TUE AM News: Wisconsin hospitals making progress in reducing infection rates, WHA report shows; Officials tout new federal rules aimed at improving mental health care access

September 10, 2024

— Wisconsin hospitals made progress last year in reducing rates of various infections, including lowering the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infections by 26.7%.

That’s according to the Wisconsin Hospital Association’s Wisconsin Health Care Quality Report, which details efforts to improve the quality of care delivered by health care providers in the state along with resulting impacts.

In a message in the report, WHA President and CEO Eric Borgerding said Wisconsin health care providers “made significant strides” in 2023 toward that goal, as well as improving patient safety, addressing workforce challenges, supporting rural health care and fighting the opioid epidemic.

He touts hospitals’ quality initiatives and staff training programs, arguing they have led to major reductions in hospital-acquired infections including MRSA and others.

“Wisconsin’s culture of transparency and accountability has empowered health care teams to proactively identify and mitigate potential risks, creating a safer environment for all patients,” Borgerding said.

Hospitals in the state last year reduced rates of central line-associated bloodstream infections by 6.8%, surgical site infections from abdominal hysterectomies by 1.8%, clostridioides difficile bacterial infections by 16.9%, and methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus infections, or MRSA, by 13%, the report shows.

Along with these infection rate reductions, hospitals also reduced the rate of gastrointestinal hemorrhage by 21.5% and the rate of acute stroke by 39.7%, which WHA touts as “remarkable.”

Meanwhile, all-cause unplanned readmissions were reduced by 4.8%, helping to address a significant source of higher health care costs.

The report highlights results of the federal Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, which reduces Medicare payments to hospitals with excess readmissions. Payments can be reduced by up to 3% based on how hospitals perform based on a set of specific measures, focused on conditions such as heart failure, pneumonia, knee or hip replacements and more.

Twenty Wisconsin hospitals will get no penalty in 2024 from this program — equal to 31% of eligible hospitals, compared to 27% last year, the report shows. For fiscal years 2023 and 2024, the state is ranked No. 15 nationally for the lowest dollar amount of penalties under this program.

WHA also points to federal measures of patient safety outcomes in the state, noting the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Star Program gave 26.9% of Wisconsin hospitals a five-star rating, almost twice as high as the national rate of 13.4%.

See the report.

— During a stop in Milwaukee, federal officials touted new rules aimed at making it easier for people to access mental health benefits and substance abuse care.

The U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury yesterday released final rules under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, which added requirements meant to ensure certain group health plans and insurers cover mental health or substance abuse benefits “in parity” with medical and surgical benefits.

But these federal agencies have found many people “still encounter barriers” to accessing mental health and substance abuse care compared to traditional medical and surgical care, according to information from the DOL.

The new rules bar “more restrictive, nonquantitative treatment limitations” for these forms of care, which cover limits on the scope or duration of benefits such as requiring prior authorization, network participation standards for providers and “step therapy.” The last of these limitations require patients to try lower-cost treatments before moving to more expensive ones.

They also bar plans and insurers from using “discriminatory” resources or standards meant to “disfavor access” to these benefits compared to medical and surgical benefits, among other changes, according to a fact sheet on the rules.

“Like medical care, mental health care is vital to the well-being of America’s workers,” Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su said in a statement. “The final rules issued today make it easier for people living with mental health conditions and substance use disorders to get the life-saving care they often need.”

For more of the most relevant health care news, reports on groundbreaking research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics and WisBusiness.com.

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— A new renewable energy effort led by Dairyland Power Cooperative is projected to reduce pollution by 90 million tons of carbon over nearly 30 years, equal to taking 729,000 gas-powered cars off the road every year.

The La Crosse-based co-op was chosen by the USDA for nearly $579 million in grant and loan funding through the Empowering Rural America, or New ERA program. During a visit to Westby, Wis. last week, President Joe Biden touted the project, which is putting $7.3 billion into rural renewable energy projects across the country.

UW-Madison’s College of Engineering, which is working with Dairyland on the project, yesterday rolled out figures showing the award will reduce carbon emissions by 3.3 million tons per year over the course of the project. Dairyland will use the federal dollars to obtain more than 1,000 megawatts of renewable energy through four solar projects and four wind farms across Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois.

Dairyland Power Cooperative estimates that electric rates for members will be 42% lower over 10 years than they would have been without the New ERA funding. “The reality is the savings to our members will be more than $130 million,” said Brent Ridge, president and CEO of Dairyland.

The co-op plans to leverage the New ERA funding for a $2.1 billion overall project investment, according to the university’s release. The college’s Clean Energy Community Initiative led the community benefits planning process for Dairyland’s proposal and will help the co-op create a farmer benefit plan and union engagement plan, the release shows.

“Making such investments sustainable and creating the maximum set of community benefits around them is an excellent way for engineers and innovators to serve the Wisconsin Idea,” said Oliver Schmitz, director of the university’s Grainger Institute for Engineering.

See the release and coverage of Biden’s stop in Wisconsin.

— Invasive species are much more widespread in Wisconsin lakes than previously thought, a new UW-Madison study shows.

Using data from more than 40 years of research, researchers found 39% of lakes in the state contain one or more of six target invasive species — well above previous estimates of about 8%. These species include: an aquatic plant called the Eurasian watermilfoil, zebra mussels, spiny water fleas, rusty crayfish, Chinese mystery snail and the banded mystery snail. 

Animals and plants like these can be introduced into lakes in a number of ways, including in the ballast water of ships, on the surface of boats and trailers and through other human transportation.

The study, from authors in the university’s Center for Limnology, was published recently in the journal BioScience. Lead author Jake Vander Zanden, the center’s director, says human activity and climate change “could soon be triggering more population shifts” in Wisconsin lakes due to the presence of species like these.

Some invasive animals were also found to have been in Wisconsin longer than previously known.

Still, the study also found some invasive species aren’t “necessarily detrimental” to the new habitats. And authors noted the “impacts of invasive species control may be greater than the impacts of the invasive species” in some scenarios. But that’s not always the case, Vander Zanden says.

“There are many examples where an invasive species has remarkable ecosystem impacts,” he said in a release from the university. “They can result in fisheries decline, water quality decrease and more, which negatively impacts humans and the environment.”

See the release.

— Gov. Tony Evers has announced recipients for Urban Forestry Grant funding, supporting efforts to create more urban green space.

Grants range from just over $30,000 to nearly $500,000, going toward removing hazardous trees and planting new ones, urban forestry workforce development, local outreach and more. Funding for the grants comes from the Inflation Reduction Act, according to the release.

Evers says the grant funds will help “build a stronger, more resilient” forestry industry while protecting the environment.

“Wisconsin’s forests are a critical resource for our state, promoting clean air, preserving natural habitats, and bolstering our statewide economy,” he said in a statement.

See the release.

— Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman says he’ll spend the following months “making his case” to lawmakers for an additional $855 million in state funding as part of the next state budget.

“We’ve been talking about Wisconsin being 43rd out of 50 states in terms of public support for its university system since I started in my role,” Rothman told WISN’s “UpFront,” produced in partnership with WisPolitics. “So this is not a new conversation.

“It goes to things that are really important, that goes to ensuring affordability with a tuition promise, that goes to accessibility,” Rothman added. “It goes to areas around student success, investing in academic advising, career advising and mental health. It goes to ensuring quality, paying our faculty and staff at market levels.”

Rothman said if the $855 million is approved, he would not propose a tuition increase during the next two-year biennium.

“We have increasingly become more tuition dependent,” Rothman said. “Tuition now comprises a larger percentage of our budget than does our state support. That never was the case. I think we’ll have to see how this plays out. I don’t want to have to go back and raise tuition. I think we want to make sure that we are as affordable as we can be.”

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