In an effort to force stalled negotiators to finish the state budget, this week Department of Administration (DOA) Secretary Mike Morgan contemplated massive cuts to the Medicaid program if the budget, including the tobacco tax increase and new hospital tax, is not passed soon.

In an August 29 memo to DHFS Secretary Kevin Hayden, Secretary Morgan indicates he has directed his staff to develop a budget plan to withhold 20 percent of Medicaid spending per month until a budget is passed. The funds would be released "upon adoption of the state budget." Morgan asked Hayden to develop a plan to implement the cuts and deliver it to him by September 7.

According to an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Hayden will initially look at Medicaid payments to health care providers to find the cuts. Secretary Morgan will review the plan "to determine feasibility in the context of statutes, financial conditions and programmatic impacts."

"A 20 percent cut in Medicaid payments to hospitals would be about $80 million annually," said WHA Executive Vice President Eric Borgerding. "That will simply add to the over $500 million in Medicaid underpayments that hospitals are already forced to shift to others every year. Health costs will increase." Borgerding also noted the potential negative financial impacts on high Medicaid volume hospitals and hospitals that own nursing homes.

The plan is necessary, Secretary Morgan states, because "the budget adopted by the State Assembly does not include new revenues (tobacco tax increase, new hospital tax) for Medicaid, but instead proposes deep cuts to essential local services … these cuts are unsustainable and in the absence of a budget and the associated revenue increases (tobacco and hospital taxes) dedicated to support the Medicaid program, administrative action is necessary." Secretary Morgan’s full memo is available on WHA’s Web site at www.wha.org/morgan8-29-07.pdf.

But under Wisconsin law, if a budget is not passed by the beginning of the subject biennium (July 1, 2007), spending continues at the previous biennium’s levels, not at the levels proposed in one or another version of the state budget bill. Neither the Assembly’s version of the budget (the subject of Secretary Morgan’s letter), the Senate’s version or Governor Doyle’s has been approved and taken effect.

A memo issued the following day from the non-partisan and widely respected Legislative Fiscal Bureau has raised doubts about the need for cuts suggested in Secretary Morgan’s memo. According to LFB Director Bob Lang, the state’s current Medicaid program is in fairly good shape for the foreseeable future, even without a new budget or hospital tax. The memo can be found at www.wha.org/LFB8-30-07.pdf.

"The amount budgeted for MA benefits in the 2006-07 fiscal year is available to support MA benefits in 2007-08 and each subsequent year until a new funding level is established through (a new budget)," Lang said in a memo to Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch (R-West Salem). "Based on the amount of funding that would be available to support the state’s share of MA benefits in the 2007-09 biennium and current projections of the state’s share of these costs, it is estimated the program would have sufficient funding to support MA benefit costs through March, 2009."

Republican reaction to Secretary Morgan’s memo was swift and sharp. Rep. Kitty Rhoades (R-Hudson), co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee and the Assembly Republican’s lead negotiator on Medicaid issues, labeled the plan a "political trick."

"I think it’s shameful that we go out and scare seniors and scare the needy," Rhoades said.

"I remain hopeful that the Legislature will act swiftly to adopt the state budget so that a temporary reduction in Medicaid spending will not have to be implemented," Secretary Morgan concluded in his letter.

Mike Schafer, CEO/administrator, Spooner Health System, has been selected by the WHA Nominating Committee to serve as WHA’s chair-elect in 2008 and chair in 2009. In January 2008, Ken Buser, president/CEO, Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare–All Saint’s, Racine, will chair the WHA Board of Directors. Both gentlemen have impressive records of professional and community service.

Schafer joined Spooner Health System in 1990. The system includes a 25-bed Critical Access Hospital, a 90-bed skilled nursing facility, and a home health agency. Schafer initiated and facilitated the conversion to a CAH and directed major renovation projects at both the nursing home and hospital.

A WHA Board member since 2000, Schafer currently chairs the Council on Workforce Development and has served on the Public Policy and Rural Health Councils.

Schafer received his Bachelor of Arts degree in both business and hospital administration from Concordia College, Moorhead, and his master’s in health care administration from the University of Minnesota–Minneapolis. He is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives.

"The Critical Access Hospital program has helped ensure the viability of Wisconsin’s strong rural health care system. Mike’s expertise as a rural health care leader along with his common-sense approach to policy issues will serve WHA well during the next few years," said WHA President Steve Brenton.

Buser joined Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare, a 15 hospital health care system in southeast Wisconsin, in 1999. During his tenure at WFH, he has strengthened physician relations and led the organization to achieve the Governor’s Excellence Award for overall performance excellence.

Immediately prior to joining Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare - All Saints, Ken served as president and CEO of Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore. Since 1975, he has served in health care leadership positions in Wisconsin, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.

Buser has been on the WHA Board since 2001 and has been an active member of the Association, serving on the PAC and Nominating Committees, and on two task forces—Quality and Accountability and Community Benefits. He currently chairs WHA’s Medicaid Task Force.

Buser received his bachelor’s degree in Modern Languages at the University of Notre Dame and his MBA, with a concentration in Hospital Administration, from the Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago. Buser is a member of several boards, and is currently serving as Chair-Elect of the Wisconsin Hospital Association. He is also a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives.

"Ken has been instrumental in shaping key initiatives that today represent WHA’s commitment to achieving meaningful transparency, promoting community accountability, and improving health care access," said WHA President Steve Brenton. "Ken is particularly knowledgeable about how to develop and maintain good working relationships and business partnerships with physicians, which is an important issue to all hospital CEOs," Brenton added.

In June of this year, the IRS released a draft IRS Form 990. The core form includes 10 pages and is accompanied by 15 schedules. Schedule H is specific to hospitals and covers issues such as community benefits, billing and collections, joint ventures and more. The IRS is collecting public comment on this form through September 14. The American Hospital Association has voiced a number of concerns about the new form and they have provided a sample comment letter hospitals can use as a model to send their own comments.

WHA has prepared a comment letter to the IRS on behalf of the Association. The WHA letter emphasizes that Wisconsin has embraced transparency and publicly reports community benefits. WHA goes on to explain that Wisconsin hospitals are clearly the "health care safety nets of their communities" and they remain committed to serving the health care needs of their residents. The letter, however, also outlines Wisconsin hospitals’ serious concerns with the proposed Schedule H, most notably that it is not consistent with long established "pillars" of the community benefit standard and the IRS’s stated goals.

WHA stresses that in order to provide a realistic picture of an organization and its operations, the Schedule should allow hospitals to report how they are meeting the unique needs of their communities instead of adhering to a form-defined one-size-fits-all standard. As an example, the letter recommends that the Schedule include community-building activities, which would include community activities undertaken by hospitals that contribute to the overall mental, physical, and social well-being of the community, rather than a number of questions currently included in the Schedule that do not relate to the community benefit standard. These questions do not contribute to the IRS’s goal of promoting compliance.

WHA’s letter also recommends that Schedule H eliminate questions that are burdensome, confusing and that fail to provide meaningful information to the community.

Finally, WHA urges the IRS to "work with the hospital community to identify and resolve the issues before asking the hospital community to file a new Form 990 or any of its schedules."

The full text of the WHA letter, the AHA comment letter, and the AHA model letter are available at www.wha.org/legalAndRegulatory/form990.aspx. Wisconsin hospitals are encouraged to send their comments on the form to the IRS by the September 14 deadline.

The Medical Record Copy Fees Advisory Committee, convened by DHFS, met this week for the second and final time to discuss potential changes to the administrative rule (HFS 117) that went into effect earlier this year setting limits on fees that can be charged for copying medical records. Hospitals have argued the fees now in effect are projected to cost millions in unreimbursed costs for providing the copies.

As a result of the first meeting, hospital and copy service provider Committee members were asked to present detailed information on the cost of providing copies of medical records. Committee members representing copy requestors were asked to submit information on what they believe the costs of copies should be.

Representing hospitals on the Committee were Cathy Ptak, regional director, clinical information services for Aurora Health Care and Meg McElroy, director, patient health information, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin.

The detailed cost information provided by Aurora Health Care, Children’s Hospital and others shows that the current limit of $0.31 per page, plus per request fees, results in millions of dollars of unreimbursed costs.

The DHFS is in the process of finalizing an issue paper that will be submitted to department Secretary Kevin Hayden for a decision on whether the current fee limits should be modified. Any changes to the administrative rule relating to these limits would need to follow the standard rule making process before being implemented, including requests for comments and public hearings.

The issue paper will likely include the following alternatives: making no change to the rule; increasing rates by an inflationary rate; increasing rates by up to the highest per page recommendation; increasing rates by an average of all proposed recommended increases; and exempting the Disability Determination Bureau (DDB) from the rule entirely. The DDB would go back to the $20 flat fee approved by the Social Security Administration (SSA).

Trial attorneys continue to argue that it is too soon for a review of copying costs as the rule just went into effect earlier this year. It is important to note that DHFS developed the current rule in 2003 and based the fees on data that is now more than four years old.

Opponents of increasing allowable charges also argue state statutes limit what DHFS can consider in determining an approximation of the cost of copying medical records and that this does not include any subsidization of costs to those who do not pay the full cost of copies.

Hospitals counter that especially in health care, with programs such as Medicaid and Medicare where providers are routinely paid a fraction of the cost of providing health care services, subsidization is a necessity. In this case, the actual cost of making copies of medical records involves not only the copies themselves, but considerable overhead including salaries, equipment, postage and even significant privacy training related to the release of personal medical information, in addition to covering the costs of those not paying the full cost of copies.

The DHFS draft issue paper draft will be finalized soon and circulated among Committee members for comment before being submitted to Secretary Hayden. WHA staff and hospital Committee members plan to meet with DHFS leadership to further discuss hospital concerns with the current fee structure.

• WHA would be remiss if we failed to acknowledge the solid support we’ve received from AFL-CIO President David Newby during recent deliberations over Workers Compensation legislation. Unlike some within the management contingent, Newby has sensibly opposed massive hospital, physician and chiropractor payment reductions that could amount to millions of dollars for a program recognized as having the best outcomes and highest patient satisfaction rankings in the nation.

• Speaking of Workers Compensation, WHA and WMS staff this week coordinated the production and release of a letter that has been sent to Workers Compensation Advisory Committee members urging rejection of the pending management proposal to cut provider payment rates (view the letter at: www.wha.org/financeAndData/pdf/WorkersComp8-29-07.pdf.) Special thanks to members involved in this effort. The next meeting of the WC Advisory Committee is September 6. Provider organizations are united in their stated position that we will fight Workers Compensation payment cuts at the CAPITOL, if necessary.

• Special KUDOS to Steve Ronstrom, Sacred Heart Hospital (Eau Claire) EVP/administrator, and the 85 other hospital managers at Sacred Heart who voluntarily contributed to the 2007 WHA PAC and Conduit campaign. From the standpoint of participation, this has been a grand slam home run and validation of the often-stated quip that politics is not a spectator sport.

• Some Capitol observers believe that lawmakers will finally get serious about hammering out necessary budget compromises in the weeks following Labor Day. Although a major "break through" is not near, there are factors in play—like looming deadlines for school districts to finalize budgets—that suggest the level of urgency to get something done may grow soon. Wisconsin is currently the only state in the nation without a state budget for the current fiscal year. In most states, the repercussion of not having a final budget in place by July 1 means that the state pretty much shuts down. But that’s not true in Wisconsin where spending continues at the previous year’s levels until a new biennial budget is in place.

• WHA’s health reform principles note that initiatives that expand coverage and access are not necessarily mutually related. For example, Wisconsin Medicaid beneficiaries have coverage for dental services but few can readily access dental services, other than at community clinics or hospital-sponsored programs. In some cases, the hospital ER has become the de facto primary dental provider for Medicaid patients with severe oral health symptoms, including tooth abscesses. The Wisconsin Dental Association blames low Medicaid payment for the access crisis.

Now comes word from England via the London Times that British dentists are refusing to contract with the nation’s National Health Service (NHS). Guess why? According to dentists’ leaders, "potentially unprofitable patients are screened out." Dental patients with the most complicated dental problems are being turned away by dentists who have left the NHS or who are limiting their NHS workloads. So an increasing number of Britains are covered but have no access to dental care. Sounds like Wisconsin—and note that the Senate Democrat Health Plan purports to cover dental services—with a fee schedule. Wonder how that will work.

Steve Brenton,
President

The 2007 Wisconsin Quality & Safety Forum, scheduled October 22-23 at the Country Springs Hotel in Waukesha, will once again combine education with a showcase of 40 projects focused on current quality improvement and/or patient safety initiatives, submitted by 30 different organizations from around the state. Six of these improvement projects will be highlighted as breakout presentations, giving attendees the chance to learn more about the project, its outcome and how to potentially implement it in their own health care organization.

This year’s event, themed "The Health Care System of the Future," also includes plenary sessions offered by Emily Friedman, Dr. Michael Leonard, Robert Lloyd of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Dr. Susan Nedza of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (invited), and Jack Uldrich… some of the biggest names in health care quality and patient safety.

"The Wisconsin Quality and Safety Forum includes nationally-recognized speakers, a showcase of state of the art improvement projects undertaken by Wisconsin health care providers and multiple networking opportunities to create a valuable education experience right here in our state," said WHA Vice President Dana Richardson. "The expanded number of sponsoring partners furthers the spirit of collaboration towards improved health care quality in Wisconsin."

For the first time, this year’s Forum is offered in partnership by the Wisconsin Hospital Association, MetaStar, the Wisconsin Medical Society, the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality, and the Wisconsin Health Information Organization.

Health care quality managers, risk managers, clinical managers, physicians, nurses, CEOs, pharmacists, patient care services staff, quality improvement team members, and others are encouraged to attend.

The full conference brochure with registration information is available in this week’s packet and online at www.wha.org. Don’t forget to ask for the Wisconsin Quality & Safety Forum room block at Country Springs Hotel when making your reservation. Call 800-247-6640 or 262-547-0201 to make your hotel reservation. The special room rate at Country Springs Hotel is only available until September 21.

A grant for hospitals with obstetrical services and up to 200 annual births is about to expire. Twenty of 33 eligible hospitals have already taken the opportunity to be part of a broader group of birth hospitals using PeriData.Net™, a Web-based perinatal database. PeriData.Net™ is a modern and powerful clinical management tool and can electronically transfer birth record data to the state’s vital records program. PeriData.Net™ replaces PC-LOG.

The grant covers the enrollment fee plus up to two years of maintenance fees, a value of nearly $9,000. The opportunity for small hospitals to receive PeriData.Net™ for free is possible through a grant to the Wisconsin Association for Perinatal Care (WAPC) from the UW School of Medicine and Public Health Partnership Fund.

The Partnership Fund grant to WAPC expires at the end of 2007, at which time all hospitals will be charged the full enrollment and maintenance fees. If you think your hospital may be eligible for the grant, contact Ann Conway at WAPC as soon as possible at 608-417-5697 or conway@perinatalweb.org. Also, visit the WAPC Web site for additional information about PeriData.Net™, including a complete list of enrolled hospitals.

This week Governor Doyle visited Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare-All Saints in Racine to discuss the future of the health care workforce in Wisconsin. He was on hand specifically to encourage support for the Youth Apprenticeship program, in which All Saints has long been involved.

The Wisconsin Youth Apprenticeship Program is a collaborative effort among local and state agencies and area high schools that offers student apprenticeships in various industries, including health services. The health services Youth Apprenticeship Program at All Saints is a model for the value of hands-on and mentored career experiences for Wisconsin’s future workforce.

"We have several former youth apprentices who have gone on to complete their secondary education, returned to All Saints, and are employed in their chosen health care field. Nearly 80 percent have remained employed within Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare after high school and are now simultaneously pursuing their college degrees," said Terri Buckett, RN, All Saints clinical education coordinator. "More than 90 percent of the students seek continuing education and/or employment in the field in which they did their apprenticeship."

All Saints began its involvement in the Youth Apprenticeship Program when the program started in 1992. Since then, All Saints has employed up to 15 youth apprentices each year, which makes All Saints the employer of the largest number of students in the area. Racine’s Youth Apprenticeship Program is the largest program in the state.

"We are looking to double our program at All Saints," said Buckett. "We have more applicants for the program each year than we have positions. All of our current apprenticeships are in nursing but we hope to expand that into other non-nursing areas of health care, including pharmacy," she added.

All Saints youth apprentices are mainly employed in the acute care setting from women and infants/labor and delivery to cardiac and medical surgical units, as well as Wheaton Franciscan Medical Group physician offices and other outpatient areas. All youth apprentices are certified nursing assistants at the time of hire and mainly work in that capacity. Students are selected in their sophomore year by their teachers to be in the program and then top class candidates are chosen to apply. Students are interviewed by various individuals at All Saints, go on to complete the Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) program and are matched with a mentor on their designated unit (in most cases an RN). They mainly provide direct patient care but are exposed to other areas of the hospital to further enhance their learning experience. They remain employed for their junior and senior years.

As health care purchasers increasingly link reimbursement and the quality of health care, pay-for-performance (P4P) is becoming the payment method of choice. In September and October, WHA is offering a four-part audioconference series that will start with an overview of the federal pay-for-performance initiatives and what will be required of health care providers to thrive in the new P4P environment.

Also, beginning October 1, 2007, hospitals are required to submit the "present on admission" (POA) indicator on Medicare inpatient claims. Other payers soon may follow Medicare’s lead in using the POA indicator for reimbursement. A joint effort between health care provider and the coder is essential to achieve complete and accurate documentation, code assignment, and reporting of diagnoses and procedures. The importance of consistent, complete documentation in the medical record cannot be overemphasized. Hospitals that successfully forge partnerships with their medical staffs in these endeavors have the potential to flourish in the P4P environment. Participation in this four-part series can help your staff and physicians understand the impact of the new POA requirement, plus other P4P initiatives that will impact hospital and health care systems.

The date, time and focus of each session are as follows:

Part 1: September 13 from 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
"CMS Progress Toward Implementing Value-Based Purchasing"

Part 2: September 27 from 11 a.m. - 12 p.m.
"Present on Admission Indicator: Financial, Legal and Public Reporting Implications for Physicians and Hospitals"

Part 3: October 11 from 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
"POA: Practical Implementation Issues"

Part 4: October 25
"POA: The Downstream Impact on Hospitals"

Full descriptions of each session and the presenting faculty can be found online at www.wha.org/education/p4p.aspx, as well as easy, on-line registration. For registration questions, contact Lisa Geishirt, WHA’s education coordinator, at 608-274-1820 or lgeishirt@wha.org.

The registration fee is $169 per phone line for one or more individual sessions. Or, you can register for the full, four-part series for a discounted registration fee of $600 for one phone line, all sessions. Each session stands on its own, and will have individual presentation materials, and participation in all four sessions is not required.

Finally, mark your calendar for Part 5: "It’s 2008 and PQRI and POA Have Been Implemented: Now What?" on Thursday January 24, 2008. This follow-up presentation will examine hospitals’ firsthand experience in implementing POA; will focus on case studies and lessons learned; examine why some hospitals have POA quality issues; how the POA indicator was used for internal quality improvement; and how hospitals have been able to get medical staff buy-in. Actual session time and faculty will be announced. This Part 5 session will require a separate registration fee, and more detailed information will be available later this fall on WHA’s online education calendar.

Carl Templin, WHA Director of Communications from 1991-2001, died on August 22. Carl was well known throughout the WHA membership and always had a smile, a kind word and a helping hand for anyone who crossed his path.

Our thoughts and prayers go to his children, Kristen and Jonathan. Carl was 52.

As of September 4, 106 Wisconsin hospitals will be tobacco-free campus wide, with several more committed to reaching that goal by mid-November.

The additions to the growing list of tobacco free campuses since WHA last published the list on May 25, 2007, are the following:

Bellin Hospital, Green Bay
Edgerton Hospital and Health Services, Edgerton
Fort HealthCare, Fort Atkinson
Gundersen Lutheran Health System, La Crosse
Hayward Area Memorial Hospital, Hayward
Memorial Medical Center, Ashland
St. Mary’s Hospital of Superior, Superior
St. Vincent Hospital, Green Bay

The complete list of tobacco-free campus wide hospitals is below.

Agnesian HealthCare/St. Agnes Hospital, Fond du Lac

Amery Regional Medical Center, Amery

Appleton Medical Center, Appleton

Aspirus Wausau Hospital, Wausau

Aurora BayCare Medical Center, Green Bay

Aurora Memorial Hospital of Burlington, Burlington

Aurora Lakeland Medical Center, Elkhorn

Aurora Med. Ctr. of Manitowoc Co., Inc., Two Rivers

Aurora Med. Ctr. of Washington Co., Inc., Hartford

Aurora Medical Center, Oshkosh

Aurora Medical Center-Kenosha, Kenosha

Aurora Psychiatric Hospital, Inc., Wauwatosa

Aurora Sheboygan Memorial Medical Center, Sheboygan

Aurora Sinai Medical Center, Inc., Milwaukee

Baldwin Area Medical Center, Baldwin

Beaver Dam Community Hospitals, Inc., Beaver Dam

Bellin Hospital, Green Bay

Berlin Memorial Hospital, Berlin

Black River Memorial Hospital, Black River Falls

Bond Health Center, Oconto

Boscobel Area Health Care, Boscobel

Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin-Fox Valley, Neenah

Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin-Kenosha, Kenosha

Columbia Center, Milwaukee

Columbia St. Mary’s, Inc. - Columbia Campus, Milwaukee

Columbia St. Mary’s, Inc. - Milwaukee Campus, Milwaukee

Columbia St. Mary’s, Inc. - Ozaukee Campus, Mequon

Columbia St. Mary’s, Inc. - Sacred Heart Rehab. Inst., Milwaukee

Community Memorial Hospital, Menomonee Falls

Cumberland Memorial Hospital, Inc., Cumberland

Divine Savior Healthcare, Portage

Door County Memorial Hospital, Sturgeon Bay

Eagle River Memorial Hospital, Eagle River

Edgerton Hospital and Health Services, Edgerton

Flambeau Hospital, Park Falls

Fort HealthCare, Fort Atkinson

Franciscan Skemp Healthcare-Mayo Health System, Arcadia

Franciscan Skemp Healthcare-Mayo Health System, La Crosse

Franciscan Skemp Healthcare-Mayo Health System, Sparta

Good Samaritan Health Center, Merrill

Grant Regional Health Center, Lancaster

Gundersen Lutheran Health System, La Crosse

Hayward Area Memorial Hospital, Hayward

Holy Family Memorial, Inc., Manitowoc

Howard Young Medical Center, Woodruff

Hudson Hospital, Hudson

Kindred Hospital Milwaukee, Greenfield

Ladd Memorial Hospital, Osceola

Lakeview Medical Center, Rice Lake

Langlade Memorial Hospital, Antigo

Luther Hospital, Eau Claire

Luther Midelfort Chippewa Valley, Bloomer

Luther Midelfort Northland, Barron

Luther Midelfort Oakridge, Osseo

Memorial Health Center, Medford

Memorial Medical Center, Ashland

Mercy Health System Corporation, Janesville

Mercy Medical Center, Oshkosh

Mercy Walworth Hospital and Medical Center, Lake Geneva

Mile Bluff Medical Center, Mauston

Moundview Memorial Hospital & Clinics, Inc., Friendship

New London Family Medical Center, New London

Oconomowoc Memorial Hospital, Oconomowoc

Orthopaedic Hospital of Wisconsin, Glendale

Our Lady of Victory Hospital, Stanley

Prairie du Chien Memorial Hospital, Prairie du Chien

Red Cedar Medical Center - Mayo Health System, Menomonie

Reedsburg Area Medical Center, Reedsburg

River Falls Area Hospital, River Falls

Riverside Medical Center, Waupaca

Riverview Hospital Association, Wisconsin Rapids

Sacred Heart Hospital, Eau Claire

Sacred Heart-St. Mary’s Hosps., Rhinelander

Sacred Heart-St. Mary’s Hosps., Tomahawk

Saint Clare’s Hospital, Weston

Saint Joseph’s Hospital, Marshfield

Saint Michael’s Hospital, Stevens Point

Sauk Prairie Memorial Hospital, Prairie du Sac

Southwest Health Center, Platteville

Spooner Health System, Spooner

St. Clare Hospital & Health Services, Baraboo

St. Croix Regional Medical Center, St. Croix Falls

St. Elizabeth Hospital, Appleton

St. Joseph’s Hospital, Chippewa Falls

St. Mary’s Hospital, Madison

St. Mary’s Hospital Medical Center, Green Bay

St. Mary’s Hospital of Superior, Superior

St. Nicholas Hospital, Sheboygan

St. Vincent Hospital, Green Bay

Stoughton Hospital Association, Stoughton

SynergyHealth St. Joseph’s Hospital, West Bend

The Monroe Clinic, Monroe

Theda Clark Medical Center, Neenah

Tomah Memorial Hospital, Tomah

Tri-County Memorial Hospital, Whitehall

Vernon Memorial Healthcare, Viroqua

Watertown Memorial Hospital, Watertown

Waukesha Memorial Hospital, Waukesha

Waupun Memorial Hospital, Waupun

West Allis Memorial Hospital, West Allis

Westfields Hospital, New Richmond

Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare-All Saints, Racine

Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare-Elmbrook Memorial, Brookfield

Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare-St. Francis Hospital, Milwaukee

Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare-St. Joseph, Milwaukee

Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare-The Wisconsin Heart Hospital, Wauwatosa

Aspirus took the lead in a successful $6.5 million project to ensure the continued health of the UW Wausau Family Medicine Residency program, which is the single greatest reason communities in the Wausau area have access to excellent primary care services.

Since 1978, the UW Wausau Family Medicine Residency has graduated 139 family physicians.

• 40 percent have established practices in the region
• 66 percent have established practices in Wisconsin
• 65 percent of family doctors on staff at Aspirus Wausau Hospital are graduates
• 40 percent serve rural communities

So when it became clear that the residency program needed a new home, Aspirus donated a total of $3.5 million in land, cash and bond precedes to kick-start the project. The Aspirus Health Foundation also spearheaded a successful $3 million capital campaign to garner support from the regional medical and lay communities.

On May 30, 2007, about 50 community and health care leaders celebrated the groundbreaking of the 27,000-square-foot Aspirus Medical Education Center, or AMEC. When complete, the facility will provide the following community benefits:

• Continued success of the UW Wausau Family Medicine Residency program, which is:
• The region’s main source of primary care physicians.
• An accessible provider of care to anyone in need.
• A valuable source of medical education.
• Community health classes, workshops, forums and a reference library.
• Continuing education for regional health care professionals.

Brian Gumness, Executive Director of the B.A. and Esther Greenheck Foundation, is an enthusiastic supporter of the project. "We decided as a board to support this project because we believe it will help create a better health care environment in north central Wisconsin," he said. "If we can train and educate our own health care workforce, the community will benefit. Doctors will be accustomed to this area and have a better understanding of the people they care for."

Todd Nicklaus, project supporter and Chairman of River Valley State Bank, agrees that the project has long-term benefit. "I think the AMEC is important because it provides a foundation for continued high-quality health care," he said. "It will ensure the continued success of the local residency program, which turns out a high percentage of the primary care physicians serving the area. Strong primary care acts as the building blocks for the entire health care system."