This year, WHA is helping hospitals tell their stories within their communities and statewide through its new community benefit reporting initiative. The reporting system will create two streams of data from hospitals. A survey will collect hard data, such as number of programs, services and resources that benefit the community, and hospitals will send WHA stories of how their employees or community services have directly touched the lives of those they seek to serve.

Training dates for the survey tool were announced in last week’s issue of The Valued Voice. (See related story in this week’s Valued Voice, p. 4.) Hospital staff are encouraged to submit stories to The Valued Voice Editor Mary Kay Grasmick that show how your hospital touches the lives of others every day as they live out their charitable mission. A few of these stories will be published in The Valued Voice each month (see pages 9 and 10 of this issue).

The state public health plan, "Health Wisconsin 2010," has set 11 health priorities for Wisconsin. Community hospitals, either alone or in partnership with other organizations, are taking action to improve the health of their residents, and they are using the state health plan to guide their activities. The 11 health priorities are:

• Access to primary and preventive health services
• Adequate and appropriate nutrition
• Alcohol and other substance use and addiction
• Environment and occupational health hazards
• Existing, emerging and re-emerging communicable diseases
• High risk sexual behavior
• Intentional and unintentional injuries and violence
• Mental health and mental disorders
• Overweight, obesity and lack of physical activity
• Social and economic factors that influence health
• Tobacco use and exposure

In addition to the 11 health priorities, hospitals’ contributions to workforce issues fall into infrastructure priorities in the state health plan. One priority, in particular, relates to fostering conditions that ensure "sufficient and competent workforce." In research for an upcoming WHA report on hospital contributions to workforce, Judy Warmuth found a vast majority of hospitals are directing a wide range of valuable resources, including staff time, financial support, and clinical space, to help ensure that tomorrow’s workforce needs are met.

Below are two examples of hospitals fulfilling their mission, while meeting a priority in the state health plan. The storytelling aspect of community benefit reporting is included for discussion at the up-coming WHA community benefit training seminars that will be held in three locations during March. For more information on the seminars, go to: www.wha.org, front page, click on the Connecting With Our Communities logo.

A relationship between Saint Joseph’s Hospital of Marshfield and the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire may date back to 1988, but the videoconferencing technology used in their distance learning program is state-of-the-art. Through a unique partnership with UW-Eau Claire’s nursing school, Saint Joseph’s offers their employees, as well as students from the community, the opportunity to earn a baccalaureate degree without leaving the community.

Saint Joseph’s Hospital supports the UW-Eau Claire nursing program by sharing the costs of a remote connection to the Eau Claire campus, paying for simulation equipment and infrastructure costs, and contributing to UW-Eau Claire faculty costs.

Students attend classes in Marshfield as they earn their baccalaureate degree in nursing, but the faculty is typically teaching from a classroom at UW-Eau Claire. Students are admitted to the UW-Eau Claire-Marshfield site after completing pre-nursing classes at other UW system schools. The program graduates about 24 baccalaureate-prepared nurses per year. Saint Joseph’s commitment to education could help avert serious nursing shortages in the future for central Wisconsin, and the program stands as a model for showing it is possible to achieve a baccalaureate nursing degree in a non-urban area.

Saint Joseph’s President Michael Schmidt reports great success with the program in the fact that the hospital can hire students from this local nursing program, create new career opportunities for Saint Joseph’s employees, as well as for other students in the Marshfield area seeking a four-year nursing degree.

"We are a 500-bed tertiary care hospital in a town of 20,000. Providing a baccalaureate degree nursing program in our community is one way we can ensure that we will have a workforce trained and ready to meet the future demands for health care," Schmidt said.

"Another benefit is that we can provide advanced educational opportunities to our employees, and they do not have to travel outside the community, conserving both their time and their financial resources," Schmidt added.

"Immunizing" Area Kids’ Teeth Through Seal Dane

Thanks to a program funded by Meriter, more children than ever can truthfully cry out television’s most famous dental phrase: "Look, ma! No cavities!"

Dental access and preventing tooth decay is a major public health issue today. To help children who don’t have a regular dentist, Meriter sponsors Seal Dane. Funded by Meriter Community Relations, with voucher support from the Meriter Foundation, Seal Dane is the first school-based dental sealant campaign to target third graders in Madison and Dane County Schools. This health effort, a collaboration between Meriter and Dane County Public Health, is designed to provide free sealants to eligible children and raise awareness of the importance of dental health.

Sealants are thin plastic coatings "painted" on teeth to prevent decay. They fill in the grooves in teeth so bacteria cannot multiply and cause cavities. Sealants are painless and cost-effective, and can be applied in just a few minutes per tooth.

"Oral health has a profound impact on overall health," says Stanley Brysh, DMD, noting that children in our community suffer every day from chronic toothaches, acute pain, dental abscesses, disfigured smiles and dysfunctional speech. "For them, dental disease can mean poor nutritional intake, missed time from school, poor learning and behavior problems."

During the 2004-2005 school years, Seal Dane reached 550 students with oral health education and 431 students received sealants on 1,480 teeth.

In 2004, the Madison Department of Public Health and the Dane County Human Services Department’s Public Health Division awarded Meriter Health Services and the Meriter Foundation the Public Health Award. The award recognizes Meriter’s role in providing access to dental care through the "Seal Dane" school-based dental sealant program and the operation of the Max Pohle Dental Clinic. The clinic is a dental residency program that provides care for patients with special needs and the under-served.

Submit hospital community benefit stories to Mary Kay Grasmick, editor, mgrasmick@wha.org or call 608-274-1820.

Join more than 500 health care professionals, trustees and volunteers from across Wisconsin for WHA’s 2006 Advocacy Day at the Monona Terrace in Madison on April 5.

"Advocacy Day is designed to educate our members, help them build legislative relationships and further engage them in advocating on priority issues, like restoring a cap on medical liability," said Steve Brenton, WHA president.

Hear from invited luncheon keynote speaker Governor Jim Doyle, and come prepared to ask questions on the hot health care topics of the day during a moderated Legislative Leadership Panel. Invited legislators include Senate Majority Leader Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center), Senate Minority Leader Judith Robson (D-Beloit), Assembly Speaker John Gard (R-Marinette) and Assembly Minority Leader James Kreuser (D-Kenosha).

Learn from the morning keynote speaker John Fund, a member of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page, as he speaks on politics, health care policy and more. Learn why constituent involvement – that is, your involvement – is so important to the legislative process. A sought-after speaker, John Fund was enthusiastically received by WHA members and volunteers when he spoke at the 2001 WHA Advocacy Day. Learn from national grassroots consultant Christopher Kush on how to best present your views to legislators, and then put all these tools into action when you visit with your legislators in the afternoon.

During the luncheon find out which legislator will receive WHA’s prestigious Healthcare Leadership Award and which hospital will receive WHA’s All-Star Advocacy Award. A special Legislative Recognition Award will also be given out.

One attendee had this to say about Advocacy Day 2005, "You made us feel we could really make a difference." That is the goal - to educate attendees and help them see the positive impact they can have on the legislative process on behalf of their hospitals, patients and communities. Don’t miss this important event!

As always, Advocacy Day is a free event, so register your hospital contingent today. You can register today by visiting www.wha.org/education/pdf/2006advocacy.pdf to view the brochure and registration information. Printed copies of the Advocacy Day brochure and registration form will be included in WHA’s Friday Packet on February 3.

For more information about registration, contact Sherry Rabuck at 608-274-1820, or email srabuck@wha.org.

To schedule your appointment to meet with your legislator on the afternoon of April 5, contact Angela Miloszewicz directly at 608-268-1801.

Community benefits collection and reporting is a WHA priority in 2006. In line with that priority, the Wisconsin Healthcare Public Relations and Marketing Society (WHPRMS) is offering a half-day educational session that will help hospitals and clinics organize and implement a community benefits plan. The program is led by Michael Bilton, director of the Health Research and Education Trust (HRET), and Deborah Bohr, also with HRET, both who are recognized experts in the area of community benefit program planning. Bohr is currently working on a project related to measuring the results of community initiatives.

The training is an introductory overview intended to provide resources and direction for those who are responsible for community benefit planning and reporting activities. Training will include processes and tools for participants to use in their work, and will include real examples and exercises. Each participant will receive worksheets, sample plans, policies and job descriptions.

This seminar complements, but does not replace, the training that WHA has scheduled to help member hospitals identify and report community benefits to WHA using an online survey instrument. WHA highly recommends that each hospital send a representative to both the WHA and WHPRMS community benefit training seminars. The WHA community benefit seminar is free. Registration information is at www.wha.org/education/communityBenefits.aspx.

The WHPRMS training coincides with WHA’s Advocacy Day, which will be held April 5 at Monona Terrace in Madison. The WHPRMS seminar will be in the afternoon, which will allow registrants to attend the WHA Advocacy Day program in the morning and the WHPRMS training in the afternoon.

The cost to attend the WHPRMS community benefit seminar is $95 for WHPRMS members, and $125 for non-members. WHA Advocacy Day is a free event, and it includes lunch. A registration form for the WHPRMS Community Benefits Seminar is included in the packet, and is available at www.whprms.org. For information, contact Siobhan Marks at smarks@wi.rr.com or 414-719-0531. For information on WHA’s Advocacy Day, go to www.wha.org. You can register for both events on the WHPRMS registration form.

Mark your calendars for all of these important dates:

• WHA Community Benefits Reporting Training: March 22, 23 and 24, 9 am to 3 pm
• WHA Advocacy Day: April 5, 9 am to 2:15 pm
• WHA Advocacy Day Legislative Visits: April 5, 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm
• WHPRMS Community Benefits Seminar: April 5, 1 pm to 4 pm (following AM and lunch sessions of Advocacy Day)

The newly appointed e-Health Care Quality and Patient Safety Board held its initial meeting on January 23. Chaired by Department of Health and Family Services (DHFS) Secretary Helene Nelson, the 16-member board has been charged by Governor Jim Doyle to develop a strategic plan for statewide adoption and exchange of electronic health records in five years.

Among the board members are Gary Bezucha, administrator, Boscobel Area Health Care; Kevin Hayden, chief administrative officer, Dean Health Systems; Debra Rislow, CIO and director of information systems, Gundersen Lutheran Health System; John Toussaint, MD, president and CEO, ThedaCare; and Fred Wesbrook, MD, past president, Marshfield Clinic.

DHFS staff will make an assessment of the degree to which hospitals and clinics are already using electronic medical records and report back to the Board at its next meeting on March 14.

Recently, a couple dozen of Milwaukee’s most prominent business leaders signed on to a full-page letter in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, calling on Governor Jim Doyle to support lifting the cap that artificially limits the number of Milwaukee school children who can enroll in the popular School Choice Program. That initiative, involving enrollment in private schools, provides 14,500 low-income children with an alternative to Milwaukee’s beleaguered public school system. But unless current enrollment caps are removed, up to 4,000 School Choice students may be forced out of their classrooms next fall.

The politically charged debate over this issue clouds the fact that the Milwaukee Public School System is in big trouble with graduation rates among the lowest in the nation. Importantly, there is no disagreement with that last statement—the bickering focuses on solutions that should be deployed to address the acknowledged crisis.

There also should be no debate over the fact that access to primary health care services in the city of Milwaukee is in a state of profound crisis. And like education, this should be acknowledged as an issue of statewide significance. The time has come to shine a bright spotlight on the specifics of this crisis and the fact that identification of solutions must be a statewide public policy priority that requires engagement by the Doyle Administration and Wisconsin Legislature.

Consider the following:

• In Milwaukee, the hospital emergency room has become the venue for primary health care for a large and growing number of medically indigent patients who have no primary care physician.
  
• Milwaukee’s four federally qualified health centers are "bursting at the seams" and regularly refer patients to hospital ERs. One clinic alone refers 60 patients per day, five days per week.
  
• Bad debt and charity care numbers now exceed $160 million for the nine Milwaukee metro area hospitals serving this population.
  
• Just six Milwaukee hospitals…Sinai Medical Center, St. Michael’s, St. Joseph’s, St. Mary’s, St. Luke’s and St. Francis…absorb almost 30 percent of total statewide hospital Medicaid losses (approximately $150 million!).

The symptoms associated with this access crisis are many—and include infant mortality rates that are among the worst in the nation and untreated chronic disease conditions that become expensive inpatient admissions. Additionally, the ability of a handful of disproportionately burdened hospitals to manage the uncompensated care burden is not sustainable.

Minimally, fixing the crisis will require targeted new state funding that focuses on at least two new initiatives—expansion of additional primary care infrastructure…and…enhanced Medicaid DSH funding for hospitals that have become de facto "safety net" providers of primary care services. And WHA’s statewide influence must be engaged in advancing these important initiatives.

Steve Brenton
President

More than 75 people representing 36 hospitals have registered to attend one of the three WHA community benefits training seminars in March. WHA will hold training sessions at no cost to members in three locations:

March 22 – Olympia Resort, Oconomowoc
March 23 – The Plaza Hotel & Suites, Eau Claire
March 24 - Holiday Inn, Stevens Point

Participants will learn how to identify, collect and quantify community benefit activities and then report them to WHA using a new online survey instrument. Another important communication vehicle in illustrating hospital community benefits is by relating how hospitals have touched the lives of those they serve. These stories will be used in the statewide report, as well as in several WHA publications to ensure that the public, legislators and the press know the vital difference hospitals can make in the lives of those they serve.

As we went to press, the following hospitals had registered to attend:

Agnesian HealthCare, Fond du Lac
Aspirus Wausau Hospital, Wausau
Bay Area Medical Center, Marinette
Beloit Memorial Hospital, Beloit
Black River Memorial Hospital, Black River Falls
Bloomer Memorial Medical Center, Bloomer
Burnett Medical Center, Grantsburg
Columbia-St. Mary’s, Milwaukee
Community Memorial Hospital, Menomonee Falls
Community Memorial Hospital, Inc., Oconto Falls
Divine Savior Healthcare, Portage
Door County Memorial Hospital, Sturgeon Bay
Fort HealthCare, Fort Atkinson
Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital, Milwaukee
Gundersen Lutheran, La Crosse
Holy Family Memorial, Inc., Manitowoc
Luther Midelfort, Eau Claire
Memorial Health Center, Medford
Memorial Medical Center, Ashland
Memorial Medical Center, Neillsville
Ministry Health Care, Milwaukee
Oconomowoc Memorial Hospital, Oconomowoc
Orthopaedic Hospital of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Osceola Medical Center, Osceola
ProHealth Care, Waukesha
Reedsburg Area Medical Center, Reedsburg
Sacred Heart-St. Mary’s Hospitals, Inc., Rhinelander
Saint Joseph’s Hospital, Marshfield
Sauk Prairie Memorial Hospital, Prairie du Sac
Shawano Medical Center, Shawano
St. Joseph’s Hospital, Chippewa Falls
St. Nicholas Hospital, Sheboygan
St. Vincent Hospital, Green Bay
Stoughton Hospital, Stoughton
Upland Hills Health, Dodgeville
Waukesha Memorial Hospital, Waukesha

WHA recommends that at least one representative from each hospital register to attend this complimentary training; additional registered attendees are welcome. Attendees who will benefit from the training include community and public relations professionals, chief executive officers, and others involved in the collection or distribution of community benefits information.

Helene Nelson, Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services (DHFS), met with providers of children’s services at St. Mary’s Hospital. Secretary Nelson’s visit was part of her outreach efforts to promote the Governor’s recent proposal enhancing the state’s BadgerCare program. Nelson also solicited information regarding children’s services that are offered or needed in Oneida County.

"The lack of health insurance falls hardest on children in near poor families," Secretary Nelson said. "BadgerCare Plus…is a single health care safety net program that would streamline family Medical Assistance, BadgerCare and Healthy Start to eliminate barriers to enrollment." In Oneida County, the BadgerCare Plus program would serve approximately 3,500 people.

Children’s service providers at the meeting included, Gina Koeppl, PhD, a child psychologist and clinical director of Ministry Behavioral Health outpatient services at Saint Mary’s Hospital; Lynn Wartgow, Robin Mathea and Deb Blackstone from Family Resource Connection; Sue Kirby, MSW, community link coordinator with Saint Mary’s Hospital; and John Potters, director of the Children’s Learning Center and a member of the Oneida County Board. They outlined current programs offered through local partnerships and presented ideas for improved access to services for children and families in need.

Secretary Nelson was impressed with the work currently being done by Family Resource Connection’s Kid’s Net program, the Springer Memorial Free Clinic, quality inclusive childcare at the Children’s Learning Center and the overall community focus on prevention and early intervention.

On January 23, State Representative Terry Musser (R-Black River Falls) visited Tomah Memorial Hospital and learned more about the role of the Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA). Musser’s visit coincided with Tomah’s CRNA celebration week.

During his visit, Rep. Musser learned of the various safety procedures followed before, during and after an operation. He also learned more about the role of the CRNA while touring Tomah’s operating room.

The visit also provided Musser an opportunity to ask his constituents who are in health care about Senate Bill 434, legislation to outline who and where anesthesia can be administered.

There is still time to register at the "early bird" rate for WHA’s "Physician Leadership Development Conference," scheduled for March 24-25 at The American Club in Kohler.

Presented by American College of Physician Executives (ACPE) faculty, this new conference is designed to assist physicians who have recently taken on a leadership or management role, and those who have the potential to be future leaders, to make the leap from their traditional clinical training to taking a new managerial approach to decision-making, problem solving, communication and negotiation.

Any physician who is fairly new to his/her leadership role or who has leadership or management potential should mark his/her calendar and plan to attend this conference. Also, chiefs of staff, medical directors, and CEOs/administrators should consider attending this event as a host attendee, taking the opportunity to accompany your physician leaders and have some informal, one-on-one discussion time with each of them.

The discounted "early bird" registration fee is available to those registering by February 15, as well as a group discount to those registering early. Additionally, the "host" registration option, which includes all meals, is available to those who would like to accompany their physicians to the conference.

ACPE is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to sponsor continuing medical education for physicians. The American College of Medical Education designates this educational activity for a maximum of 11 category 1 credits toward the American Medical Association’s Physician Recognition Award. Each physician should declare only those credits that he/she actually spent in the activity. Additionally, these programs are part of the ACPE and CCMM requirements toward a graduate degree or certification in medical management.

The Wisconsin Hospital Association, along with the Wisconsin Society of Healthcare Human Resources Administration, the Wisconsin Organization of Nurse Executives, and the Wisconsin Healthcare Public Relations and Marketing Society, is proud to sponsor the Wisconsin Health Care Employee Pride Program 2006. This program is designed to celebrate the pride that hospital employees have in their work and recognize the contributions that they make to their patients, their community and to their profession. Work in health care often holds deep and personal meaning, with sometimes personal and compelling reasons why people have chosen the field of health care. Last year, over 60 hospital employees were honored, and this year we hope to increase the number of hospitals that participate in this program.

A designated leader from administration, human resources, public relations or patient care from each hospital is asked to coordinate the program. Employees will be encouraged to submit to their hospital a one-page essay, poem, or story that explains why they chose to work in health care. From those essays, a committee at the hospital will pick one employee to represent their hospital. That employee will be honored at a reception and dinner May 4 at the Blue Harbor Resort in Sheboygan.

Pride Program materials are being mailed to the human resources contact at each hospital. In addition, these materials are available on WHA’s web site at www.wha.org.

Don’t miss this opportunity to participate in the 2006 Pride Program. For more information contact Mary Kay Grasmick at mgrasmick@wha.org, or Shannon Nelson at snelson@wha.org or call 608-274-1820.

The demand for pharmacists is expected to grow in Wisconsin because of increasing use of prescription medications, aging of the population and an aging pharmacy workforce. While demand will increase, supply will be stable.

This was the distressing news heard by WHA’s Workforce Council as Professor David Mott of the University of Wisconsin Pharmacy School provided a report on his ongoing work on the supply of and demand for pharmacists in Wisconsin. The UW Pharmacy School accepts 130 new students each year from a large number of qualified graduates, but, currently, has no plans to increase capacity. Mott said current vacancy rates indicate:

• Hospitals have fewer vacant positions than community pharmacies;
• The shortage is greater in Wisconsin than nationally; and,
• Salaries for pharmacists continue to rise at an impressive rate.

Mott discussed the trend, which is fueled by the number of women in pharmacy and pharmacists working part time, which reduces the overall availability. Factors that attract and keep pharmacists include participation in clinical care and quality of the work environment. Pharmacist positions have been reported by WHA members as the most difficult to fill positions, with positions in some parts of the state taking up to a year to fill.

WHA Senior Vice President George Quinn reviewed WHA’s community benefits initiative for the Council. He shared WHA’s plan to collect data from hospitals and report community benefits statewide later this summer.

WHA members continue to experience delays in the state professional licensing process. Cathy Pond, administrator of credentialing for the Department of Regulation and Licensing was invited to discuss the process of endorsement and delays in the system. She explained that the large number of licenses requested created fiscal limitations and delays in the licensing process. Her advice was to have professionals start the process as early as possible in anticipation of a lengthy timeframe for the accumulation of supporting documents. She offered to problem solve with members in critical cases, but requested patience from hospitals.

After nearly 35 years with the organization and 16 years at the helm of Meriter Health Services and Meriter Hospital, Terri L. Potter has announced his decision to retire by early January 2007. The announcement was made at a meeting of the board of directors on January 23.

"His passion, vision and leadership have been invaluable. Terri’s legacy will be not only his many accomplishments during his tenure at Meriter, but perhaps most importantly his establishing Meriter’s strong foundation for the future. This ensures that our focus on innovation and excellence in health care, dedication to the community and local governance will extend well into the future. Our community is a far better place as a result," said Jac Garner, chairman of the Meriter Health Services and Meriter Hospital boards of directors.

Potter has overseen the creation of the Meriter health system beginning with the merger of the former Madison General Hospital and Methodist Hospital and their affiliates in 1987. He has served as chairman of the Wisconsin Hospital Association and has been a prominent voice and advocate for health care in the state of Wisconsin. Potter played a key role in the development and implementation of CheckPoint, WHA’s quality and safety public reporting program, and was a strong supporter of WHA’s advocacy efforts.

"Terri has a well earned statewide reputation for his accomplishments in Madison and for his leadership in advancing innovative health policy initiatives at the local and state levels," said WHA President Steve Brenton. "Terri’s career represents a true benchmark of health care leadership."