We are pleased to present WHA’s 2003-2007 strategic plan. The plan incorporates a continuous five-year set of strategic objectives that constitute the majority of WHA’s overall program activities and efforts.

Key strategic areas of focus are:

• Promoting health care system reform.
• Pursuing adequate health care funding.
• Supporting and promoting initiatives that assure an adequate supply of health professionals.
• Encouraging continuous quality and patient safety improvement.
• Developing and sustaining strategic relationships.

The health care environment is dynamic. That fact requires WHA leadership on these important strategies in order to accomplish our mission of advocating for an environment that allows our members to provide high quality care to Wisconsin communities.

Gerald M. Worrick 2003 Chair	Stephen F. Brenton WHA President

Strategic planning involves long- and short-term goals and objectives. National and state public policy decisions and ongoing evolutionary events influence health care’s dynamic environment. This document outlines WHA’s priorities for a five-year period, with the understanding that it will be updated regularly.

Factors that shape the Association’s strategic plan include:

• WHA’s highest priority as identified by members is influencing state and federal legislation and regulation.
• WHA is viewed as a primary source of reliable information about the health care field.
• Quality and patient safety have emerged as major priorities for hospitals and the public.
• Inadequate provider payments from public programs will continue to be a challenge as state and federal policymakers struggle with spending priorities and deficits.
• Purchasers believe that health care providers need to become more accountable and willing to provide quantitative information (cost/quality/safety outcomes) on which individual hospital performance can be judged.
• Wisconsin demographics point to a growing aging population and pervasive shortages of skilled workers in general, and health care workers in particular.
• WHA members are increasingly involved in providing a broad-based continuum of care.
• Health care cost inflation is a major concern that if not addressed will limit the ability of business in general, and small business in particular, to offer comprehensive coverage to their employees.
• The public’s concern about the cost of health care has increased, while its understanding of cost drivers and the health care system remains murky and is inconsequential to its concern about the costs.
• The public believes health care providers should focus more on promoting individual and community health rather than on their organization’s bottom line financial performance.
• WHA should support public health initiatives that improve the health of Wisconsin communities.
• WHA members desire proactive Association initiatives that will favorably address these environmental issues.

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The Wisconsin Hospital Association’s mission is advocating for the ability of its members to provide high quality health care services to Wisconsin communities.

The Association’s vision is based on the following objectives:

1. Making advocacy and representation WHA’s highest priority.

2. Advocating for the identification and implementation of initiatives that contribute to improved community health.

3. Serving as a forum to discuss diverse points of view and seek consensus on how best to meet societal and member needs.

4. Providing education and training on issues relating to regulatory compliance, management, clinical improvement, and other matters that enable members to achieve their missions.

5. Taking a leadership role in fostering a climate of collaboration, respect, and interdependency between the various providers of health care.

6. Offering value added services that meet membership needs through the Association and its subsidiaries.

In 2002, the WHA Board adopted three key principles for health care reform and WHA advocacy initiatives. Those principles suggest that WHA should work to:

1. Enable consumerism;
2. Improve coverage and access; and
3. Promote community accountability.

Utilizing those principles to frame ongoing strategic initiatives, WHA activity will focus on the following areas.

• Actively support initiatives that provide affordable opportunities for business and individuals to access health care coverage.
• Maintain a balanced level of government regulation that offers appropriate patient protection, community accountability and adequate flexibility for providers to deliver care in an efficient, cost-effective manner.
• Support policies that further the commitment of WHA and its members to be accountable to the public for the cost and quality of services provided.
• Assume a position of leadership in collaborating with the business community and others to develop solutions that stabilize health insurance costs while promoting a competitive marketplace.
• Advocate for continued refinements in the health care system that promote pluralism and competitive fairness.

Adequate funding of health care services is a key factor that enables WHA members to achieve their goal of improving their communities’ health. Adequate funding of public programs also has a direct impact on health insurance premiums due to resulting cost shifting. This requires concerted WHA involvement in:

• Aggressively seeking to achieve fair funding for services provided under Medicaid/BadgerCare with particular emphasis on outpatient payment, improving Wisconsin’s Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) program and teaching hospital funding through Medicaid, and maintaining a viable GAMP program in Milwaukee County.
• Maintaining financial viability of community hospitals in order to facilitate missions that include serving the poor and indigent as safety net providers.
• Pursuing equitable and adequate Medicare funding for Wisconsin and focusing on provider payment issues relating to equity, adequacy and value in WHA’s federal advocacy programming.
• Maintaining availability of tax-exempt financing for non-profit members.
• Acknowledging the growing significance of managed care in Wisconsin and ensuring that health plans are fair to health care providers.
• Positioning WHA as the major source for comprehensive health care financial and trend data.
• Striving for regulatory simplification of payment systems affecting both private and public payers.

The current and future health care environment provide significant challenges to the health care system as it struggles to meet growing patient needs brought about by an aging population, new technologies and a workforce that is projected to shrink—or at best remain constant—in the foreseeable future. This requires that WHA:

• Take a leadership role in quantifying both existing and expected future shortages of health care personnel and measuring progress toward addressing these shortages.
• Aggressively engage the technical college system, the University of Wisconsin system, and private colleges to expand the capacity of health career programs.
• Identify, catalogue and disseminate best practice retention strategies.
• Within the overall structure of the state’s licensure/health care personnel regulatory structure, strive to increase flexibility, allowing individuals to perform within as broad a capacity as quality patient care will allow.
• Pursue employment laws and regulations that are appropriate and fair for health care providers.
• Continually evaluate the physician supply issue, recognizing that a balance between primary care and specialists is particularly important to ensure the delivery of care.

Nothing is more important to the patients we serve than a safe delivery environment that provides high quality care. The Association will take a leadership role in advancing quality and patient safety as a priority. This will be accomplished by:

• Using recommendations and goals found within the report, Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21^st Century as the framework for Association initiatives.
• Implementing WHA’s Quality Initiative (CheckPoint) as the primary strategy for facilitating hospital reporting of quality and safety performance.
• Taking a leadership role in promoting and guiding the Wisconsin Patient Safety Institute.
• Working collaboratively with members and other organizations to advance a meaningful quality and safety agenda.

Health care’s delivery evolution has featured a movement toward services being provided on a full continuum of care. To position WHA to represent this continuum effectively and through the most efficient use of resources, it is critical that strategic alliances be established with organizations that share common purposes and agendas.

Organizations with which WHA should strive to ally with include:

• Wisconsin State Government;
• Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative;
• American Hospital Association;
• National Rural Health Association;
• Wisconsin Academy of Family Physicians;
• Wisconsin Medical Society;
• Wisconsin Nurses Association;
• Catholic Health Association of Wisconsin
• Association of Homes and Services for the Aging and Wisconsin Healthcare Association;
• Leadership organizations representing key members of the health care management team (e.g., Wisconsin Organization of Nurse Executives, Health Care Financial Management Association, Wisconsin Healthcare Public Relations and Marketing Society, Wisconsin Society of Healthcare Human Resources Administration, etc.);
• Key elements of the Wisconsin educational system, including the technical college system and its 16 regions, the University of Wisconsin system and its multiple campuses, private colleges, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, and the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.

WHA must also continue its commitment to develop strategic partnerships with organizations to advance public policy priorities. These strategic partnerships often occur around a specific issue or legislative proposal and may bring together organizations that otherwise have very different goals and agendas. Nevertheless, they are critical to WHA’s success as an advocacy organization and should be maximized to the extent possible.

Such organizations include:

• Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce
• Wisconsin Association of Health Plans
• Competitive Wisconsin

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WHA’s membership continues to evolve. It currently includes regional integrated systems, local integrated systems and organizations that remain primarily traditional acute care hospitals. Three constituencies have been identified where special resources need to be devoted.

• WHA should maintain its leadership in aggressively implementing the Critical Access Hospital Program.
• WHA should advocate for rural health care organizations’ financial needs and their continued drive for payment equity.
• WHA should provide dedicated educational programming focusing on the needs of small and rural members.
• WHA should recognize that workforce shortage issues can be particularly acute in rural areas where fewer options exist to solve shortage problems in particular disciplines.

• WHA should provide community-based leadership necessary to address the unique problems of metropolitan Milwaukee.
• WHA should acknowledge and support steps to address financial problems associated with serving a low-income population in the state’s major metropolitan/inner city area.
• WHA should provide specialized support to activities involving metro Milwaukee County local units of government and their unique approaches to meeting community health needs.

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WHA Financial Solutions, Inc. (formerly Primary Resources, Ltd., and WHA Shared Services, Ltd.) is a wholly owned subsidiary of WHA that provides responsive and innovative business products, services and solutions to health and hospital organizations.

WHA Financial Solutions was created in 1981 to offer fee-for-service programs to both members and non-members, with an emphasis on service. In 2000, its mission was modified to ensure that the organization will become more focused on sales and revenue growth. In addition, it will be expected to increase financial support to WHA via allocations (based on utilization of services), funding of WHA events, and cash dividends.

Adding value through well-advised financial solutions.

To be the leader in insurance and financial products and services in our target market by designing programs that accomplish our clients’ objectives.

To provide value-as defined by our clients.

As a trusted advisor, we will continually provide innovative, leading edge solutions for our clients.

The following principles will guide us so that we may achieve our mission and vision:
Integrity. We adhere to the highest ethical and professional standards. Our recommendations and product developments are driven to benefit our clients and are based on sound research.

Our Clients. We strive to build solid, long-term partnerships by listening to and understanding the needs of our clients-then exceeding those needs.

Our Staff. We value our staff-they are WHA Financial Solutions. We will provide a challenging and rewarding environment, with generous opportunities for growth and professional development.

Our Shareholder. We will ensure our results align with the mission, vision and values of the Wisconsin Hospital Association and its members.

The menu of products, services and solutions includes:

• Retirement Services – plan design, plan compliance, and employee education and service.
• Insurance Services – Health & Welfare benefit products, corporate insurance, and risk management products.

WHA Foundation, Inc.

WHA Foundation assets stand at approximately $1.2 million. In 2003, WHA Foundation Board of Directors affirmed earlier Board actions by designating workforce development and quality and patient safety initiatives as key funding priorities for the Foundation. The Board grant-making process will be proactive, seeking out projects that align with WHA’s strategic initiatives and demonstrate statewide impacts or outcomes rather than local projects. The Board reintroduced the Global Vision Community Partnership Awards, positioned to support local projects submitted by WHA members.

The Foundation will continue to identify grant-making opportunities consistent with WHA’s priorities. The Foundation will launch a new fund development program soliciting past supporters and expanding solicitations to corporate members and health care vendors who may have an interest in supporting WHA Foundation priorities. The Foundation will continue to strive to increase its resources to $3 million by the end of 2010.

Accomplishing this strategic plan will require a motivated and committed membership working closely with a motivated and committed staff. The Association should strive to attract and retain a staff of professionals having the range of expertise necessary to represent major interests in a broad array of areas and advance the strategic agenda. This requires that staff:

• Receive the training and education necessary to carry out their responsibilities.
• Perform in a collaborative environment based on respect and mutual support.
• Are rewarded through compensation strategies that reflect the values of this plan and are competitive within the Wisconsin trade association environment.