From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— The Wisconsin Hospital Association is touting the latest quality ratings from CMS, which placed 65% of hospitals in the state at four or five stars, above the national average of 42%.
WHA today issued a release spotlighting the ratings from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which cover 45 measures across various categories including mortality, safety, readmissions, patient experience and “timely and effective” care.
A total of 86 hospitals in the state got a CMS star rating this year, which WHA says is the most ever included and 19 more than last year.
At the same time, Wisconsin’s 65% four- or five-star rating share is the fourth-highest of any state, and the highest among states with 50 or more hospitals, according to the release.
Kyle O’Brien, president and CEO of WHA, says high-quality healthcare is a “critical community asset” for the state economy and employers, as well as families living in Wisconsin.
“These results reflect the dedication of hospital teams who are focused every day on improving outcomes, strengthening patient experience and serving as trusted anchors in their communities,” he said in a statement on the ratings.
See the release below.
— UW Health today began offering proton therapy for cancer patients at Eastpark Medical Center in Madison, starting with adults participating in a clinical trial.
Dr. Ben Durkee, radiation oncologist and medical director of the Proton Therapy Program at the Carbone Cancer Center, says the technology “allows us to personalize radiation treatment with remarkable precision,” resulting in less damage to the surrounding healthy tissue.
“Less radiation to normal tissue can mean fewer side effects,” he said in the release, touting the method’s “remarkable precision.”
Proton therapy targets tumors with radiation using charged particles. This method can be particularly beneficial for patients with tumors near the eyes, brainstem or other sensitive areas, as well as others who’ve previously been treated with radiation, according to today’s announcement.
See more in the release below.
— An engineer with Marquette University is getting a $600,000 federal grant for research into “hyperspectral” imaging, which has applications in healthcare and other fields.
Prof. Majeed Hayat is the chair of the university’s Opus College of Engineering and the principal investigator for the grant from the National Science Foundation’s Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems.
The university yesterday announced Hayat’s project aimed at improving sensing and processing for this advanced imaging technique, which involves capturing information across each wavelength for every pixel within an image. Because this creates such “massive” data files, the field faces issues with delays in transmitting the information it produces.
To improve on this process, Hayat’s team plans to create a technical solution that will capture “only the wavelengths necessary for the task at hand,” according to details from the university. Their approach will be able to analyze the image at its source and could cut down the need for storing and sending large files.
Hayat says this could “significantly” reduce communication burden and power consumption while boosting speed, performance and even privacy for transmitted information.
“Our goal is to meet the need and interest for novel software-hardware co-design approaches which sense only the spectral bands that are relevant to a given application and perform most of the sensor data processing and analysis as close as possible to the sensor array,” he said in the release.
See the release below.
— 3rd CD Dem Rebecca Cooke is up with a new ad that advocates for healthcare reform.
The spot follows Cooke’s first ad of the race that began running two weeks ago to spotlight her background growing up on a dairy farm. Cooke’s campaign said it is spending six-figures on TV and digital ad buys. Both ads are now on air in the La Crosse and Eau Claire media markets.
AdImpact has tracked nearly $1.2 million in spending by Cooke’s campaign between June 1 and the Aug. 11 primary.
The new 30-second spot begins with Cooke and a man identified as Tim from Eau Claire talking at a picnic table.
Tim says that 3rd CD GOP U.S. Rep Derrick Van Orden and Donald Trump are making healthcare both “less accessible and more expensive.”
“We’ve got to change our healthcare system, not just Medicare expansion but creating a public option so that more people can get access to care,” Cooke responds.
Tim then tells Cooke, “You’re somebody that truly understands; I consider you one of us.”
The ad ends with Cooke and Tim walking down a trail with a dog.
Cooke has already announced a $3 million ad buy that will run from August to November, even though she still faces former Eau Claire City Council President Emily Berge in the Aug. 11 Dem primary.
The winner will face Van Orden, the Prairie du Chien Republican who beat Cooke by 2.7 percentage points in 2024 as he won a second term.
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