Quality, efficiency and reducing health care costs will be priorities in 2008 for La Crosse’s two medical centers.

But so will electronic records to better manage patients’ health care and transparency to help patients make better choices.

Work continues on the parking ramp at Gundersen Lutheran . Dick Riniker photo

“For us, 2008 is the year of the electronic record,” said Dr. Robert Nesse, president and CEO of Franciscan Skemp Healthcare.

“Everyone is talking about the need for an integrated medical record, and this will be the biggest change in the recent history of our organization,” he said.

The Mayo Health System will start work on an electronic computer record that will be integrated with all affiliated clinics and hospitals in the United States, including Franciscan Skemp.

Both La Crosse medical centers have electronic recordkeeping, but an integrated record with Mayo will help manage medical conditions with best practice guidelines, Nesse said, and will allow for shared lab results, physician notes and images such as X-rays and CT scans.

Dr. Jeffrey Thompson, Gundersen Lutheran’s CEO, said the new year should bring more information on performance and outcomes to aid patients when weighing care and treatment options.

“It’s going to be less about billboards than performance,” Thompson said. “People also will have great options in health care at least for the short term.”

As board chairman for the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality, Thompson has led the group’s effort to be among six pilot projects across the nation to help teach others how to collect and report health care information. Both Gundersen Lutheran and Franciscan Skemp are members of the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality.

Gundersen Lutheran is working with General Electric Healthcare to design a new critical care hospital in La Crosse. The hospital will incorporate the latest in workplace efficiencies, health care technology and environmentally friendly design in its La Crosse expansion plans.

Thompson said the critical care hospital will improve efficiencies, eliminate duplication and eventually reduce costs.

Nesse said health care will be a major issue in the presidential campaigns, but he doesn’t expect to see much change until 2009. “There is a wide difference of opinion about how to solve the problem,” he said.

Thompson said universal health care “is more likely to happen in 2009, but then the question is: How are we going to pay for it?”

He said the new year will see more emphasis on prevention, disease management and using best practice protocols to treat patients.

“There is a growing realization that a truly integrated health care model with a multi-speciality group is the way to go,” Thompson said. “It’s the most cost-effective and most reliable care.”

Nesse said Franciscan Skemp’s goal in the new year is to improve safety and quality and decrease expenses.

“At this organization, we believe we have a moral responsibility to control cost,” he said.

His senior leaders also are committed to improving the value of care, Nesse said.

Terry Rindfleisch can be reached at trindfleisch@lacrossetribune.com or (608) 791-8227.

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