Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality: Eleven New Healthcare Providers Join Collaborative Group Doubles in Size, Will Provide Comparative Data

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For further information please contact:
Katie Ostrander, (414) 270-3000, ext. 231

MILWAUKEE (June 22, 2004) – Eleven new healthcare providers from across
the state have joined the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality,
helping the organization provide businesses and consumers in the state with
comparative healthcare quality and cost data.

The new Collaborative members are: Advanced Healthcare, Milwaukee;
Affinity Medical Group, Fox Valley-Oshkosh; Columbia St. Mary’s, Milwaukee;
Community Memorial Hospital, Menomonee Falls; Luther Midelfort-Mayo Health
System, Eau Claire; Medical Associates, Menomonee Falls; Meriter Hospital
and Physicians Plus Insurance Corporation, Madison; Sacred Heart Hospital,
Eau Claire; University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, Madison; University of
Wisconsin Medical Foundation, Madison; and Wausau Hospital, Wausau.

“The Collaborative is about building trust between providers, purchasers and
consumers of healthcare,” said John Toussaint, MD, chairman of the
Collaborative and president/CEO of Appleton-based ThedaCare. “Even though
we compete in the marketplace, we also can all work together through the
Collaborative to improve the quality of healthcare in the state.”

“The expansion of the Collaborative will increase its value because it means
that more hospitals, physician groups and health plans will be reporting their
comparative quality and cost data. The availability of credible, comparative
data will enable employers to begin to change the way they purchase
healthcare and reward those providers with the best outcomes and most
rational costs,” said Christopher Queram, member of the Collaborative’s Board
of Directors and CEO of the Alliance.

In 2003, the Collaborative published its inaugural the Performance & Progress
Report, which includes quality and cost data for 42 initial measures. The
measures are based on the Institute of Medicine’s Six Aims for Improvement,
including Timeliness, Efficiency, Patient-Centeredness, Effectiveness, Safety
and Equity.

The Collaborative’s Performance & Progress Report is the first:

* Developed in collaboration with healthcare providers, purchasers and
consumers;
* Created with measures that span the continuum of care, including the
doctor’s office, hospital setting and pharmacy counter; and,
* Based on data audited and verified by an independent third party.

New Collaborative members are in the process of submitting their data for
validation by MetaStar, the Collaborative’s independent auditor. Data from
the new Collaborative members will be available when the next full
Performance & Progress Report is published in early 2005. The current
Performance & Progress Report is available online at
http://www.wiqualitycollaborative.org.

The new members will work with the founding members, employers and
consumers to develop and refine additional healthcare quality and cost
measures and share best practices. Each provider member also has a
representative on the Collaborative’s Board of Directors.

“Joining the Collaborative is a natural extension of our commitment to
providing the best possible care to our patients and our community,” said
Clyde Chumbley, MD, President and CEO, Medical Associates.

“We applaud the efforts of these providers to develop and share useful,
comparative healthcare data,” said Geoffrey Schick, regional manager for
healthcare for automaker DaimlerChrysler Corp.’s Southeastern Wisconsin
operations. “Broad participation from healthcare organizations is vital to
developing a purchasing model based on value. We strongly encourage all
other Wisconsin healthcare providers to join the Collaborative.”

Other healthcare providers that wish to join the Collaborative can visit the
organization’s Web site for more detailed information on measures, the
reporting process, timetables and costs.

The Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality is a group of multi-
specialty physician groups, hospitals, health plans, employers and labor
organizations from geographically diverse areas of the state that have come
together to develop and share best practices and quality outcomes. The
Collaborative was founded in 2003 on the principle that by focusing on
improving quality, better care for patients and more rational costs will result.

Founding healthcare providers of the Collaborative include: Bellin Health,
Green Bay; Dean Health System, Madison; Froedtert Hospital, Milwaukee,
Gundersen Lutheran, LaCrosse; Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield; the Medical
College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; St. Marys Hospital Medical Center, Madison;
Saint Joseph’s Hospital, Marshfield; and ThedaCare, Appleton.

Business partners include The Alliance, Appleton Ideas, Badger Meter,
DaimlerChrysler Corp., Schneider National, Sentry Insurance, Serigraph, Inc.,
The Trane Company, United Auto Workers and Wisconsin Manufacturers and
Commerce.