Health IT, Hospitals

Wisconsin’s healthcare providers form statewide partnership

More sharing and more partnerships in the world of healthcare. Six major healthcare providers in […]

More sharing and more partnerships in the world of healthcare.

Six major healthcare providers in the state of Wisconsin have reportedly forged a statewide effort “to contract with insurers, improve care and drive down costs,” according to the Wisconsin State Journal.

Collectively, the six providers account for nearly 90 percent of the state’s population, and the providers intend on pooling resources that could potentially “improve quality and lower costs” at a faster clip than before.

The providers include a mix of physician organizations and hospitals:

UW Health, which is University of Wisconsin’s health system

Gundersen Health System, a physician-led nonprofit that serves 19 counties in western Wisconsin along with parts of Minnesota and Iowa

Aspirus, a nonprofit that serves 14 counties in north and central Wisconsin and Michigan’s western Upper Peninsula

Aurora Health Care, a Milwaukee-based nonprofit that has facilities in 15 counties across eastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois

Bellin Health, a Green Bay system that includes northeast Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

ThedaCare, an Appleton system that has seven hospitals across the state

Details are still emerging on what the partnership will exactly mean, but one immediate result is a new health plan with Blue Cross Blue Shield’s Blue Priority network that includes all of the above-mentioned providers, according to the Journal. Plans to expand coverage to other carriers could emerge in the future.

All of the providers use EHR platforms from Verona ’s Epic Systems, collectively accounting for 44 hospitals and more than 5,600 physicians.

The partnership, not a merger, will focus on clinical, administrative, IT, research, patient experience, care management and will “share expertise within our six systems,” said Greg Devine, president and CEO of ThedaCare. He will also oversee the as yet unnamed partnership.

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