UW Health, Madison, 2024 Community Benefits
- Hospital-Supported Initiatives
- Growing and Developing Our Health Care Workforce
- Charity Care/Free Clinics
- Health Equity
Community Partnerships for Violence Prevention
UW Health is committed to reducing intentional and unintentional injury across the life-course. One of its strategies to address firearm injuries in the community is through its hospital-linked gun violence prevention community collaboration and deep partnership with Focused Interruption, a local non-profit dedicated to reducing generational trauma by providing evidence-based intervention and prevention services to the people, neighborhoods, and families most impacted by gun violence.
When a victim of gun violence is rushed to the UW Health Emergency Department, the primary goal is to save the patient’s life. During these critical moments, UW Health relies on its partner, Focused Interruption to manage the traumatic aftermath in the minutes, hours and days following the victim’s arrival at the hospital.
“After a violent incident involving a shooting or stabbing, we immediately assist the victim's family. The hospital contacts us, and we dispatch two or more outreach workers to support the family. Our aim is to interrupt a potential cycle of violence that often follows such events,” explains Anthony “Coop” Cooper Sr., president and founder of Focused Interruption.
Focused Interruption has been a vital partner of UW Health for many years, playing a crucial role in patient care protocols for violent injuries and is a key component to UW Health’s injury prevention work. In addition to the ongoing programmatic collaboration, UW Health provides financial support to Focused Interruption. This partnership allows medical teams to focus on the immediate needs of the patient while Focused Interruption staff handle the complex scenarios that arise from such traumatic incidents. The longstanding collaboration between UW Health and Focused Interruption highlights their commitment to optimizing patient outcomes and the importance of cooperative efforts in managing critical situations.
When a victim of gun violence is rushed to the UW Health Emergency Department, the primary goal is to save the patient’s life. During these critical moments, UW Health relies on its partner, Focused Interruption to manage the traumatic aftermath in the minutes, hours and days following the victim’s arrival at the hospital.
“After a violent incident involving a shooting or stabbing, we immediately assist the victim's family. The hospital contacts us, and we dispatch two or more outreach workers to support the family. Our aim is to interrupt a potential cycle of violence that often follows such events,” explains Anthony “Coop” Cooper Sr., president and founder of Focused Interruption.
Focused Interruption has been a vital partner of UW Health for many years, playing a crucial role in patient care protocols for violent injuries and is a key component to UW Health’s injury prevention work. In addition to the ongoing programmatic collaboration, UW Health provides financial support to Focused Interruption. This partnership allows medical teams to focus on the immediate needs of the patient while Focused Interruption staff handle the complex scenarios that arise from such traumatic incidents. The longstanding collaboration between UW Health and Focused Interruption highlights their commitment to optimizing patient outcomes and the importance of cooperative efforts in managing critical situations.
Developing Future Nurses through Externships
The goal of UW Health’s Nurse Extern Program is to provide undergraduate nursing students with an extended clinical experience to enhance their foundational nursing education. Nurse externs from across the nation are drawn to the program because they see the value in an externship program, in addition to wanting to explore nursing at UW Health. In May 2024, the Nursing Professional Development team onboarded 88 nurse externs for the 10-week UW Health Nurse Externship Program.
The overarching goal of the nurse externship program is to two-fold:
- 81 nurse externs were hired into the inpatient setting at University Hospital, American Family Children’s Hospital and East Madison Hospital.
- 7 nurse externs were hired into ambulatory clinics including urgent care, transplant, endocrine, radiology and ENT (ear, nose throat).
The overarching goal of the nurse externship program is to two-fold:
- Expose nursing students to different practice areas to help them discern their setting of interest by “trying it on” for a summer; and
- Showcase UW Health nursing with the hope that the externs choose to apply to their ambulatory or inpatient nurse residency program after graduation.
Healing Patients with Financial Assistance
When a person becomes ill, their first priority should be their physical well-being. UW Health’s uncompensated care program is there to work with these patients who experience financial hardship related to their medical bills.
To help patients concentrate on their health, UW Health is proud to offer a financial assistance program to patients who are unable to pay for the care provided at UW Health. Patients work with dedicated staff members to apply for aid for all or a portion of their bill. In FY23, UW Hospital and Clinics’ financial assistance program provided $20.2 million of charity care at cost.
The assistance comes as a major relief to these patients who have already gone through the stress of a medical problem. A patient recently reached out to UW Health to share her gratitude for the assistance she received. Before learning about the program and being approved, she was losing sleep and was experiencing anxiety due to the cost of her treatments and visits. She called to share her appreciation for the assistance and noted that she was sleeping better and “felt like a burden was lifted off of her.” Many other patients have the same relief when they receive financial assistance.
To help patients concentrate on their health, UW Health is proud to offer a financial assistance program to patients who are unable to pay for the care provided at UW Health. Patients work with dedicated staff members to apply for aid for all or a portion of their bill. In FY23, UW Hospital and Clinics’ financial assistance program provided $20.2 million of charity care at cost.
The assistance comes as a major relief to these patients who have already gone through the stress of a medical problem. A patient recently reached out to UW Health to share her gratitude for the assistance she received. Before learning about the program and being approved, she was losing sleep and was experiencing anxiety due to the cost of her treatments and visits. She called to share her appreciation for the assistance and noted that she was sleeping better and “felt like a burden was lifted off of her.” Many other patients have the same relief when they receive financial assistance.
Outreach to Address Mammography Disparities
UW Health is committed to addressing disparities in health outcomes. Based on data found in their 2022 Community Health Needs Assessment, UW Health’s Health Equity Committee prioritized improving mammography screening rates for medically homed patients aged 50-74 years with a specific focus on improving screening rates for patients who are Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, uninsured, living in rural communities, and/or for those whom English is not their preferred language.
UW Health developed a multi-year plan which included hiring two outreach coordinators to facilitate personally contact UW Health patients who have not been screened for breast cancer in the last two years, prioritizing patients in neighborhoods with high Area Deprivation Index (ADI) scores. Using motivational interviewing techniques and culturally relevant practices, these coordinators provide information and resources to encourage patients to schedule a mammography appointment.
UW Health understands the various barriers patients face when attempting to access care. The outreach coordinators work collaboratively with other UW Health departments including interpreter services and social work to ensure accessibility for patients. Since the launch of this outreach effort, UW Health has scheduled 638 new mammography appointments with 69% of patients completing their appointment.
UW Health developed a multi-year plan which included hiring two outreach coordinators to facilitate personally contact UW Health patients who have not been screened for breast cancer in the last two years, prioritizing patients in neighborhoods with high Area Deprivation Index (ADI) scores. Using motivational interviewing techniques and culturally relevant practices, these coordinators provide information and resources to encourage patients to schedule a mammography appointment.
UW Health understands the various barriers patients face when attempting to access care. The outreach coordinators work collaboratively with other UW Health departments including interpreter services and social work to ensure accessibility for patients. Since the launch of this outreach effort, UW Health has scheduled 638 new mammography appointments with 69% of patients completing their appointment.
