The Wisconsin Hospital Association and University of Wisconsin-Extension released a report Thursday unveiling the large impact Wisconsin hospitals have on the state’s economy due to many out-of-state patients and the industry’s growing job opportunities.
According to a WHA statement, Wisconsin hospitals generate $26 billion annually in economic activity and directly employ more than 107,000 people in communities throughout the state.
Attracting out-of-state residents is the primary way hospitals drive economic activity, WHA spokesperson Mary Kay Grasmick said. She said the state’s quality of care brings patients to Wisconsin.
“The quality of our health care is ranked second in the nation by … the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality,” Grasmick said.
UW Health, headquartered on the UW campus, generates a large portion of health care-related economic activity in the state, Steven Deller, UW professor of agriculture and applied economics and contributor to the report, said in an email to The Badger Herald.
UW Health supports 15,637 jobs, Deller said, and generates $1.78 billion in income in Dane County.
UW Health is able to generate such a high income in part because it attracts patients from outside Wisconsin, UW Health spokesperson Lisa Brunette said. She said some of UW Health’s programs are one of a few of their kind in the country.
“We offer services that are only available in a limited number of centers,” Brunette said. She specified trauma and transplant programs as major attractions for out-of-state patients.
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The UW Health system also benefits the state economically by partnering with businesses, Carl Vieth, director of corporate education in UW’s department of engineering, said.
Vieth explained research by UW Health helps develop new medicines and medical technologies that Wisconsin businesses commercialize. These products, Vieth said, lead to the creation of new high-paying jobs, supporting the state’s economy.
UW Health could have a larger impact in the years to come, Vieth said. He noted the potential for partnership between UW Health and other health care providers in the state to expand the reach of the UW health care system beyond Dane County.
Aside from the UW Health system, the report lists several other reasons why hospitals in the state are able to generate so much economic activity. Hospitals partner with employers to improve preventive care for Wisconsin workers, provide charity care, fund initiatives to improve community health and attract businesses and workers to the state.
Wisconsin’s hospitals and health systems play an important role in the state’s economic health, WHA president Eric Borgerding said in the organization’s statement.
“The ripple effect of the health care sector in employment numbers and on our state’s economy is enormous,” Borgerding said. “Hospitals are not only tied to the physical health of our communities, they are also directly connected to the state’s economic health.”
