Quality Advisor

WHA's 2025 Health Care Quality Showcase in the Capitol Rotunda 

The third annual Health Care Quality Showcase, held on April 9 at the Capitol Rotunda in conjunction with WHA’s Advocacy Day, brought together hospital quality leaders from 24 Wisconsin hospitals and health systems to share innovative quality improvement projects through poster presentations. This event provided an invaluable platform for hospital staff to highlight their efforts in improving patient care and safety, while also engaging directly with legislators, fellow hospital leaders, and Advocacy Day attendees from across the state. It served as a powerful way to inform the public and policymakers about the impactful work being done to advance quality and patient safety in Wisconsin’s hospitals.

See Health Care Quality Showcase participants for a listing of the hospital participants and their improvement projects by topic. 

Share Your Hospital's Quality Improvement Stories

The WHA quality team is gathering stories for our annual 2025 Wisconsin Health Care Quality Report, promoting quality stories within Wisconsin hospitals. If your hospital has a quality improvement project highlighting projects in 2024, we would like to hear from you. Stories included in last year’s report can be viewed here.

Email your story and attach any photographs or images of your work to Marcia Egle by May 1.

Photos, graphs or images should be sent as separate attachments for inclusion in the report. Photos should be sent as .jpg or .png files; graphs should be sent as .jpg, .png, PowerPoint slide, Excel file or PDF.

CMS Issues FY 2026 IPPS/LTCH PPS Proposed Rule

On April 11 2025, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule to update fiscal year (FY) 2026 Medicare payment policies and rates under the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and the Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Prospective Payment System (PPS).

The FY 2026 IPPS/LTCH PPS proposed rule went on display at the Office of the Federal Register Public Inspection Desk at the federal register and will be on display from April 11, 2025, until the regulation is published on April 30, 2025. To view the display version of the FY 2026 IPPS/LTCH PPS proposed rule, go to the webpage and click "download the unpublished" PDF version.

Proposed changes to the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) Program and other quality reporting programs are included in the regulation. Details regarding proposals for various quality reporting programs can be found on the pages listed below:

• Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program pp. 695-714
• Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program pp. 715-741
• Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program pp. 742-748
• Hospital IQR Program pp. 832-874
• PPS-Exempt Cancer Hospital Quality Reporting Program pp. 875-883
• Promoting Interoperability Program pp. 907-958

CMS will accept comments on the FY 2026 IPPS/LTCH PPS proposed rule until June 10, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time and will respond to comments in the FY 2026 IPPS/LTCH PPS final rule, to be issued by August 1, 2025. Comments can be submitted electronically or via regular mail or express/overnight mail. Please review the FY 2026 IPPS/LTCH PPS proposed rule for specific instructions for each method and submit using only one method.

For more information on the proposed rule, please see the FY 2026 IPPS/LTCH PPS Proposed Rule Fact Sheet.

A FY 2026 IPPS Proposed Rule Brief and Analysis will be provided behind the WHA Member Portal once it is complete.

Wisconsin’s Health Care Workforce Faces Ongoing Strain as Demand for Care Remains High

WHA released its annual Wisconsin Health Care Workforce Report on March 31, highlighting persistently high vacancy rates despite growing hospital employment.

“Wisconsin hospitals are beginning to gain traction in filling job postings but remain challenged by a factor that is mostly immovable: the state’s changing demographics that are shrinking the available workforce and at the same time increasing health care demand,” said WHA Senior Vice President of Workforce and Clinical Practice Ann Zenk.

Nationwide, 10,000 members of the Baby Boomer generation reach the age of 65 daily. The wave of retirements among Baby Boomers, often referred to as the “Silver Tsunami,” is putting added strain on the workforce in every industry. However, the challenge is doubled for hospitals and health systems. Wisconsin citizens older than 65 make up 18% of the state’s population but account for 38% of the health care visits to Wisconsin hospitals and their outpatient settings. The last baby boomer will turn 65 in 2030. The surge in retirements will taper off but the increased health care needs of an aging population will persist for decades to come.

Read the full WHA Valued Voice article here.

For more specific recommendations, read WHA’s 2025 Workforce Report here.

Agency For Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Safety Program for Healthcare Associated Infection (HAI) Prevention Recruitment Is Open

AHRQ is recruiting adult intensive care units (ICUs) and non-ICUs to participate in a free 9-month program to reduce central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) rates in acute care hospitals with a minimum of 50 beds. Participants of the AHRQ Safety Program for HAI Prevention: CLABSI will gain free expert consultation to promote infection prevention procedures and patient safety culture, learn tools to enhance teamwork and communication and receive regular benchmarking reports comparing progress with similar units. Participants will also receive continuing education (CEU/CME) credits. Recruitment for the CLABSI cohort is open through June 2025. Visit their website for more information about the program and to sign up for free informational webinars.

Join Our Quality Leaders Listserv for Ongoing Insights and Discussions

We are currently reviewing our list of past participants and are looking to expand our Quality Leaders Hot Topics listserv. This space is designed for engaging with quality leaders on a variety of topics that may not fit into the timing of a Quality Advisor newsletter or meet the high-priority criteria for Quality Alerts, but are still important for fostering valuable feedback, insights, and discussions.

If you're interested in staying connected, sharing your thoughts on emerging topics and participating in open discussions, we highly encourage you to join. It's not mandatory, but your participation is welcome and appreciated.

To join the listserv, please click form to sign up. We look forward to your input! For more information, contact Jill Lindwall.