In the past 12 months, the WHA Foundation has awarded scholarships to 22 students enrolled in one of Wisconsin’s 16 technical colleges in a health occupation associate degree program. This workforce development initiative of the Foundation makes available two scholarships for each technical college to award to students in their final semester of study. Scholarship recipients must have a 3.0 or above GPA. The scholarship pays for tuition, fees and books for the student and was designed to assist students in the home stretch to complete their degrees and pursue their career objective of working in health care.

Scholarship recipients have completed degrees in sonography, clinical lab technician, health information, respiratory therapy, sonography and nursing. Graduates were surveyed in June, and of the ten responses received, nine had secured employment, six with WHA member hospitals.

"The Foundation’s scholarship program coupled with other scholarship programs offered by our members and the Partners of WHA is tangible evidence of the hospital community’s commitment to helping students pursue their dream of a health care career," said WHA President Steve Brenton.

Judy Warmuth, WHA’s VP of workforce development reports, "The technical colleges are to be commended for working with our community hospitals in addressing the workforce shortage and designing programs to meet the needs of providers and students alike. Most students graduating from the technical college programs remain in their communities, so the education investment has immediate return."

The WHA Foundation Board reviewed the success of the program at its recent meeting and committed to another round of scholarships for the 2005 academic year. These scholarships are supported through gifts from individuals and member hospitals to the WHA Foundation and reflect the Foundation’s commitment to invest in key programs and services that align with the strategic goals of WHA and its member hospitals. For more information about the WHA Foundation and the scholarship program, contact Ann Lucas at alucas@wha.org or 608-274-1820.

"Medicine has always been an interesting field to me, but when I was younger I couldn’t see myself as a nurse. I had not given a thought to dealing with records and information until a couple of years ago. This whole area of healthcare is changing just as quickly as the technology we use daily is evolving. I am looking forward to returning to the workforce here in Wisconsin."

- Linda Barthels, Health Information Technology, Moraine Park Technical College


"I wanted to let you know I am extremely grateful for considering me worthy to receive this gift. It has greatly lessened my financial burden and the uncertainty that always lingers when the possibility of having to drop out of classes due to financial concerns is a possibility."

- Blaine Huebner, Nursing, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College

"I promise your financial contribution will be an excellent investment. My debt to you will be repaid to the community through the compassion, love, faith and support I plan to provide my patients."

A Wisconsin Court of Appeals decision dated September 2, 2004, found that a hospital’s childcare center that is located in a stand-alone building adjacent to the hospital’s parking lot is eligible for property tax exemption under s. 70.11(4m)(a) of the statutes (the nonprofit hospital provision) to the extent it meets the "reasonably necessary" test used to determine whether hospital property is tax exempt.

Saint Joseph’s Hospital of Marshfield built a stand-alone childcare center for use by hospital and Marshfield Clinic employees. The court gleaned from prior cases that to be eligible for the hospital property tax exemption, a hospital’s use of the property must be reasonably necessary to the efficient functioning of the hospital as an organization in light of the hospital’s tax-exempt purposes, namely, the diagnosis, treatment, and care of patients. The court found that the childcare center enhances both employee performance and the ability of the hospital to attract quality personnel, thus benefiting the functioning of the hospital. Based on this finding, the court concluded that with respect to the spaces at the childcare center filled by hospital employees (49 percent), the childcare center is property tax exempt. With respect to the spaces filled by Marshfield Clinic employees, the center is tax exempt to the extent that the clinic employees directly or indirectly provide diagnosis, treatment, or care to hospital patients.

There is a link to the case on the WHA Web site under Legal & Regulatory.

Wisconsinites can go to the polls and vote in the party primaries Tuesday, September 14 to decide the candidates that will be on the ballot for the general election on November 2. There are a number of significant local and statewide primary races up for grabs this election. Voters across the state who vote in the Republican primary will determine whether Russ Darrow, Bob Welch, Tim Michels or Robert Lorge face incumbent Democrat Russ Feingold in the general election in November. Other interesting local races include the much publicized battle between State Senate Majority Leader Mary Panzer who squares off against fellow Republican State Representative Glenn Grothman in a tough race, which many political pundits have said will determine the future direction of the Republican party in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin has an open primary system which means voters do not have to register or publicly declare their allegiance to a party, allowing Wisconsin voters to determine the party primary they are voting in behind the privacy of the voting curtain. This means voters in Wisconsin will have access to all the parties’ ballots, but must choose only one party’s primary ballot to cast. Primary elections generally experience low voter turnout so the votes that are cast play an even greater role in determining the outcome of the primary elections. According to WHA’s Vice President of Government Relations Jodi Bloch, "That’s why it is so important that health care professionals get out and vote and encourage their colleagues to do the same."

• Kudos to Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle and Wisconsin Department of Employee Trust Funds Secretary Eric Stanchfield for accomplishing something that employers in Southeast Wisconsin should aspire to…creatively using market forces to achieve health insurance cost savings.

• Reverse kudos to Wisconsin Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager for a bizarre legal opinion that will force small and medium size employers to provide birth control drugs as part of their health plan offerings. The Lautenschlager opinion was all about politics and very little about the law. The opinion, undoubtedly politically popular in some quarters, demonstrates just how difficult it will be to engage the public in thoroughly understanding that new mandates come with a cost—higher insurance premiums.
  
• Recent media attention about an uptick in the ranks of the uninsured failed to mention the fact that people with insurance rose one million to 244 million last year. The actual percentage of uninsured Americans today is lower than it was in 1997 and 1998.

Steve Brenton
President

WHA will be kicking off the sixth year of our Wage Index Improvement Project by holding workshops on October 5 in Milwaukee and on October 7 in Madison. For those who can’t make the meetings in person due to driving distance or scheduling problems, the October 7 Madison meeting will have a call in option.

The wage index is a very important part of reimbursement for Wisconsin’s PPS hospitals, which is why WHA offers these valuable workshops. WHA has made significant changes to the structure of the project over the past few years, which we will continue. First, WHA continues to contract directly with R-C Healthcare Management (so individual hospitals will not need to do so), and the cost is included in the WHA budget. Second, again this year, we are beginning the project for Federal fiscal year 2006 much earlier. We previously held our workshops in January; now they are in October.

Dates and places are listed below. The workshops are from 10 a.m. to noon.

• October 5, University Club, 924 E. Wells Street, Milwaukee
• October 7, WHA Headquarters, 5721 Odana Road, Madison

All PPS hospitals should designate someone to attend one of these sessions or call in to the October 7 workshop. Have your designee contact Brian Potter at WHA at bpotter@wha.org for more information.

Managing employee absences today is extremely complicated, considering some leave policies overlap and some contain completely different requirements. Trying to understand how short-term disability, corporate leave policies, state leave laws, and the FMLA interrelate can be overwhelming. One way HR can manage these employee absences more effectively and reduce lost time is to understand the impact of state leave laws on their organization.

FMLA vs. State Leave Laws
Some areas of differentiation include:
· Definition of eligibility
· Amount of leave time
· Qualifying events
· Employee notice

When there is a conflict between federal and state regulations, employees are entitled to the provisions of whichever law provides the greater benefit.

A new layer being added to the time-off complexity is the Paid Family Leave (PFL) law recently passed in California.

Find out more by reading Solutions Spotlight, included in this week’s packet.

On September 1, Aurora Health Care hosted a forum for candidates running for the 4th Congressional seat, currently held by Representative Jerry Kleczka who announced earlier in the year he would retire. All eight candidates were invited to participate, and Aurora employees and the public were invited to attend. Eric Borgerding, WHA Senior VP, government relations moderated the forum.

State Senator Tim Carpenter (D), Matt Flynn (D), State Senator Gwendolynne Moore (D) and Jerry Boyle (R) responded to questions about the U.S. health care system and their proposals for reform, cost containment and federal funding of Medicare and Medicaid programs.

"Attending and participating in candidate forums are an excellent way to learn about candidates and become informed constituents and voters. We applaud Aurora’s advocacy efforts," said Eric Borgerding.

Representative Kleczka has represented the 4th Congressional District since 1984. The district includes Milwaukee, West Milwaukee, St. Francis, Cudahy, South Milwaukee and West Allis. Candidates Corey Hoze (R), Tim Johnson (I), Colin Hudson (Constitution) and Robert Raymond (I) were unable to attend.

Stoughton Hospital will mark their centennial anniversary with a public celebration on September 26 from 1-4 pm. After a brief look at the hospital’s history, U.S. Representative Tammy Baldwin (D-Madison) will present a flag previously flown over the nation’s capitol. Rep. Baldwin will read a congressional record statement honoring Stoughton Hospital’s 100 years of service to the community.

Terry Brenny, president and CEO, is proud of the hospital’s past and is looking forward to the future. "As a community hospital, we have a strong commitment to provide affordable, accessible health care close to home," Brenny said. "This accomplishment reminds us what a committed, caring staff can achieve in a community that supports their local hospital."

WHA President Steve Brenton congratulated Stoughton and said, "In a world where few institutions exist for even a decade or two, Stoughton Hospital has survived and thrived for one hundred years," Brenton said. "The Stoughton Hospital staff and community leaders can take great pride in reaching this milestone."

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