Month: August 2011

Marshfield Clinic is joining nine other physician groups around the country in a two-year project with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services aimed at improving quality of care and reducing costs in order to earn shared savings. (WHN, 8/9)

Sixteenth Street Community Health Center and ProHealth CarebizWatch will open a new community health center on East North Street in downtown Waukesha. The site, in the 300 block, is adjacent to the city bus terminal and was chosen because of its access for people using public transportation. It is also adjacent to the Waukesha Family Practice Center, a clinic where medical residents now provide care for many underserved people. (MILWAUKEE BUSINESS JOURNAL, 8/9)

Despite early criticism from city officials, new figures show Milwaukee will gain more than it will lose next year from the state's controversial budget and budget-repair legislation. The city projects it will save at least $25 million a year - and potentially as much as $36 million in 2012 - from health care benefit changes it didn't have to negotiate with unions, as a result of provisions in the 2009-'11 budget-repair measure that ended most collective bargaining for most public employees. (JOURNAL SENTINEL, 8/9)

The cap, which went into effect July 1, means no new people can be added to a county's program unless there is attrition — someone withdraws from the program, dies or moves away. The freeze has a number of people, from families and advocacy groups to Fox Valley county executives, up in arms, and has led to a letter-writing campaign urging the U.S. Department of health and Human Services to reject the state's request for federal approval allowing the freeze. (APPLETON POST CRESCENT, 8/8)

The inexorable rise in the cost of health benefits shows no signs of abating. Health insurance premiums increased 8% to 10% on average for employers and employees in the Milwaukee area this year, with much steeper increases for some small employers, according to the annual survey done by HCTrends. That's down from average increases of 11% to 13% last year. (JOURNAL SENTINEL, 8/5)

Green Bay's Bellin Hospital had one of the lowest mortality rates in the nation for heart attack patients over the last three years, according to a federal study released today. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services measured mortality rates and re-admission rates for heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia patients over a three-year period that ended in 2010. (GREEN BAY PRESS GAZETTE, 8/5)

The Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups is continuing to push for a co-insurance program for SeniorCare that it proposed during the budget discussions. The senior advocacy group says the state could attract more than $6.3 million in additional drug rebates by requiring co-insurance for certain deductibles levels. (WHN, 8/4)