To address reduced services anticipated at Ascension-owned Ministry Saint Joseph's Hospital, Marshfield Clinic Health System (MCHS) will accelerate its plans to open a new hospital on the Marshfield campus.
MCHS leadership is exploring options to get Phase 1 of a new hospital opened in 2016. This new hospital facility will allow MCHS to retain key specialty services in Marshfield as Ministry Health Care focuses its expansion efforts along the I-39 corridor. It's expected Ministry Saint Joseph's will transition some services now available in Marshfield to other cities leaving patients in Central Wisconsin without certain services available close to home.
"Ensuring patients in this part of the state have access to care they need close to home is of critical importance and it's why we are accelerating our plans to open a hospital in Marshfield," said Dr. Susan Turney, CEO, MCHS. "We've been talking with Ministry leadership about the need for a new hospital in Marshfield since 2008 and we simply couldn't wait any longer."
The two organizations have had numerous discussions about various partnership arrangements over the years. In an effort to maintain continuity of services and protect local jobs, MCHS leadership recently made various offers to Ministry including:
- Sharing employees to protect the highly valued staff at Saint Joseph's Hospital
- Preserving local jobs by leasing or buying beds in Saint Joseph's
- Leasing or buying Saint Joseph's outright
To date such offers have not been accepted.
Phase 2 of the plan includes the construction of a hospital of the future, announced earlier this year. The new hospital is tentatively scheduled to open in 2018. This building will be slightly smaller than Ministry Saint Joseph's and will be a more efficient, high-tech building. Patients will enjoy private rooms and access to a range of highly specialized care that requires a hospital setting.
Initial plans for the new hospital incorporate the services patients and the communities have come to expect from Marshfield Clinic, including adult, neonatal and pediatric intensive care units, a birthing center and pediatric specialty care. Keeping these important services in Marshfield will ensure that Marshfield retains its reputation as a destination for high-quality health care.
And, as announced earlier this year, MCHS is expanding the services offered at the Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) in Marshfield to allow health care providers to provide a broader range of services in a setting less expensive than a hospital. In addition, MCHS will open comfort and recovery suites in Marshfield to accommodate patients who receive care in the ASC. These suites will allow patients to stay without having to be admitted to a hospital, leading to lower costs and a dramatically improved patient experience.
"The combination of these facilities will allow us to more efficiently manage patients' care, seamlessly transitioning them to the appropriate facility, whether that's one of our specialty clinics, our outpatient surgery centers or a hospital," Turney said. "This allows us to provide a better patient experience and start to reduce the cost of care for our patients, both important objectives for MCHS."
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Marshfield Clinic Health System (MCHS) oversees Marshfield Clinic and other subsidiaries, including Security Health Plan of Wisconsin, Inc., MCIS, Inc., Marshfield Clinic Health System Foundation, Flambeau Hospital in Park Falls and Lakeview Medical Center in Rice Lake. Marshfield Clinic, with more than 50 locations in Wisconsin, serves patients through accessible, high quality health care, research and education; with more than 700 physician specialists in 86 specialties and subspecialties and more than 6,500 employees. MCHS is overseen by a Board of Directors with 13 independent members and 11 physicians who comprise the Marshfield Clinic Board.