Newsmakers, August 21, 2014

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• Wisconsin Health Care Partnership

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  It could take about a year for six Wisconsin health care systems that have partnered together to start realizing some improvements in how they are operating, but the changes are something the public won’t realize are happening right away.

  The six partners announced plans to work together earlier this month. They include:

  -Aspirus of Wausau

  -Aurora Health Care of Milwaukee

  -Bellin Health of Green Bay

  -Gundersen Health System of La Crosse

  -ThedaCare of Appleton

  -UW Health of Madison

  Administrators at Gundersen Health System in La Crosse say patients and most employees may never see major changes in how the La Crosse provider operates, but over time, they expect health care quality to improve and the cost of care to go down. “They are six strong systems that independently have done very well in quality and cost metrics,” according to GHS Senior Vice President Jerry Arndt.
  “Our primary motivation was to find ways to improve quality and reduce cost of health care. We felt like as a partnership we could do that faster than we could independently.”

  There is no merger of the six organizations, or special name for the partnership, but the idea is to share the best practices at each institution.

  For example, Gundersen Health Systems says it’s a national leader in breast cancer treatment and research, and its Respecting Choices program which encourages people to communicate end-of-life decisions. Gunderson is willing to share those best practices with its partners and is expected to benefit from the best practices at the five other organizations.

  The organizations also plan to harness their purchasing power for medical supplies, share information technology practices to improve the analysis and management of health data and create new networks for health care insurance that could mean cheaper insurance plans that would cover 90 percent of people in Wisconsin.

  Other health care systems across the country have tried different aspects of the Wisconsin partnership, but GHS believes this is the first time change has been tried on this scale. “It’s certainly unique in Wisconsin,” Gundersen Senior Vice President of Business Services Mark Platt said. “We do believe that this is the right way to get where we need to be in the industry of health care. We hope if we get this thing right that others will say ‘that’s how you do it.’”

• Southwestern Wisconsin Emerald Ash Borer Program

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  Grant money is available for communities in southwestern Wisconsin to help them deal with the Emerald Ash Borer.

  The invasive insect, which decimates ash trees, has been detected in almost half Wisconsin, including nine counties in the southwestern corner of the state where communities are eligible to apply for the program. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has provided $25,000 to the Southwest Badger Resource Conservation and Development Council in Platteville which is administering the program.

  Southwest Badger provides staff that helps communities take an inventory of ash tree populations, paying close attention to the 50 worst and 50 best ash trees in each community. “The 50 worst ash trees should be removed right away, or as soon as possible,” said Southwest Badger forester Patrick Dayton.
  “The 50 worst ash trees are probably the ones that should be removed whether the Emerald Ash Borer is there or not, they’re just not very healthy trees. The 50 best ash trees would be the ones that a city or village could treat with a chemical and protect. If they aren’t willing to invest money in treatment, then those would be the 50 trees that were left until the end.”

  Southwest Badger will inventory all of the ash trees in communities and evaluate them.

  In the city of Lancaster in Grant County, that’s an estimated 150-200 ash trees on boulevards or on city property including parks. Like many smaller communities, Lancaster doesn’t have its own forestry department, or a large staff to cope with the fallout of the Emerald Ash Borer. The insect hasn’t been detected yet in Lancaster, but it’s only a matter of time and Public Works Director John Hauth says they welcome any outside help they can get with dealing with the Emerald Ash Borer.

  “We’re a town of under 4,000, so we just don’t have the staff to commit a lot of time to this. With Southwest Badger coming in and helping us, this is going to really help us start planning and deciding how we’re going to handle the Emerald Ash Borer,” Hauth said.

  But funds are limited and while a handful of communities are taking advantage of the program so far, Dayton says there’s only enough money left for four or five more to get involved. Communities in Crawford, Grant, Green, Iowa, La Crosse, Lafayette, Richland, Sauk and Vernon Counties are eligible to apply to Southwest Badger to be a part of the program.