Health Care Value

Wisconsin is Ranked:

Second Best in the Nation for Rural Hospitals | Wisconsin's rural hospitals rank the second best in the country by the Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Program and has been in the top 10 states in the country ever since 2015.

Top Quartile in the Nation for Quality Care | The federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) ranks Wisconsin in the top quartile of states for quality healthcare.

8th Lowest Cost of Care in the Nation | Forbes magazine recently released data showing Wisconsin's overall cost of care is the 8th lowest in the country.

7th Lowest in the Nation of Cost Deterring Patient Care | According to United Health Foundation's America's Health Rankings, Wisconsin has the 7th lowest rate of patients who are deterred from seeking care due to cost.

Ranks 28 out of 50 for Overall Cost of Family Health Insurance - Better than Over Half the Nation | Wisconsin is in the bottom half of states for overall family health insurance costs per enrollee.

Assessing Health Care Value

In 2017, the Wisconsin Technology Council released a report, “Taking the Pulse: How Quality Healthcare Builds a Better Bottom Line”, which examined Wisconsin’s long-term record of providing some of the nation’s highest-quality health care. The report recommended touting that performance as a business attraction feature, especially in light of data that shows health insurance costs for Wisconsin employers at or slightly above the U.S. median.

In Febraury 2023, the WTC released an update, “Taking the Pulse: How Quality Health Care Builds a Better Economy.” The report again concluding that Wisconsin’s top-quartile rankings for health-care quality and cost figures roughly in line with regional and national figures mean that Wisconsin workers and companies hold a competitive edge.

Read the WTC Report

Price Transparency

Wisconsin hospitals have led the nation in their willingness to share information on the cost, quality and safety of the care they provide in their communities – making Wisconsin a national model for health care transparency.

Since 2005, Wisconsin hospitals have voluntarily provided information to consumers through the Wisconsin Hospital Association Information Center's PricePoint tool on a per-facility, per-procedure basis for the most common services.

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In 2023, PricePoint unveiled a large expansion of this data set and a modern plain-language search function, assisting consumers in finding procedure codes and providing information on all services delivered in Wisconsin hospitals. This change is only the latest upgrade that 100% of Wisconsin hospitals have voluntarily provided to expand the utility of health care consumer data for patients.

Industry Voices—Let's be transparent about hospital price transparency

March, 9, 2023 - Ashley Thompson, Senior Vice President, Public Policy Analysis and Development, American Hospital Association

About PricePoint

Since 2005, the Wisconsin Hospital Association Information Center (WHAIC) has proudly offered PricePoint as a tool to provide patients and families with important information about health care services and charges in Wisconsin. A national model for price transparency, PricePoint embodies the long-standing commitment of Wisconsin hospitals to sharing information that can help patients and families make informed decisions about their care.

In 2017, WHAIC expanded the hospital-specific information in PricePoint to include services and charges that may be provided by non-hospital providers across the state – providing a more complete picture of the charges associated with a particular procedure or treatment. PricePoint can help patients and families better understand the services that can go into their care and how those services contribute to the charges they might see on their bill or in a report from their insurance company.

PricePoint delivers a variety of consumer-focused tools to assist patients in accessing necessary information from other entities besides hospitals, including:

Hospitals’ Financial Assistance Policy and Contact Information: Patients can easily access hospitals’ financial assistance policy and contact information.
Quality Data: Users can click the WHAIC CheckPoint tool logo when navigating each hospital's facility information page to gain direct access to information about that hospital's quality data.
Specific Out-of-Pocket Costs: Consumers can input their specific health insurance provider and PricePoint will provide that insurer’s contact information so the consumer can contact them directly to solicit details about out-of-pocket costs specific to them and their circumstances.
Insurance Information: Consumers who don’t already have a coverage policy can find information and a menu of options to obtain insurance coverage
Post-Care Services: PricePoint provides information about statewide averages for additional post-hospital services to help consumers know what to expect beyond the service they’re searching for.

PricePoint is made possible by the 100% of Wisconsin hospitals that provide complete charge data to the Wisconsin Hospital Association Information Center.

Go to PricePoint