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CAPITOL WEEK; Health-Care Cost Struggle Focuses on Summit Hospital

Posted on: Sunday, 26 December 2004, 15:00 CST

Health-care cost struggle focuses on Summit hospital

State lawmakers concerned about rising health care costs are following closely the progress of Aurora Health Care's proposal to build an $85 million hospital in the Town of Summit.

In a unanimous vote Dec. 2, the Town Board approved Aurora's request for a change in the town's master land use plan to permit construction of the 88-bed hospital at the southeast corner of I-94 and Highway 67 -- three miles from Oconomowoc Memorial Hospital.

The issue now goes to Waukesha County for action. A County Board vote on the master land use plan change is expected in late April.

Rep. Gregg Underheim (R-Oshkosh), chairman of the Assembly Health Committee, has seen this situation before and he is watching what's happening in Waukesha County.

A year ago, Aurora opened a new 84-bed hospital in Oshkosh about one mile from Mercy Medical Center's new hospital, which opened in 2000.

In 2003, two floors were added to Mercy hospital. One of the new floors never opened and the other was closed a year after it opened, partly due to a decline in patient numbers caused by competition from Aurora.

Underheim declined to comment specifically on the impact in Oshkosh of new hospital construction and expansion and did not want to critique the Summit proposal.

But, in general, he said, a medical building boom is happening in many areas of the state and, he believes, it is not in the best interest of health care consumers.

"In my opinion, there is an intense battle going on for market share, and that intense battle has been fought at the expense of consumers," he said.

"Facilities for which there is a weak argument for need have been built and, I believe, that has resulted in increased costs."

Building concerns

Underheim, who has headed the Assembly Health Committee for many years and recently was reappointed to that post, is frequently an outspoken critic of the health care industry in Wisconsin.

On the issue of building duplicative facilities, he is unequivocal.

"I believe, that the intense competition in health care has resulted in predatory practices," he said.

At this point, Underheim said, there is probably very little the Legislature can do.

"My guess is we probably are too late to look at regulatory fixes," he said.

But, the Legislature may have a role to play in advancing the cause of consumer access to reliable information on hospital pricing and quality, he said.

As health insurance plans shift to what is called "consumer- driven" plans, under which consumers pay more out of their own pockets for medical care, this information is critical, Underheim said.

"For people to have an honest choice to make, they need meaningful information," he said.

"What is necessary is total pure transparency on pricing, so you know exactly what your information company will pay to providers."

The Wisconsin Hospital Association has made some progress in efforts to make pricing information available to consumers, but more needs to be done, Underheim said.

"If you want a consumer-driven health care system, you need an informed consumer and transparent pricing information," Underheim said.

"Consumers need to be able to pick a low-cost quality provider of medical services and if they can't do that, all this talk about consumer-driven health care is just rhetoric."

Getting the information

Underheim said he is trying to move forward the issue of access to health services information in talks with officials in the health care industry, but he is not ruling out legislation if those talks prove unsuccessful.

A bill certain to be introduced during the upcoming legislative session, he said, is one to provide the same state tax benefits now allowed under federal tax laws to people who contribute to health savings accounts used to pay for medical expenses.

The Senate and Assembly approved this measure this year. The vote was along party lines with Democrats voting against it.

Democrats argued the state could not afford to give up the estimated $38.7 million revenue that would be lost by allowing state income tax deductions for health savings accounts.

They also said the measure ignored the needs of many low-income people who have no health insurance.

In the end, Gov. Jim Doyle vetoed the bill, saying it was too costly and could encourage employers to drop their company- sponsored health insurance plans for employees.

"There will be health savings account legislation again this session and this time, I hope, the governor changes his mind," Underheim said.

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Call Amy Rinard at (262) 650-3184 or send e-mail to arinard@onwis.com

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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