Dunn County asking HSHS and Prevea to “slow down and work with communities”
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — The Dunn County Board has adopted a resolution essentially asking the Hospital Sisters Health System and Prevea Health to slow down the process for closing Sacred Heart Hospital and St. Joseph’s Hospital along with 19 Prevea clinics.
The resolution has been adopted by Eau Claire County and Chippewa County and is being considered by the City of Eau Claire, Altoona and Menomonie, said Kristin Korpela, county manager, at the the Dunn County Board’s February 21 meeting.
The resolution is sending a message asking HSHS to slow down and work with the communities to find solutions for healthcare, she said.
HSHS has not been working with communities particularly well, Korpela said.
Since HSHS first announced the closures, the situation has improved to some degree, she said.
The closures will have “a tremendous impact on the Chippewa Valley.” The resolution carries no weight, but it is a shared concern across the Chippewa Valley, Korpela said.
The initial announcement from HSHS on January 22, 2024, is that Sacred Heart Hospital and St. Joseph’s Hospital and the Prevea clinics will close on or before April 21. Other information included on the HSHS website is that Sacred Heart and St. Jospeh’s will close by the end of March.
$15 million
Larry Bork, county board supervisor from Menomonie, asked about HSHS psychiatric care and about additional money that had been earmarked for an expansion of psychiatric care beds.
State 323Senator Jesse James (R-Altoona) (Senate District 23) authored a bill to move the $15 million to another fund so it can be released to the Joint Finance Committee so the committee can directly distribute the money, Korpela said.
If capital is needed for healthcare, it could be accessed more easily if the bill is signed into law, she said.
Brian Westrate, a field representative for Derrick Van Orden (U.S. Representative for Wisconsin’s 3rd congressional district) was in attendance at the Dunn County Board meeting.
Westrate had attended the meeting to talk about funding for not-for-profit “shovel ready” projects, such as a new fire station, during the public comments portion of the meeting.
Westrate came back to the microphone later on in the meeting to talk about the HSHS and Prevea closures.
The Wisconsin Senate voted on the bill on Tuesday. The $15 million initially had been intended for HSHS to expand by 22 mental health beds, Westrate said.
HSHS refused to accept the money. “They knew it was coming, and we didn’t,” he said.
The money is earmarked for Chippewa County and Eau Claire County for emergency services and capital expenditures. A grant application can be submitted to the Joint Finance Committee for access to the money, Westrate said.
The state Assembly was expected to vote on the bill the day after the Dunn County Board meeting, and then it would go to Governor Tony Evers to veto or approve, he said.
“Nobody was happy with everything [in the bill] but it was better than nothing,” Westrate said.
Legislature
People should pay attention to what the state Legislature is doing, said Gary Stene, county board supervisor from Colfax and chair of the Dunn County Legislative Committee.
A few years ago, Wisconsin was the lowest in the nation for Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements, he said.
“I’m sure it played a factor in HSHS and Prevea, and it plays a factor in the closing of nursing homes,” Stene said.
The Colfax Health and Rehabilitation Center, for example, closed the skilled nursing unit last year and converted the entire facility to assisted living. Then Colfax Health and Rehab was sold to a for-profit entity and is now known as Colfax Senior Living.
These are questions to ask the state Legislature, Stene said.
Kelly McCullough, county board supervisor from Menomonie and chair of the Dunn County Board, suggested that the subject should be an item for the Legislative Committee to consider.
Stene said the issue is already on the Legislative Committee’s agenda.
Wisconsin also is one of 10 states that has refused the expanded Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act to people with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level.
In addition to Wisconsin, the other states are Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Wyoming.
Direct hit
The closing of Sacred Heart Hospital, St. Joseph’s Hospital and the Prevea Clinics is less of a “direct hit” for Dunn County than it is for Chippewa County and Eau Claire County, Korpela said.
Still, the closures will remove mental health bed space, especially for adolescents, so that adolescents will now have to go to the Winnebago mental health facility, and it will cost more for law enforcement to transport them there, she said.
The Winnebago Mental Health Institute is located in Oshkosh.
Dunn County also had a contract with Prevea for the Birth to 3 Program for occupational therapy and physical therapy, Korpela said.
The Birth to 3 Program is a mandated program for disabled children or children at risk of a disability, said Korpela, who is the former director of Dunn County Human Services.
HSHS was a provider of certain specialty care as well as morgue services, she said, noting that Dunn County has a working relationship with local funeral homes, and if an autopsy is needed, the body is sent to Ramsey County in Minnesota.
The Dunn County Board unanimously approved the resolution on a voice vote asking that Hospital Sister Health System and Prevea Health use the entire transition timeline to allow community stakeholders to work collaboratively to ensure a continuity of service within the community for the health and well-being of residents.
Background
According to background information included with the resolution, HSHS in the Chippewa Valley maintains 140 hospital beds with HSHS and Prevea Health serving 900 expectant mothers, 100 cancer patients, and 50 dialysis patients annually in addition to providing healthcare services in areas such as wound care, psychiatric care, Alcohol and Other Drug Addiction treatment along with hospice and other services.
According to information provided at the February 13 meeting of the Dunn County Community Resources and Tourism Committee, people who have health insurance through the Prevea360 Health Plan must now travel to the eastern part of the state for healthcare services, such as cancer treatment.
The background information with the resolution also notes that Prevea Health and HSHS account for approximately 13 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the local community and employs approximately 1,400 individuals in the area.
