WESTON, Wis. (WSAU) — Ministry Health Care is moving forward with an aggressive expansion in northcentral Wisconsin. Ministry’s president and CEO Dan Neufelder says they plan to expand their footprint in both primary and specialty care at their facilities and by partnering with independent groups. This expansion will enable them to improve access for patients in more community-based settings at lower cost.
He told WAOW television it’s all part of being more accessible and saving patients money. “Providing health care that’s more accessible to the people of northcentral Wisconsin, health care that’s more affordable , and a healthcare environment that’s better for clinicians to practice in.” The expansion has already begun at the Emergency Department of St. Michael’s Hospital in Stevens Point. Neufelder says changes at St. Joseph’s in Marshfield, St. Clare’s in Weston, and facilities in Minocqua, Woodruff, and Rhinelander are what patients want. “And, these plans are to respond to changes that are happening in our market.”
Neufelder says one initiative is to renovate and modernize St. Joseph’s Hospital in Marshfield to create an all-private room care environment. “The state of the art in 2015 is to have private rooms, and we’re going to begin the process of converting to an all private room hospital campus.”
Cardiology and orthopedics will be expanded in Weston. Neufelder says they will implement the next generation of the Patient Centered Medical Home which will provide improved convenience and access using enhanced telemedicine technology.
