FRI AM News: WisBusiness: the Podcast with Beverly Anderson, Ebenezer Child Care Centers; Panelists underline economic importance of health research amid NIH cuts

June 6, 2025

— This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Beverly Anderson, executive director of Ebenezer Child Care Centers.

This not-for-profit child care agency has existed since 1968. It recently acquired another child care provider called Mary Linsmeier Schools, bringing it to seven total sites with another planned to open this summer.

Anderson discusses her recent testimony before the state Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee, urging support for the state’s Child Care Counts program that was created near the start of the pandemic.

“We were deemed a necessity for the state, obviously for parents to be able to go to work, to have a place to take their children,” she said. “At the beginning of COVID, we had to cut back on enrollment, we weren’t allowed to enroll at full capacity. So obviously that would affect a program financially.”

The Child Care Counts program was meant to “supplement and support” programs like Ebenezer, and Anderson said it has greatly helped over the last several years, despite funding reductions that have occurred over time.

Now, as the program is set to expire this month, advocates for the program say child care providers face a major funding challenge if it’s not extended or funding isn’t directed to the industry through another avenue.

“We are continuing to fight the fight and get to our legislators, let them realize — hopefully get them to realize — what impact this will have on our field,” Anderson said. “There will no doubtedly be programs, smaller programs perhaps, that close. There will be some that will have to do very significant tuition increases, which parents can’t afford.”

As a result, employers will be affected as well, she argues. Some of their workers may leave the workforce due to not having child care anymore or not having affordable options, according to Anderson.

“We’re a stronger agency, we’re a larger agency, so financially we do feel we’ll be okay. We may have to do some hefty tuition increases, which again, we don’t want to do,” she said. “But there just may not be an option. But we will remain open, there’s no doubt on that, but I also know there’s programs that won’t be able to.”

Listen to the podcast and see the full list of WisBusiness.com podcasts.

— Panelists at a Wisconsin Technology Council conference emphasized the economic importance of health research, as related federal funding is under threat by the Trump administration.

Speakers yesterday addressed reductions in federal support for “indirect costs” associated with conducting health-related scientific research during the second day of the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs Conference in Madison.

Jenni Le, principal for Venture Investors Health Fund in Madison, said these cuts to National Institutes of Health funding jeopardize a substantial economic engine for the U.S. economy.

“If you cut NIH funding and you get fewer licensing opportunities coming out of universities, and you have fewer startups, I think that’s kind of the natural progression of what could happen,” she said.

Just last year, the U.S. had 450 medical technology investment deals, she noted.

“There are only 420 medtech investors, so that’s not a whole lot of deals per investor, and you know, from VI’s perspective, it seems like every year there are fewer and fewer investors willing to take the early risk in health care and life sciences,” she said. “Because it’s risky, it’s long, there’s a lot of regulatory risk involved.”

That trend, along with fewer startups spinning off from NIH-backed academic research, could result in an “exceptionally higher” bar for companies in this field to obtain venture capital financing, she said.

Abingdon Health USA Director Max Duckworth said NIH funding cuts also threaten the drug development pipeline. He noted fewer than 25% of drugs brought to market by pharmaceutical companies were developed in-house.

“If we’re really relying that much on external basic research, you know, for a new biomarker, for a biological target of interest, if we’re really relying that much on that as the genesis of drugs that down the road will make it to market, then we have a problem,” he said.

Tom Still, president of the Tech Council, yesterday noted other countries are now “successfully pirating” American researchers who feel they can’t continue their work in the United States. He raised the issue of “losing some of that intellectual muscle” as a result of the cuts.

Meanwhile, Dennis Winters, chief economist for the state Department of Workforce Development, said federal policies are putting a damper on economic activity across the board.

“They’re stifling hiring, they’re stifling firing … you know, investment, capital raising, because nobody knows what the tax regime’s going to be, what the import tariff regime’s going to be, what the regulatory regime’s going to be, across just about every product,” he said.

Winters said the drastic cuts to NIH funding are akin to having a driver with no car.

“We’ve got the research, we’ve got the fuel, but we can’t take it anywhere if we don’t have the vehicle,” he said yesterday.

He also called the administration’s tariffs “a hindrance” that will ultimately result in higher costs for U.S. consumers. And Duckworth said the tariffs in addition to the research impacts represent “a double whammy” for the life sciences industry.

Le also underlined the ripple effects of basic science in the Madison area, noting diagnostics company Exact Sciences has roots in the research process.

“I mean gosh, what would Madison look like today if we didn’t have Exact Sciences?” she said.

— The winner of the 22nd annual Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest, a Neenah-based company called Phoenix-Aid, plans to begin human trials this year for its chronic wound dressing product.

The company’s founder, Ashwinraj Karthikeyan, accepted the grand prize award yesterday during the Tech Council’s Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference in Madison. The startup company beat out 12 other finalists for the top spot in this year’s contest.

Its dressing product is meant to serve underserved markets, offering an advanced “nano-composite” material for dressing chronic wounds such as diabetic foot ulcers. The company boasts fewer complications and lower costs than the current standard of care.

A U.S. animal study is currently underway and human trials are slated to begin in India before year’s end, Karthikeyan said yesterday. In brief remarks following the award announcement, he touted Wisconsin as a “great place” to continue growing the business.

“There’s a lot of manufacturing, a lot of support for life sciences … that’s where we’re going to stay,” he said.

See more on the contest, including category winners announced yesterday, in the Tech Council’s release.

— Wisconsin Republicans have announced a bill to increase requirements for hospital price transparency.

The Wisconsin Hospital Association preceded yesterday’s announcement with a release citing a report indicating Wisconsin has the best price transparency ranking in the nation.

Bill co-author and Senate President Mary Felzkowski, R-Tomahawk, said at a Capitol news conference it is currently very difficult to find health care costs, and no one should have to pay for something before knowing the cost.

“It’s not erroneous, it’s not a burden, it’s just a refusal to do so,” Felzkowski said regarding hospitals sharing prices in an accessible manner.

The bill would enforce a 2019 President Donald Trump executive order requiring all prices in a machine-readable format and a listing of the 300 most shoppable services on the front page of the website. Shoppable services include non-emergency room services like a colonoscopy or mammogram that patients schedule in advance.

Felzkowski claimed only 30% of hospitals in Wisconsin currently comply with the order and that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is not enforcing the order, so the state should take it into its own hands.

Under the bill, the state Department of Health Services would monitor if hospitals are complying with the bill and would take corrective action including a written notice, requesting an action plan or imposing a penalty if the hospital is not complying.

WHA slammed the proposal in a memo to legislators after the news conference, citing similar legislation that failed last session.

“This legislation died last session because it was based on an inaccurate premise that Wisconsin hospitals were intentionally defying federal regulations, claims still being made today. These claims are inaccurate and do not justify creating more state-level price transparency onto Wisconsin hospitals,” the memo said.

Ahead of yesterday’s press conference, WHA announced a recent report saying Wisconsin hospitals rank best in the nation for price transparency.

“Despite constantly changing federal regulations and moving goal posts by CMS, Wisconsin hospitals are leading the country in transparency, not just meeting federal standards but exceeding them,” WHA Senior Vice President of Government Relations Kyle O’Brien said in the release.

According to the WHA release, Turquoise Health found Wisconsin outperformed other states in adhering to updated federal technical specifications and accessibility of machine-readable files.

Sen. Julian Bradley, R-New Berlin, the co-author on the bill, said this isn’t enough. He said the bill importantly clarifies where the information should be housed.

“We’re not all the way there,” Bradley said. “We want all hospitals to have their prices up.”

Felzkowski’s office also emphasized the Turquoise Health report does not indicate overall compliance with hospital price transparency rules, which the report says at the top. The spokesperson told WisPolitics in an email following the news conference other reports indicate CMS is not enforcing price transparency in Wisconsin and other states, and many hospitals aren’t complying. The spokesperson also pointed WisPolitics to another Turquoise data list saying Wisconsin does not have current legislation to enforce compliance.

Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce shared support for the bill in a release, arguing Wisconsin patients are at a “disadvantage” with no ability to compare prices.

“This lack of transparency has contributed to Wisconsin having the fourth-highest hospital prices in the country,” WMC Associate Vice President of Government Relations Rachel Ver Velde said in the release. “This legislation is a critical step in making health care more affordable, addressing the urgent need for transparency in healthcare costs.”

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