December 1, 2008
2009 Rate Increases Below Consumer Price Index, Other Hospitals
The price of gasoline, food, milk, clothing, TVs, airline tickets and college tuition are all increasing at a faster rate than the cost of a stay at a ThedaCare™ hospital. And for the fourth year in a row, ThedaCare’s increase for its billed charge is the lowest in the Green Bay, Appleton, Oshkosh and Waupaca areas.
ThedaCare announced that the rate increase for all four hospitals – Appleton Medical Center (AMC), Theda Clark Medical Center (Theda Clark) in Neenah, New London Family Medical Center (NLFMC), and Riverside Medical Center in Waupaca – will each be 3.7 percent for 2009. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is 4.1 percent, and is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for certain goods and services.
“Our commitment to our communities is to have the highest quality services at the lowest possible cost,” said Tim Olson, senior vice president and chief financial officer for ThedaCare. “The 2009 rate increase will ensure ThedaCare’s facilities will continue their run of years of being the lowest cost providers in the area.”
In comparison, Aurora’s Oshkosh and Green Bay hospitals will raise their rates 4.9 percent in 2009. Affinity’s St. Elizabeth Hospital and Mercy Medical Center, along with St. Mary’s and St. Vincent hospitals in Green Bay, will increase 5 percent. Bellin’s rates will rise 6 percent in 2009. Hospitals are required to advertise their rates if they are above the CPI.
“When you couple our low costs with our high quality results – which are also publicly reported on web sites such as the Wisconsin Health Information Organization and Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality, to name two – it’s apparent we are delivering on our commitment to our communities,” Olson said. “We are able to deliver lower costs to our patients because of our ability to manage our expenses through the use of the ThedaCare Improvement System, which is based on lean manufacturing principles. These efforts are helping us to offset the rapidly growing costs of supplies and energy, which enables us to deliver higher quality care at reduced costs versus other health care systems. We are still in the infant stages of our improvement efforts, yet as we continue to use the process improvement tools effectively to reduce unneeded waste and costs, we believe we will further position ourselves as the highest quality provider with the lowest cost, which means the ultimate value to our patients.”
ThedaCare (www.thedacare.org) is a community-owned health system consisting of Appleton Medical Center, Theda Clark Medical Center, New London Family Medical Center, Riverside Medical Center in Waupaca, ThedaCare Physicians, and other health care services. ThedaCare is the largest employer in Northeast Wisconsin with nearly 5,400 employees.
For more information, media may contact Megan Wilcox (megan.wilcox@thedacare.org), corporate and public relations specialist for ThedaCare, at (920) 830-5847 or pager (920) 554-0730.