A group representing health care providers says Wisconsin is leading the way in increasing efficiency. Eric Borgerding, executive vice president of the Wisconsin Hospitals Association, told the Assembly Health Committee last week, federal data shows hospitals in the state cost less for Medicare patients than the national average.
He also cited a study done for the Greater Milwaukee Business Foundation on Health which shows from 2003-2010, commercial payments to hospitals increased 40 percent less in Southeast Wisconsin than the Hospital Consumer Price Index for that period.
However, some in the business community are critical of the pace of improvement in health care. Borgerding said they are “not wrong.”
Borgerding said streamlining the provider-insurer-patient relationship in Wisconsin began before passage of the federal Affordable Care Act. He said regardless of how the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the federal law, he is confident the state will continue to accelerate down the path of reform.
AUDIO: Brian Moon reports (1:09)