On Dec. 13, state Rep. Alex Dallman (R-Green Lake) met with Tammy Bending, vice president of operations for ThedaCare critical access hospitals; Brian Floeter, director of finance, ThedaCare; and Kyle O’Brien, senior vice president of government relations at the Wisconsin Hospital Association during a visit to ThedaCare Medical Center in Berlin.
During the visit, Bending discussed challenges facing hospitals across the state as they treat both COVID and non-COVID patients in their communities, including increased demand for care by area patients who are becoming sick or injured. In addition to workforce challenges, Bending discussed recent insurer actions that have required patients to use a process called “white bagging” to receive infusion medications. Bending described the significant burden this process places on hospitals and the disruption these processes cause to patient care.
With a family background in health care, Dallman has an appreciation for the importance of high-quality, high-value health care in rural Wisconsin communities and how hospitals have invested in advanced technology to offer less invasive surgery, which gets employees back to work more quickly.
“Thank you
ThedaCare Medical Center in Berlin and the
Wisconsin Hospital Association for allowing me on a tour with you this morning,” shared Rep. Dallman on social media following his hospital tour. “I was able to see the new expansion that was added in the spring for emergency services such as a better location for the staff workstation, access to telehealth, a larger trauma room and a decontamination room for chemical accidents. This hospital is an important one for the cities in my district because it is the closest one for about 60,000 people,” continued Dallman.