Partnering with citizens to reform Wisconsin health care: a report of Citizen Congress II.

INTRODUCTION Commissioned by the Wisconsin Medical Society in 2003, the Wisconsin Citizen Congress project aims to get at least 5000 physicians and 100,000 citizens in a partnership for health and health care improvement in Wisconsin. The power of activated citizens and a citizen-physician partnership is one of few hopeful answers to current policy failures in health care. Citizen Congress II aimed to validate and extend the results of Citizen Congress I. METHODS Citizens and physicians were recruited locally, aiming for an optimally-sized group that reasonably represented the diverse people and regions of Wisconsin. A weekend of dialogue with expert facilitators used state-of-the-art methods and sought common goals and a plan of action for health care policy improvement in Wisconsin. RESULTS Fifteen hours of dialogue validated the results of Citizen Congress I by producing trusting and high-energy dialogue and very similar characteristics of ideal health and health care. As progress from Congress I, advocacy opportunities for local and state health policy improvement were explored and written plans produced. There was strong support for continuing Congress work, aiming toward a strong and focused advocacy group. CONCLUSION Citizen-physician dialogue and partnership is a hopeful innovation in the area of health policy and community health improvement. Its power comes from a partnership of organized voters and organized medicine. It has the potential to promote change longed for by many. It is strongly consistent with the quality and access initiatives of the new Wisconsin Medical Society strategic plan.