MADISON, WI. –The Alliance, a not-for-profit cooperative that helps employers save on healthcare, is announcing three major agreements to grow its operations.
The Alliance has signed contracts with Aspirus Health, Aurora Health Care and Froedtert Pleasant Prairie Hospital to expand the reach of The Alliance network of healthcare providers in eastern Wisconsin, northern Wisconsin, northern Minnesota, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and northern Illinois.
The agreements allow The Alliance’s employer-members to incorporate numerous new hospitals, clinics, and doctors and practitioners into their employee health plans. It will also allow The Alliance to better serve employers who have a workforce distributed in various locations across the region.
“We’re growing our network to meet our current member needs and to accommodate future market demand,” said Curt Kubiak, President & CEO of The Alliance. “There’s a need in the marketplace for our services as more employers become interested in self-funding their employee health benefits as an alternative to high annual premium increases.”
Over the past few years, The Alliance membership has nearly doubled, with more than 500 employer-members now part of the cooperative. The Alliance has seen growth among a wide variety of employer types, from school districts to manufacturers.
The new agreements will enable more growth, according to The Alliance leaders.
“We just made self-funding more accessible for employers in Wisconsin and surrounding areas,” said Deb Kunferman, Vice President of Provider Contracting & Relations at The Alliance. “Our network of more than 36,000 providers now offers even more choice and accessibility across a larger geographic area.”
Aspirus Health
Aspirus Health is a nonprofit, community-directed health system serving northeastern Minnesota, northern and central Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The health system operates 18 hospitals and 130 outpatient locations with nearly 14,000 team members, including 1,300 employed physicians and advanced practice clinicians.
While many of Aspirus Health’s providers were already in The Alliance network, a new agreement brings the entirety of the system in network, including:
- Aspirus St. Luke’s Hospital in Duluth, Minn.
- Aspirus St. Luke’s Ashland Clinic in Ashland, Wis.
- Aspirus St. Luke’s Superior Surgery Center, Superior, Wis.
- Aspirus Lake View Hospital in Two Harbors, Minn.
- Northern Lakes Surgery Center in Moose Lake, Minn.
Aurora Health Care
Aurora Health Care is the largest health system in Wisconsin and a national leader in clinical innovation, health outcomes, consumer experience, and value-based care. As the state’s largest private employer, the system serves patients across 18 hospitals, more than 70 pharmacies and more than 150 sites of care.
Aurora Health Care, in addition to Advocate Health Care in Illinois and Atrium Health in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Alabama, is part of Advocate Health, the third-largest nonprofit health system in the United States. Committed to redefining care for all, Advocate Health provides more than $6 billion in annual community benefits.
Froedtert Pleasant Prairie Hospital
Froedtert Pleasant Prairie Hospital provides trusted, high-quality healthcare for families across southeastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. With hospitals, clinics, and specialty centers in Kenosha, Pleasant Prairie, and surrounding communities, Froedtert Pleasant Prairie Hospital delivers advanced care close to home.
Currently, the medical staff includes 506 providers, with 361 physicians, who work together to offer comprehensive, patient-centered care.
Services include emergency care, primary care, orthopedics, cancer treatment, heart and vascular care, women’s health, and advanced surgical procedures. Froedtert Pleasant Prairie Hospital is also committed to improving the health and well-being of the region through community outreach, preventive care, and innovative programs.
About The Alliance
The Alliance serves as the voice for self-funded employers who want more control over their healthcare costs. Using Smarter Networks and sophisticated data mining and analysis, they provide transparent, creative approaches to network and benefit plan design to unlock savings where others can’t – or won’t. The Alliance remains a trusted, objective partner for its 500+ employers and their brokers, who seek improved access to high-quality healthcare by contracting with a network of healthcare providers across the Midwest.
