TUE AM News: UW think tank finds in-state hospital prices ‘substantially higher’ than in Illinois; Milwaukee VA Medical Center third in U.S. to be certified as Primary Stroke Center

August 18, 2026

— Prices across dozens of hospitals in Wisconsin were “consistently and substantially higher” than prices for the same services in Illinois, a report from a UW-Madison think tank found.

The Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy recently issued a report comparing prices between 70 hospitals in Illinois and 60 in Wisconsin based on commercial negotiated-rate data.

It covers dozens of health systems, assessing “high-spend” inpatient services for UnitedHealthcare and the “Blue plan,” Anthem Blue Cross in Wisconsin.

Authors found hospital prices in Wisconsin are about 26% higher than in Illinois, noting the finding “holds under multiple analytic approaches.” This suggests the difference isn’t driven by differences in the mix of patients, services or insurers, or by hospital type, the report found.

“Within the Advocate Health system, which operates on both sides of the border under common ownership, Wisconsin hospitals are still paid about 23 percent more than their Illinois counterparts,” authors wrote. “And the premium is strikingly uniform across the Blue plan and UnitedHealthcare, which independently land within half a percentage point of each other for inpatient care.”

Meanwhile, the Wisconsin Hospital Association is criticizing the report, noting the lack of citations and data to back up findings “makes it impossible to verify” the authors’ claims.

“A study that ignores entire groups of hospitals, does not identify the hospitals included in its sample, disregards entire categories of procedures, and compares prices using only two group health plans that have a combined 90.1% market share in Illinois compared to 22.6% in Wisconsin has obvious flaws,” the group said in an emailed statement.

The report points to structural differences as an explanation for the trend authors found, including provider market concentration, system-level consolidation and the “strategic positioning” of major health systems in the state. It points to the widespread use of “percent-of-change” contracting in Wisconsin as particularly important.

Under this model, a hospital is paid a fixed share of its billed charges, rather than a pre-set dollar amount. This results in the effective price being linked to a price database that “the hospital sets unilaterally and can raise over time,” authors wrote.

It’s much more widely used in Wisconsin than in Illinois, per the report.

“The concentration of such contracts in Wisconsin is consistent with the strong provider bargaining position that a consolidated hospital market confers; and because these contracts give hospitals a standing mechanism to raise realized prices, they may help entrench the very premium this report documents,” authors wrote.

The report was authored by Prof. Anthony T. Lo Sasso, a member of UW-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs, and Ike Brannon, president of the consulting firm Capital Policy Analytics.

See the report.

— The Milwaukee VA Medical Center has become the third VA center in the country to be certified as a Primary Stroke Center, officials announced.

Following the certification from the Joint Commission accrediting body, veterans can now receive stroke care at the Milwaukee VA Medical Center when calling for an ambulance, according to yesterday’s announcement.

“We’re thrilled to continue to deliver world-class industry-leading health care to our Veterans who can now get emergency care here when experiencing stroke symptoms,’ said Patrycja Kriesel, the center’s stroke and chest pain coordinator.

Along with its medical center in Milwaukee, the health system has community-based outpatient clinics in Appleton, Green Bay, Cleveland, Oconomowoc and Union Grove.

See the release.

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.

Sign up here.

— Three health centers in Wisconsin are getting federal support as part of a $102 million round of funding aimed at expanding primary care services.

The Wisconsin Primary Health Care Association yesterday touted the New Access Point funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration, going to 158 new and existing centers around the country.

That includes three Federally Qualified Health Centers in the state: Rock River Community Clinic in Johnson Creek; Muslim Community & Health Center in Milwaukee; and Kenosha Community Health Center.

Individual funding awards were not disclosed in the HRSA announcement.

See the release.

— Oracle has moved to dismiss its lawsuit against the Public Service Commission over the estimated $7 billion in collateral it will be required to post to power the Port Washington data center.

The lawsuit is being dismissed without opposition, according to a filing the tech giant submitted yesterday. It did not respond to a request for comment.

Oracle in June sued Wisconsin’s utility regulator in a bid to loosen financial security requirements that would require Oracle and other data center developers to post collateral equivalent to the lifetime value of “bespoke” power plants built to serve the energy-guzzling facilities.

Commissioners created that standard in an April decision that set the terms by which We Energies, the state’s largest utility, would bill data center customers for power.

Oracle has said in court and regulatory filings that maintaining the lines of credit necessary to meet its collateral requirements will cost the tech company over $100 million a year in bank fees.

PSC spokesperson Meghan Sovey-Lashua wrote in an email that the PSC was “pleased” with Oracle’s request to dismiss and that it stood behind the terms commissioners set in their April decision.

Developers that met liquidity and tangible asset requirements and that posted an A- credit rating – like Microsoft, which is building a data center in Mount Pleasant – can offer a financial guarantee without having to post the cash.

Oracle wanted to see that credit rating lowered as well as a provision proposed by We Energies in its initial application that would have allowed the utility to exempt some developers from the liquidity and asset requirements.

The Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin, which had advocated for hardline financial security requirements – including requiring all data center customers, regardless of creditworthiness, to post collateral for new generation – celebrated the move to dismiss the lawsuit.

“This was no technicality. This was no unintended consequence,” CUB Executive Director Tom Content said in a statement. “This was a key plank among the changes the CUB team sought to revamp the WEC data center pricing plan, in order to protect the We Energies customers we represent.”

Even if the tech giant had prevailed, Oracle still likely would have been on the hook for the collateral.

S&P Global, one of the nation’s “big three” credit rating agencies, in July downgraded Oracle’s credit rating to BBB-, the lowest investment-grade rating and below the credit requirements the tech company advocated in its lawsuit.

Scott Lauber, CEO of We Energies’ parent WEC Energy Group, said on an earnings call late last month that he did not expect the lawsuit to change Oracle’s financial obligations.

— Universities of Wisconsin leaders have proposed seeking an additional $730 million in aid over the next two years with an offer to freeze tuition over that period — if the state comes up with the money to cover the lost revenue.

UW Board of Regents President Kyle Weatherly and interim system President Renee Wachter said if state lawmakers take them up on the offer for $190 million to fund the freeze, the system would also keep tuition increases at or under the rate of inflation for the 2029-31 biennium.

“That means four years of predictable tuition with costs that remain well below inflation,” UW Regents President Kyle Weatherly said in a press call yesterday, adding that the proposal would keep UW as the “Midwest leader in tuition affordability.”

Regents will vote on their budget proposal for the 2027-2029 biennium this week.

The proposed request comes after UW two years ago sought an $856.7 million bump in state aid, which amounted to an increase of 31.8%. The budget Gov. Tony Evers signed in July 2025 included a hike of $239 million, the largest increase the system had seen in the previous two decades.

Along with the regents signing off on the proposal, the next governor will decide how much funding to propose for the system in the 2027-29 budget sent to the Legislature early next year.

The GOP co-chairs of the Joint Finance Committee and the chairs of the Legislature’s higher education committees didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

— Gubernatorial candidates David Crowley and Tom Tiffany and their surrogates have been trading barbs over data centers in the run-up to the election.

Neither has called for a moratorium on data centers, unlike Crowley’s former rival for the Dem nomination, Francesca Hong.

On Friday, Tiffany circulated on social media a clip of Crowley saying a forum that he believed there’s an opportunity for Wisconsin to “really become AI and a data hub not only for the entire country, but for the entire globe.” Tiffany also began labeling his new rival “Data Center David.”

Crowley then issued a statement Friday afternoon that he supported requiring local sign-off for proposed data centers. If approved, they would face a series of requirements, such as providing 100% renewable energy, covering all the costs of infrastructure and grid upgrades, and requiring union labor, project labor agreements and community benefit agreements on any project.

Tiffany knocked Crowley for not including a repeal of the state’s sales tax exemption for data centers; the GOP nominee has pledged to end the exemption. He also circulated other video of Crowley talking about data centers.

Crowley’s campaign, meanwhile, dinged Tiffany for supporting the SPEED Act, which would streamline environmental reviews and speed permitting for data centers and large infrastructure projects. It also reposted the image of a headline in the Milwaukee Courier detailing a donation Tiffany received from a data center lobbyist.

When Tiffany’s campaign knocked Crowley for taking about $350,000 in donations from “the groups building data centers in Wisconsin,” Crowley’s campaign fired back, “Yeah, they’re called unions.”

Meanwhile, Tiffany has launched a new ad dubbing his Dem gubernatorial rival “data center David Crowley,” claiming lakes will run dry and family farms will be paved over because the Milwaukee County exec won’t roll back tax breaks for the projects.

Stoughton project aims to preserve hemp as part of Hmong traditions

Tuition freeze, research, AI funding define UWs $730M budget request

TOPICS

AGRIBUSINESS

– Farm fatalities remain a concern across Wisconsin

EDUCATION

– UW System will freeze tuition for 2 years if state invests $190M

– UW system requests $730 million to fund tuition freeze, AI infrastructure

– We Energies, Milwaukee schools partnership opens career doors for high school students

FOOD & BEVERAGE

– Lake Geneva restaurant and bakery business plans $10M-$15M culinary campus

– Mashtun Brewing plans fish-and-chips shop, taproom in downtown Lake Geneva