These 10 rural hospitals are joining financial forces in Wisconsin

A group of rural Wisconsin hospitals is joining forces to explore shared contracts and other financial opportunities.

Ten hospitals are joining what will now be known as the Wisconsin High Value Network.

The members of that network will span much of the state, ranging from Southwest Health in Platteville to St. Croix Health in St. Croix Falls near the Minnesota border.

Those hospitals will remain under the control of local boards and other local staff. But, by forming a new legal structure known as a clinically integrated network, the hospitals will be be able to band together for things like negotiating with insurers. They’ll also be able to share data, best practices and equipment, said David Hartberg, the CEO of Vernon Health, a Viroqua-based hospital that’s joining the network.

“This is a as an opportunity for independence via interdependence,” Hartberg said.

He said there are no immediate plans for hospitals to share staff within the network.

“At this point, that wouldn’t be any of the first wave of things that we’re talking about,” Hartberg said.

Collectively, the 10 hospitals serve roughly 400,000 patients across Wisconsin and have a combined $880 million in net revenue, according to a news release announcing the network’s creation.

Hospitals will pay dues to belong to the network, which could grow in size if more hospitals decide to join the 10 founding members, said Nate White, the president of Cibolo Health, a company that’s helping the hospitals launch the network.

“We believe that there will be other individuals organizations that will likely want to join this network,” White said. “The ownership, per se, of the network is the members themselves.”

The other members of the new network are Black River Health in Black River Falls, Edgerton Hospital and Health Services in Edgerton, Grant Regional Health Center in Lancaster, Lafayette Hospital and Clinics in Darlington, Reedsburg Area Medical Center in Reedsburg, Sauk Prairie Healthcare in Prairie du Sac and Richland Hospital in Richland Center.

Rural hospitals continue to face financial headwinds

Across the country, rural hospitals continue to face financial headwinds, including cuts to Medicaid approved under the federal One Big Beautiful Act.

Wisconsin’s newly-adopted state budget helped mitigate some of those effects with additional funding to hospitals.

In an interview with WPR, Hartberg acknowledged the consequences of Medicaid cuts.

“The Big Beautiful Bill certainly, I think, will continue to make it challenging upon rural health care providers, and the High Value Network will help us be able to navigate that a little bit more effectively,” Hartberg said. “I think Wisconsin has some advantages, certainly in the most recent passage of the state budget bill.”

Still, Hartberg emphasized that the new network is not being created because of financial desperation.

“Sometimes this can be viewed as, you know, a thing needing to be done because of dire situation,” Hartberg said. “The organizations that I know that are my colleagues and partners are running successful organizations, but they also know that, much like running any business, the next years ahead are going to become more challenging for a myriad of reasons.”

Over the last 20 years, more than 100 rural hospitals have closed nationwide, according to the Sheps Center for Health Services Research.

Increasingly, rural hospitals are exploring clinically integrated networks as one way to shore up their finances and remain in operation.

In recent years, Cibolo Health has helped launch similar networks of rural hospitals in Minnesota, Ohio, Nebraska, Montana and North Dakota.