Winneshiek Medical Center Board: The amount of risk in accepting Gundersen Lutheran Health Plan coverage exceeds the potential amount of gain

After five months of negotiations between representatives from Gundersen Lutheran and Mayo Clinic Health Systems, the two sides have a tentative agreementâ€"but one that hospital board members say is too financially risky to accept.

Mayo Clinic Health System Franciscan Healthcare Chief Administrative Officer Ron Paczkowski told WMC Board members on Wednesday "We could reach an agreement with Gundersen Lutheran that would be acceptable."  That agreement would call for Winneshiek Medical Center to accept Gundersen Lutheran Health Plan as an in-network providerâ€"allowing the 820 GLHP customers in Northeast Iowa to use Winneshiek Medical Center without having to pay a higher deductible.

But as a condition of the agreement, Gundersen Lutheran wants Winneshiek Medical Center to accept Gundersen Lutheran as an in-network provider for the more than 400 hospital employees.

Paczkowski says the net impact could be a loss of $12 million to $36 million dollars in revenue to the hospital over the next ten years, depending on how many of the hospital employees choose Gundersen Lutheran as their healthcare provider and how many of those who switch decide to go to Gundersen Lutheran Hospital in La Crosse for major medical care, instead of using WMC.

Hospital board member David Gehling says accepting Gundersen Lutheran as an in-network provider for hospital employees carries "too great a (financial) risk." Other hospital board members agreed, so while Paczkowsi will talk again with Gundersen Lutheran officials, at this point it seems the odds of Winneshiek Medical Center accepting Gundersen Lutheran Health Plan customers as in-network patients are very, very small.