current law, campgrounds with between one and 25 campsites need to pay an annual fee of $175 and a one-time pre-inspection fee of $380 to be licensed, according to the cosponsorship memo.
The bill is being circulated by Sen. Rob Stafsholt of New Richmond and Rep. Gae Magnafici of Dresser. They say it would “not only promote Wisconsin’s rich farming heritage with the non-farming general public, but will help continue to grow Wisconsin’s blooming agricultural tourism.”
The cosponsorship deadline is 5 p.m. Friday.
See the cosponsorship memo: https://www.wisconsinlobbyists.com/resources/Co-Sponsorship%20Memos/5.19.2023/LRB-1333%20exempting%20certain%20farm%20owners%20from%20campground%20licensing%20Memo.pdf
#TOP STORIES#
# Proposed Milwaukee ordinance would regulate where, when food trucks can operate
# St. Vincent de Paul offers microloans to compete with payday lenders
# Here are the winners of the 2023 Wisconsin Area Music Industry Awards
#TOPICS#
# AGRIBUSINESS
– Bill to list ‘common names’ of ag exports for export introduced
http://wisconsinagconnection.com/story-state.php?Id=515&yr=2023
# CONSTRUCTION
– Suburban Milwaukee leaders voice strong opposition to potential deconstruction of I-794
– Work starts on $38.8 million MLK Library Apartments after years of collaboration: Slideshow
# EDUCATION
– Report: Milwaukee, Madison school district budgets uncertain without state funding
# ENTERTAINMENT & THE ARTS
– Pabst Theater Group chooses new East Side Milwaukee venue and will close The Back Room at Colectivo
– Pabst Theater Group to open club, close Back Room at Colectivo Coffee
# ENVIRONMENT
– Wisconsin environmental regulators settle wastewater lawsuit with large dairy farm
http://wisconsinagconnection.com/story-state.php?Id=516&yr=2023
– Wisconsin DNR estimates state’s elk herds have grown to around 500 animals
# FOOD AND BEVERAGE
– Palomino’s kitchen reopens, Caribou Coffee targets summer opening in Brookfield: Quick Bites
# LEGAL
– Milwaukee County DA sentences Oak Creek woman to 4-1/2 years for embezzling from landscaping company
# MEDIA
– This Green Bay philosophy professor set a record for consecutive runaway games on ‘Jeopardy!’
– Oshkosh students took 2nd in a national film contest on human trafficking. Here’s what they learned.
# REAL ESTATE
– Menasha leverages waterfront to spur downtown apartment projects
# RETAIL
– Kohl’s donates $2 million to American Cancer Society to support Milwaukee-area nonprofits
# SMALL BUSINESS
– New owners plan ‘subtle’ menu changes at Michael’s Family Restaurant in West Allis
# SPORTS
– Milwaukee USL franchise launches fan voting for team name
– Streetwise: Green Bay area nonprofit to open 20,000-square-foot skatepark in Ashwaubenon
# PRESS RELEASES
<i>See these and other press releases:
https://www.wisbusiness.com/press-releases/ </i>
U.S. Dept. of Agriculture NASS: Wisconsin ag news – crop progress & condition
