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Hospital deal: Marshfield Clinic buying two from Ascension

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Marshfield Clinic has an agreement in place to purchase two more Ascension properties in Wisconsin. St Claire’s in Weston and the Flambeau hospital in Park Falls will transfer to Marshfield Clinic under a memo of understanding signed by both companies this week.

In a joint release, officials with Ascension said keeping in mind the best interest of patients, communities, and associates in the area, the deal is best for everyone given the evolving health care landscape in Wisconsin and nationally. The deal means Marshfield clinic will scrap plans for a new hospital on Plaza Drive in Wausau. No further details were released.

WSAU

Flu season off to an early start, says state health department

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The flu season is starting early in Wisconsin and the Department of Health Services says it’s already time to get your shot.

State influenza coordinator Tom Haupt says the disease is already putting people in the hospital. 

“We’ve had nine hospitalizations in the past few weeks in Wisconsin alone, which is not what we’d normally see in the middle of September.”

Haupt says this year’s shots seem to be working well so far. 

“Two out of the three main components have been upgraded this year, so we hopefully will have much better efficacy than we did last year.”

Haupt encourages people to get the shot not only to keep themselves safe, but to keep those around them safe who can’t get vaccinated on their own. 

Task force recommends bills to counter suicide in Wisconsin

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A legislative panel is out with recommendations to prevent suicide in Wisconsin.  State Representative Joan Balweg chairs the Speakers Task Force on Suicide Prevention, which held a series of public hearings around the state.

“In 2017, 918 individuals died by suicide in Wisconsin. Nearly 5,000 others made a suicide attempt. It’s clear that we must do more.”
Recommendations include a request to fund an existing text and app based, 24 hour suicide prevention hotline, and creation of a statewide suicide prevention program and additional staff within the Department of Health Services, with a director to oversee the effort.

“Our recommendations include asking the Joint Finance Committee to release dollars reserved for a text-based suicide prevention hotline, to the Department of Health Services,” Ballweg said. That would be $110,000 annually to support the Crisis Text Line, which is 741741. The state does not currently provide such funding.

State Representative Steve Doyle, the task force vice-chair, said even more needs to be considered. “One of the things that I’d like to see us look at is having 24/7 state-based helplines, hope lines, so that we have people in Wisconsin talking to people who are considering suicide in Wisconsin.”

If you or someone you know is struggling, call the Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1.800.273.8255 or text “HOPELINE” to 741741.

Bipartisan medical marijuana bill faces stiff opposition in state legislature

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A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants to enact medical marijuana legislation, despite opposition from legislative leaders.

Democrat Senator John Erpenbach and Representative Chris Taylor, and Republican Senator Pat Testin are seeking to create a pathway for doctors to be able to prescribe marijuana to patients. 

Testin says it’s a personal issue for him, after his grandfather used cannabis to treat his cancer symptoms. “I saw him make the decision to go outside the law to seek treatment with medical marijuana. It restored his appetite, and I believe it added months to his life. I am grateful for all the time that I had with him.” 

“Each time we introduce this bill, more and more people around Wisconsin find that someone they know has turned to cannabis as a life-altering medical treatment,” said Senator Erpenbach. “The public support is there, we have a Governor who supports it, the time for medical cannabis is now.”

The bill will face stiff competition in the Senate, however. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald has been a staunch opponent to any form of marijuana legalization. “Everyone knows that medical marijuana leads to legalized marijuana,” he said in a statement to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 

“I don’t support this plan and I think that it’s going to be a tough sell to a majority of my caucus.”

 

Hospitals oppose AARP caregiver legislation

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Wisconsin hospitals say proposed legislation would saddle them with more regulations related to discharge planning. The Care Act would require that hospitals provide instructions to caregivers upon the discharge of their family members. Helen Marks Dicks is with AARP Wisconsin.

“This bill has passed in 40 other states, and so it is not a radical idea. And it is something that is being implemented across the country,” she said during a Capitol press conference on Tuesday. AARP cited a survey that indicates one-third of Wisconsin caregivers don’t feel they have received adequate post-discharge care information.

Beth Dibbert is Chief Quality Officer for the Wisconsin Hospitals Association. This is a boiler plate piece of legislation, that really fulfills AARP’s national agenda, of getting this passed in all states,” she said.

Dibbert said hospitals here are already doing a good job for their discharged patients and caregivers, citing information from the  Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which found Wisconsin ranks second in the nation in patient satisfaction rates regarding post-discharge care and information.

 

AG Josh Kaul not satisfied with Purdue Pharma settlement

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Wisconsin is not part of a tentative settlement between Purdue Pharma and 22 states that sued the company over its role in the opioid crisis. The Washington Post reports that an executive committee of attorneys representing cities, counties and other groups in a federal lawsuit is recommending the deal be accepted.

But some state attorneys general, who sued Purdue and its owners, the Sackler family are not on board. That includes Wisconsin’s Josh Kaul, who releasded the following:

“The Sackler family has made billions of dollars from the sale of opioids. Wisconsin has alleged that two Purdue Pharma entities and Richard Sackler contributed to the opioid epidemic through unlawful conduct. We’re committed to getting justice and, in my view, Purdue’s current position doesn’t achieve that.”

The co-chairs of the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee, Representative John Nygren and Senator Alberta Darling, also released a statement:

“Through media reports, the attorney general stated Wisconsin is not one of the states agreeing to settle the Purdue Pharma case at this time.

We hope those reporters have signed non-disclosure agreements, because they are getting ‘confidential’ information from the attorney general that he refused to share with members of the Joint Committee on Finance.

It’s clear the attorney general did not need signed secrecy agreements to share case information. Now we know there wasn’t an ’emergency’ settlement to present to the committee two weeks ago. The attorney general should stop playing games, follow the law, and work with the Joint Committee on Finance.”

Kaul and the JFC co-chairs are currently involved in a dispute over lawsuit settlements. A law passed during last December’s lame-duck session requires the AG to get the approval for settlements from the Joint Finance Committee – but there is no process in place determining how that would work.

The Post reports that under terms of a plan negotiated for months, the Sacklers would relinquish control of Stamford, Conn.-based Purdue Pharma. The company would declare bankruptcy and be resurrected as a trust whose main purpose would be to combat the opioid epidemic.

State’s first 2019 human case of West Nile Virus confirmed

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The year’s first confirmed human case of West Nile Virus in Wisconsin has been reported. That case is reported in Northeastern Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services is advising residents to continue to protect themselves against mosquito bites. West Nile virus is spread to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito and is not spread person to person.

Mosquitoes get the virus by feeding on infected birds. The majority of human WNV cases occur during the months of August and September. But the risk of contracting WNV and other mosquito-borne illnesses is present any time mosquitoes are active, so be vigilant throughout the rest of the summer and into early fall.

Data reveals impacts of suicide in Wisconsin

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If you or someone you know is struggling, call the Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1.800.273.8255 or text “HOPELINE” to 741741.

New data shows the impact of suicide in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services has released findings from its most recent analysis of state suicide deaths and suicide-related injury. It’s part of an effort to update Wisconsin’s suicide prevention plan and reduce the number of suicide attempts and deaths.

This analysis found:

The state’s suicide rate rose 40% between 2000 and 2017.
From 2013-2017, suicide rates in Wisconsin were highest among individuals ages 45-54.
Of all state deaths by firearm from 2013-2017, 71% were suicide deaths.
In 2017, the majority of individuals who died by suicide in Wisconsin were male.
In 2017, suicide was the second leading cause of death among adolescents in Wisconsin.

Tuesday is Suicide Prevention Day, and September is Suicide Awareness Month.

State Representative Joan Ballweg says suicide remains a difficult topic for people to grapple with. “I think one of the things that prevents people from reaching out for treatment is that there is a stigma, that there’s something wrong with you that is not going to be solved, that people are not going to be able to overcome,” said the lawmaker, who chairs the Speaker’s Task Force on Suicide Prevention.

“Encouraging people to get into treatment, whether it is a behavioral health condition, or suicidal ideation, that conversation should be normalized.”

The task force held its last hearing this week. Members expect to have recommendations ready for the legislature to consider this session.

American Lung Association sees need to increase age to buy tobacco and vaping products

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The American Lung Association is all-in, on a bill to raise the age to buy tobacco and vape products in Wisconsin. The bipartisan legislation would raise the age to 21, and the Lung Association’s Donna Wininsky said that would put it on an equal footing with alcohol. “These are both things that can alder brain chemicals and are addictive. And we would prefer to not have teenagers using them.”

Research shows that people are far less likely to start smoking once they’re 21. “It’s close to a 90 percent rate, that if someone hasn’t started using tobacco products by the time they turn 21, the chances are just very, very slim that they’re going to pick it up afterword.”

Wininsky is skeptical of claims by the vaping industry that its products are not meant for teenagers to use. “I don’t think an industry names and flavors products like ‘bubble gum’ and ‘cotton candy’ and ‘chocolate’ and all of the other flavors that both the tobacco and the vaping industries use, unless they are intentionally targeting kids.”

The legislation is being offered against the backdrop of growing public health concerns surrounding vaping, and vaping products concerning THC.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services said last week that 24 of the 27 people with confirmed lung injuries reported vaping oil with THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.

While many users get sick, dealers of THC vape cartridges get rich. Police in Milwaukee in recent months made arrests of suspected dealers selling drugs that included THC cartridges. One trio of dealers was making $800,000 to $2 million a month selling THC cartridges, according to a criminal complaint cited by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.-

Health officials warn: stop vaping THC products

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If you’re vaping products containing THC, be advised that there’s no way of knowing what’s in them. John Meiman is Chief Medical Officer with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, which is advising people to stop vaping such products.

“Because it’s not a legal product, there’s no regulation that could . . . potentially control what can be in those products. We don’t know what chemicals could be in there, we don’t know if any of them could be causing illness, and because they’re unregulated there’s no way that we can ensure that there’s safety.

More than two dozen people in Wisconsin have been hospitalized with severe chemical pneumonia, or lung inflammation. The majority of those cases have been linked to vaping products containing THC. In addition to DHS, the City of Milwaukee Health Department also issued an alert, urging residents to stop vaping. The warnings follow the nation’s first reported death attributed to vaping, reported by public health officials in Illinois.

Earlier this week, legislators in Madison introduced a bill which would increase the age to purchase e-cigarettes and tobacco products in Wisconsin to 21.

“Eighty percent of our graduating seniors turn 18 in high school. And so it’s so easy for kids to get their hands on vaping products, because they know somebody in their school who’s 18,” state Senator Howard Marklein said. “The goal of this bill to reduce the access for kids to get their hands on tobacco and vaping products.”