Wisconsin's hospitals at large continue to face a slue of challenges. In a one on one interview with News 3 Now, Wisconsin Hospital Association President and CEO, Eric Borgerding, spoke frankly about these challenges saying a lot of work needs to be done to remedy them.
MADISON, Wis. -- Wisconsin's hospitals at large continue to face a slue of challenges. In a one on one interview with News 3 Now, Wisconsin Hospital Association President and CEO, Eric Borgerding, spoke frankly about these challenges saying a lot of work needs to be done to remedy them.
However, he also says there is no reason for public panic, reassuring other points he's made in the past that Wisconsin's hospitals continue to provide great care to it's patients.
Borgerding and News 3 Now's Kyle Pozorski began their nearly hour-long interview by discussing the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on the healthcare industry. Borgerding says the pandemic "exacerbated" the industry challenges "all at one time."
"What my members all realize is things are not going back to the way they were in 2019," he said. "By the way, 2019 wasn't some nirvana, right? But, they're not going back to the way they were."
He suggests inflation in the U.S. economy is one of many reasons Wisconsin's hospitals are seeing more difficulty in providing healthcare in the years since. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, inflation (measured by the Consumer Price Index, CPI) was up 3.5% in March of 2024, compared to the same month in 2023. Overall, inflation has rose 19.3% between January of 2020 to January 2024.
"That has a massive impact on the cost to provide the care," said Borgerding. "Wages have inflated significantly for many hospitals. Labor is fifty to sixty percent of our operating budget. The cost of drugs is exploding. The cost of supplies continues to go up."
This was made clear in October 2023 when WHA released a report finding 53 of Wisconsin's hospitals operated in the red in 2022. Two of Madison's three major hospitals, UW Hospital and UnityPoint Health-Meriter, were among them.
A representative from UW Health said at the time however that the data from UW Hospital did not necessarily reflect their current financial situation. They said that, unlike many healthcare providers, UW's fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30, which means their data is not as fresh.
Despite this, Borgerding remains optimistic, citing outside data which suggests Wisconsinites are not receiving worse care than in the past.
In August of 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released it's Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings finding Wisconsin had the fourth-highest percentage of five-star rated hospitals of any state. The data from CMS showed Wisconsin actually had the highest overall number of five-star rated hospitals, a total of 29. The next best was Utah with 14 five-star rated hospitals. Only 483 hospitals nationwide received five-stars.
"The hospitals that are here are continuing to provide very good care," continued Borgerding. "I think it's becoming harder and harder to do that but there are some very dedicated people (in Wisconsin)."
The second major challenge Wisconsin's hospitals continue to face is a workforce shortage. Borgerding says, "by 2030, one out of five Americans will be at retirement age, in Wisconsin it's one out of four." This has created a problem for healthcare, but it is certainly not exclusive to the industry.
It does however create a healthcare industry demand problem. Simply put, as more people rapidly age, an increase in the amount of care needed does as well.
"The Medicare generation if you will, that is, the growth in that is greatly out-pacing the growth of the generation that we will need to care for our aging population," said Borgerding.
If there were to be a silver bullet to fix the multitude of challenges healthcare is facing, what would it be? Borgerding says fixing the reimbursement system hospitals rely on is a key to doing just that. "If I had to pick one thing, but there's too many to pick, it would be reimbursement," remarked Borgerding.
His argument stems from a view of access, saying if more and more community and non-profit hospitals are not getting reimbursed by Medicaid or Medicare, certain programs and services begin to get cut. He says this is part of what is called a payer mix, which refers to how hospitals are reimbursed. This can be through Medicaid, Medicare or through other insurance options.
"We have to fix this," said Borgerding.
The WHA represents Wisconsin hospitals and health systems by advocating and lobbying on their behaves to legislators and leaders within the state.
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