FABOH, Agnesian HealthCare form alliance to maintain one community hospital

Only one hospital will ever be needed in Fond du Lac, according to a local business organization.

Fond du Lac Area Businesses on Health (FABOH) and Agnesian HealthCare announced Thursday an exclusive strategic alliance that both say will strengthen the relationship between the two.

"There is no need for an additional hospital in Fond du Lac County now, nor do we see a need in the future," said Dan Schmidt, FABOH Board of Directors president. "The cost of a new hospital would be carried by businesses and their employees. It is our intention to work closely with Agnesian HealthCare to ensure the goals of the strategic alliance are met."

Although both Agnesian and Aurora are part of the network of offerings that fall under the "preferred pricing" options FABOH presents to its members, FABOH Chief Executive Officer Jerry Popowski said the strategic plan supports only Agnesian.

"We have met with them (Aurora) but they are not part of the strategic plan," Popowski said.

FABOH is a local health care purchasing organization whose owners include Badger Liquor, Combination Door, Giddings & Lewis, J.F. Ahern, Mercury Marine, Mid-States Aluminum Corp., Society Insurance, Wells Manufacturing Corp. and Wisconsin Employers Association.

The news comes at the same time as Aurora HealthCare's announcement that it will open a new satellite clinic in the City of Ripon.

Aurora has no plans to open a hospital in Fond du Lac, said Jay Faherty, a public relations director for Aurora.

"We at Aurora HealthCare are deeply disappointed with this announcement because we've been trying to work with FABOH to offer affordable high quality care in the area," Faherty said.

FABOH stated in a press release that its research on existing hospital capacity and projected demands for hospital beds in Fond du Lac and Winnebago counties determined that average daily census has been declining since 1996, and that there is current excess bed capacity of over 200 beds.

"We have seen what happened when new hospitals came into Oshkosh and Green Bay. Prices skyrocketed," said Popowski.

The group's strategic plan includes collecting, measuring and distributing ongoing data to measure the cost and quality of healthcare services in the community.

"Agnesian HealthCare remains committed to bringing the best possible healthcare at the local level for the regions we serve," said Bob Fale, Agnesian HealthCare president and chief executive officer. "We are focused on being the health care provider of choice in our region."

Popowski said the plan calls for analyzing hospital procedures as far as quality, effectiveness, safety, timeliness and patient-centeredness when compared with state benchmarks.

The 50 local companies that comprise FABOH purchase $100 million in health care benefits for their 36,000 members, he noted, and $50 million of that is from Agnesian.

Agnesian is the provider of choice for FABOH because it meets the group's patient care needs, Popowski said.

Agnesian policies that limit certain reproductive medical procedures such as sterilization are not a concern of FABOH, Popowski said.

Agnesian operates hospitals in Fond du Lac and Waupun and 12 Fond du Lac Regional Clinic offices. Aurora currently operates clinics in Fond du Lac, North Fond du Lac, Campbellsport, Mayville, Lomira and Ripon.

Faherty noted Aurora physicians use St. Agnes Hospital, bring business into the partnership and have invested in equipment to enhance patient care.

"We support any efforts that would genuinely attempt to improve health care in the area and question why Aurora wouldn't be a part of those discussions," Faherty said.

source:www.fdlreporter.com