Vicki Bernards selected as next CFO at WPS Health Solutions

Vicki Bernards has been selected as the next Chief Financial Officer of WPS Health Solutions. She will succeed Tom Nelson, who is retiring on June 30, concluding a 35-year career at WPS. She began duties at WPS on May 8.

Bernards most recently was Vice President of Financial Analysis and Strategic Planning at Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (TDS) in Madison. She led the strategic planning, budget, and quarterly forecast process for TDS, and assisted in creating strategic plans for its business units. She also was responsible for financial analyses of business cases and potential acquisitions. Previously at TDS, she held positions in business development and analysis, and internal auditing.

Earlier in her career, Bernards was a real estate financial analyst for Famous Footwear/Brown Shoe Company in Madison and an internal auditor for the Carlson Companies in Minneapolis.

“Vicki brings strong planning and analytical skills to WPS to help with the financial aspects of our strategic planning and analysis,” President and CEO Mike Hamerlik said. “She will build on the strong financial program that Tom Nelson developed for WPS.”

Bernards earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from UW-Madison. She is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Corporate Financial Planning and Analysis Professional, and a Certified Internal Auditor.

About WPS Health Solutions

WPS Health Solutions is a nationally regarded government contractor and a leading Wisconsin not-for-profit health insurer. The WPS Health Insurance division offers affordable health plans and benefits administration. The WPS Government Health Administrators division administers Part A and B Medicare benefits for millions of seniors in multiple states, and the WPS Military and Veterans Health division serves millions more members who are active in the U.S. military, veterans and their families. In 2017, the international Ethisphere^® Institute named WPS one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies^® for the eighth straight year. For more information, please visit wpsic.com.

Five Recipients Win The Alliance Health Transformation Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Teri Van Tassel, Vice President, Marketing & Member Services

608.210.6633

E-mail: tvantassel@the-alliance.org

www.the-alliance.org/press

FIVE RECIPIENTS WIN THE ALLIANCE HEALTH TRANSFORMATION AWARD

MADISON, Wis. (May 17, 2017) ─ Five awards were given to individuals or organizations that have made significant contributions to transforming health care in their community when The Alliance held its Annual Seminar on May 16.

This year’s award recipients are:

• Gundersen Health System, La Crosse, Wis.

Gundersen Health System has changed how traditional health care services have been sold and delivered in northwestern Wisconsin. Gundersen provides quality care; works to be a collaborative partner with employers and the community; makes cost-conscious decisions; and has won national attention for its environmental practices.

Gundersen Health System is being recognized for exploring new approaches to delivering and paying for care. They are improving the quality of care using a systematic, process-oriented approach that can be adapted and implemented by other organizations. And they are collaborating with other organizations to develop solutions to significant health care problems as well as advancing their own understanding of how to engage consumers.

• John Nygren, Wisconsin State Representative, Marinette, Wis.

Representative John Nygren represents northeastern Wisconsin’s 89^th Assembly district and pushed the state of Wisconsin to recognize the opioid addiction problem before it became a national headline. Rep. Nygren learned about the high cost of opioid addiction when his daughter nearly died of a heroin overdose. Her struggles with addiction started with the opioid medication OxyContin and eventually led to heroin.

Rep. Nygren started the Heroin, Opiate Prevention and Education (HOPE) Agenda, which has led to significant legislative awareness and policy changes that aim to strengthen Wisconsin efforts to counter the epidemic of opioid abuse. As part of the HOPE Agenda, Rep. Nygren has successfully introduced 17 bills since 2013 to help combat the opioid addition problem.

Rep. Nygren is being honored for improving the quality of care using a systematic and process oriented approach that can be adapted and implemented by other organizations.

• OpenNotes, Catherine DesRoches, Brookline, Mass.

OpenNotes is a growing national movement that invites patients, families and clinicians to come together and improve communication through shared clinician notes and fully transparent medical records.

Today, more than 11 million U.S. patients have access to their notes. One early study showed that OpenNotes has the potential to decrease costs, with patients who read their notes doing a better job of managing their medical regimen and taking medication as prescribed.

OpenNotes is being recognized for exploring new approaches to delivering care as well as paying for care; and for improving the quality of care using a systematic, process-oriented approach that can be adapted and implemented by other organizations. It also allows other organizations to develop solutions and advance our understanding of how to engage consumers in making better health care decisions.

• Miniature Precision Components, Walworth, Wis.

Miniature Precision Components (MPC) is a manufacturing company that produces automotive parts. Based in Walworth, Wis. with nine other locations they consistently create opportunities to engage consumers in decisions about better health and better health care.

Over the years, MPC has:

• Created a robust wellness program;
• Proven its ability to help employees adopt healthy behaviors;
• Modeled good employee communications; and
• Offered incentives to capture greater savings through the QualityPath program. More than 12 MPC employees have used QualityPath for joint replacements, which is the highest participation achieved by any QualityPath employer.

MPC is being recognized for both advancing our understanding of how to engage consumers in making better decisions about their care and for providing extraordinary leadership among employers related to health benefits.

• Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ), Madison, Wis.

The Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ) is pushing the envelope to measure, publicly report and improve the quality of care for the people of Wisconsin. WCHQ has made it a priority to meet the needs of purchasers and consumers by making changes to measures in their portfolio to accommodate the interests of purchasers. They also have committed to adopting measures prioritized by a group of purchasers and payers. To broaden their efforts they are now exploring the possibility of including delivery systems in other states.

WCHQ is being honored for meeting two award criteria: improving the quality of care using a systematic, process-oriented approach that can be adapted and implemented by other organizations, and collaborating with other organizations to develop innovative solutions to significant health care problems.

The Alliance moves health care forward by controlling costs, improving quality, and engaging individuals in their health. Members include more than 240 self-funded employers and insurance trusts covering more than 85,000 individuals in Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa. The Alliance uses the purchasing power of cooperative members to negotiate with and provide access to an extensive network of doctors and hospitals paid to improve quality by performing better not doing more.

###

*Please contact us if you would like photos of the award recipients.

*We can connect journalists with award winners and The Alliance Board of Directors upon request.

Kraus-Anderson Completes New Hyundai Dealership in Mt. Pleasant

MOUNT PLEASANT, Wis. (May 2017) – The Madison office of Kraus-Anderson Construction Company (KA), one of the nation’s premier commercial general contractors and construction managers, has completed a new $4.3 million Racine Hyundai dealership, located south of Highway 20 and east of I-94 in Mount Pleasant, Wis. 
 
Owned by the Home Run Auto Group and designed by RB Custom Design, the 22,500-square-foot dealership will feature a five-car showroom, service center with 12 bays, alignment bay, car wash, detailing bay, customer service areas and offices.  The showroom’s exterior wall boasts a 16-foot glass wall design and bronze metal sky panels.
 

About Kraus-Anderson 
Established in 1897, Kraus-Anderson® Construction Company (www.krausanderson.com) is one of the nation’s premier commercial general contractors and construction managers. Kraus-Anderson, an Affirmative Action, Equal Employment Opportunity Employer, is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn. and has regional offices in Madison, Wis., Bismarck, N.D., and Duluth, Bemidji and Rochester Minn.

National Decision Support Company now offers Pediatric Imaging Appropriate Use Criteria

Madison, WI (May 16, 2017) – Through the support of the American College of Radiology and the contribution of leading experts from the Society for Pediatric Radiology, National Decision Support Company (NDSC) customers can now access a greatly expanded range of Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) covering Pediatric Imaging. 
 
The Pediatric AUC are the result of a direct collaboration between the SPR and the American College of Radiology (ACR) to develop new pediatric criteria for delivery through NDSC’s ACR Select. Volunteers from leading pediatric institutions nationwide collaborated with members of the ACR’s decision support team to develop the criteria. 
 
A team of over 30 SPR experts reviewed each ACR Select topic to incorporate age and gender specific Pediatric indications. Led by Dr. Marta Hernanz-Shulman with guidance from Dr. Mike Bettmann, Chair of the ACR’s Rapid Response Team, the experts developed AUC that cover 374 Pediatric Specific indications and 376 exams that cover 2912 clinical end points for pediatric imaging. 
 
“With the contributions of the Pediatric Radiology experts working with Dr. Hernanz-Schulman, we have gone from a limited set of a little over 100 indications to a vastly expanded set of nearly 400 indications for the pediatric population,” said Dr. Michael Bettmann, MD, FACR. “That is not everything, but we have made a giant step in guiding the use of imaging in children and that is why I am excited. This simply has not existed for children before.” 
 
“Children are more sensitive to radiation and they will live longer and therefore have a chance to have more studies, so you don’t want to radiate unnecessarily,” said Dr. Marta Hernanz-Schulman, MD, FAAP FACR, Medical Director, Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. “Selecting the best imaging test can be a complex process, particularly in Pediatrics. We have responsibility to support physicians in making the best decisions.” 
 
The SPR AUC consider patient age and ionizing radiation exposure in the guidance to ensure pediatric patients do not receive unnecessary ionizing radiation. The pediatric age range varies on different topics where alternative recommendations are made. When delivered through CareSelect Imaging, these new indications now address the clinical setting as well as patient age and gender, so that the system displays the relevant guidance for the patient. 
 
CareSelect Imaging currently contains AUC sets from multiple PAMA-qualified Provider Led Entities including the American College of Radiology (ACR Select), the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, the American College of Cardiology and the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging. 

The Pediatric AUC will be delivered with all future ACR Select content versions at no additional fee.


National Decision Support Company will be at the 2017 SPR Annual Meeting in Booth #11. Stop by and talk with our team about how you can get started with the new pediatric content set.
 
# # #
About National Decision Support Company
National Decision Support Company delivers enterprise-wide Clinical Decision Support solutions that enable more appropriate care, improve population health, and reduce cost. NDSC’s CareSelect Imaging™ converts published guidelines into actionable criteria that is delivered directly into the EMR workflow. Criteria covers adult and pediatric patient populations featuring guidelines sourced directly from the Society for Pediatric Radiology. For more information, visit www.nationaldecisionsupport.com.
About CareSelect Imaging™
CareSelect Imaging expands on NDSC’s foundational ACR Select™ solution to deliver a comprehensive range of Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) for diagnostic imaging in both adult and pediatric patient populations. AUC is sourced from a growing list of qualified Provider Led Entities (qPLE), including the American College of Radiology, the American College of Cardiology, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® and the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging to ensure compliance with the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (PAMA).
Media Contact:
Bob Cooke –  VP of Marketing, NDSC
rcooke@nationaldecisionsupport.com
203.918.5085

Workforce disrupter: ‘Gig economy’ May 23 topic at Tech Council Innovation Network lunch in Madison

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (May 16, 2017)

Contact: Tom Still or Cassidy Wartenweiler at 608-442-7557

To learn more online: www.wisconsintechnologycouncil.com

Workforce disrupter: ‘Gig economy’ May 23 topic at Tech Council Innovation Network lunch in Madison

MADISON – As temporary positions become common and with more organizations contracting for short-term engagements, the “gig economy” has arrived in force. Learn how the gig economy is changing traditional business models at the May 23 Tech Council Innovation Network luncheon meeting in Madison.

The luncheon will be held at the Sheraton Hotel on Madison’s John Nolen Drive. Registration and networking begin at 11:30 a.m., lunch at noon and the presentation at 12:30 p.m. The cost is $10 for students and Bunker Labs members, $25 for individual members, $35 for non-members and included for Tech Council corporate members. Click here to register.

Tech Council President Tom Still will moderate as a panel of experts discuss trends such as regulation, competition and how contingent works are changing the hiring process. Panelists include: Carrol Chang, general manager for Uber Wisconsin; Kevin Kiser, head of brand strategy and communications, Bunker; and Traci Scherck, senior human resources consultant, Honkamp Krueger.

“Whether they are called agile workers or gig workers, the rise of freelance and contract workers is changing how jobs are defined,” said Tom Still, president of the Tech Council. “As Wisconsin deals with demographic forces that are shrinking the traditional workforce, gig workers may increasingly be a part of the solution.”

This Tech Council Innovation Network event is sponsored by BMO Harris Bank.

The Wisconsin Technology Council is the independent, non-profit science and technology adviser to the governor and Legislature, with events, publications and outreach that contribute to Wisconsin’s tech-based economy. To join, go to www.wisconsintechnologycouncil.com or call 608-442-7557.

###