Month: September 2011

Uninsured patients will be asked to pay something in advance before getting care at Mayo Clinic Health System's Franciscan Healthcare offices starting next month. The move follows an industry trend to get patients to meet their financial responsibilities and reduce bad debt. Last year the organization says it served nearly 8,800 uninsured patients but recovered just 7 percent of the $6.6 million in charges billed. (LA CROSSE TRIBUNE, 9/15)

A California civil rights agency has ordered a Wisconsin company to pay $846,000 for firing a sales manager who had to limit work travel when he was recovering from cancer surgery. The Fair Employment and Housing Commission's award in the case of Charles Wideman is the largest payment it has ever ordered in a discrimination case, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday. Wideman was a Novato-based, regional sales manager for Menomonee Falls, Wis.-based Acme Electric until he was fired in March 2008 at age 59. (AP, 9/15)

State and Green County officials are trying to track down the source of an E. coli outbreak that has claimed the life of a 1-year-old girl and has sickened several others. "The Wisconsin Division of Public Health and our department here in Green County are investigating a cluster of nine confirmed E. coli 0157:H7 infections," said RoAnn Warden, director of the Green County Health Department. (WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL, 9/15)

Using provisions of the state's new collective bargaining law, Madison is moving to change health insurance plans for police officers and firefighters. The action will require those employees to pay deductibles and save the city $553,100 in premium costs next year. Under the change, about 800 police, firefighters and police supervisors would be required to pay out of pocket the first $500 of health care expenses for a single person and $1,000 for a family. (WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL, 9/14)

Milwaukee County would end its $3 million annual payment toward local paramedic programs, under a cut County Executive Chris Abele says he'll include in his 2012 budget. Abele announced his intention to eliminate the payments to municipal fire departments as part of his plans to fill a projected county shortfall of up to $55 million during a meeting Monday with municipal leaders from the county. In a statement released Tuesday, Abele called the county payments "an out-of-date subsidy" that had been continued for years after the county turned over billing for paramedic services to the local communities. (JOURNAL SENTINEL, 9/14)

The Medical College of Wisconsin has few if any economists on its faculty. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Marquette University have economists but few if any physicians. Yet the skills of both - not to mention business and engineering types - are needed to find ways to slow the rise in health care costs. That's the motivation behind a collaboration announced Monday by the Medical College of Wisconsin, UW-Milwaukee, Marquette, Froedtert Health and Children's Hospital and Health System. (JOURNAL SENTINEL, 9/13)

A federal court has dismissed the class action lawsuit against the State Department of Health Services alleging thousands of poor people in Milwaukee County had to wait months for food stamps and other benefits because of a backlog of applications. (MILWAUKEE BUSINESS JOURNAL, 9/13)