PARK FALLS — Gov. Tony Evers today joined Marshfield Clinic Health System leadership, members of his administration, and local leaders in Park Falls to celebrate the grand opening of the new Marshfield Medical Center-Park Falls. In 2022, the governor awarded $20 million through the Healthcare Infrastructure Capital Grant Program—a program created by Gov. Evers using federal pandemic relief funds Wisconsin received under the American Rescue Plan Act—to address the facility’s aging infrastructure, improve outdated inpatient rooms, create a dedicated urgent care space, and bring new sleep study and retail pharmacy services to the hospital. Photos of the event are available here and here.
“No matter where you live in the state of Wisconsin, having access to high-quality healthcare is a necessity, which is why I’ve been proud to support efforts to ensure folks have care closer to home and why I’m glad we were able to support the new Marshfield Medical Center in Park Falls,” said. Gov. Evers. “By investing in projects like this, we’re not only creating systems to set this region up for the next century of patient care, but we’re also creating a hub for community jobs, we’re creating a focal point to bring new residents and businesses to the area, and we’re giving those who have called this community home for years another reason to be proud of this great city. I look forward to seeing the widespread benefits of this new facility in the years to come.”
The Marshfield Medical Center-Park Falls Critical Access Hospital helps bridge an important gap in healthcare coverage in rural Wisconsin, as the next closest similar medical facility is approximately an hour away. The governor’s $20 million investment through the Healthcare Infrastructure Capital Grant Program allowed the facility to stay open and continue to serve the community and bridge this gap during renovations, while keeping jobs in the area and helping to attract and retain new medical professionals. The governor previously participated in the kickoff event for the construction of the project in 2023 and celebrated the completion of the first phase of the project in 2024.
The Healthcare Infrastructure Capital Grant Program was created by Gov. Evers to invest in capital projects that specifically support increasing access to healthcare for low-income, uninsured, and underserved communities. To date, more than $100 million in grants have been awarded to support more than two dozen healthcare infrastructure projects statewide to address healthcare access needs in communities across the state, including the project at Marshfield Medical Center-Park Falls.
Since 2019, Gov. Evers has worked to expand access to quality, affordable healthcare for all Wisconsinites, including in the state’s rural communities, which often face additional hurdles in ensuring residents have access to healthcare. Building on this work, the 2025-27 Biennial Budget signed by Gov. Evers earlier this year works to improve access to quality, affordable healthcare coverage, lower healthcare costs, and ensure Wisconsinites can get healthcare quicker and closer to home. This includes:
- Over $1.1 billion to support healthcare access, especially in rural communities;
- Continuing funding for BadgerCare;
- Over $53 million to increase Medicaid reimbursement rates for personal care, obstetrics, private duty nursing, residential opioid treatment, and home health services, and more;
- Fully funding the minimum fee schedule implemented by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services last biennium to help long-term care facilities avoid staffing cuts and closures;
- $1.5 million in increased funding over the biennium for free and charitable clinics;
- $7 million to support crisis intervention through the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline;
- $2 million to support the WisCaregiver Career Program to help address the state’s shortage of certified nursing assistants and direct care professionals; and
- $3.8 million to support Aging and Disability Resource Centers across the state, among many other critical provisions.
An online version of this release is available here.
