decorahnews.com Special Report: In Tomah, it works

Tomah Memorial Hospital in Tomah, Wisconsin has a state-of-the-art MRI machine and CT scanner.  It has also completely rebuilt its facilities since 1994.  Most importantly, it has shown a net profit of more than $1 million in each of the last three years.

Chief Executive Officer Phil Stuart says there is a strong commitment from the community to make the hospital work.  That includes the doctors from both the Mayo Clinic Health Systems' clinic and the Gundersen Lutheran clinic.

Decorah and Tomah are roughly the same population.  But there are some noticeable differences between the Tomah and Decorah hospitals.  First of all, the Tomah Memorial Hospital is a private, non-profit 501(c)3 organization--it does not get a county tax subsidy, as does Winneshiek Medical Center.

Secondly, Stuart is hired by the hospital board and not by a management group, as is the case with administrators at Winneshiek Medical Center.  In fact, the Tomah hospital has signed a Management Services Agreement with a company that is neither Mayo nor Gundersen--HealthTech MSA, a Madison, Wisconsin-based firm that has helped the Tomah hospital for more than ten years.

The firm "gives a whole set of other eyes" to managing the hospital, Stuart tells decorahnews.com.  It provides financial templates for the hospital to use and keeps hospital trustees and administrators informed on national health care trends in a number of ways, including by inviting them to national conferences.

But the most important difference between the Tomah and Decorah hospitals is how the Tomah hospital deals with Mayo and Gundersen.  We'll have details about that topic in our next special report.