Ask Mr. Answer Person: "Do Gundersen Clinic--Decorah doctors have privileges at Winneshiek Medical Center?"

A decorahnews.com reader e-mails: "Dear Mr. Answer Person:  Do any of the Gundersen doctors have privileges at Winneshiek Medical Center?  I found out my doctor of 30 some years does not have them anymore, so if I enter through emergency service he cannot be my doctor."

Mr. Answer Person looked into this person's experience--and discovered that the Winneshiek Medical Center employee who talked with our reader gave them some bad information.  In short, ALL active Gundersen Clinic doctors have medical privileges at the hospital.  Hospital officials assure us that there has been no change in the status of Gundersen Lutheran doctors and no change in the hospital's practice of issuing medical privileges to those doctors.

The incident involving our reader might have been an isolated incident.  There has been a lot of news coverage lately about relations between Winneshiek Medical Center and Gundersen Lutheran.  However, those stories discussed insurance coverage, NOT whether Gundersen doctors can use the hospital.