Sen. Baldwin calls on Ascension WI to rethink outsourcing ICU staffing
U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin is calling on Ascension Wisconsin to reconsider its plan to outsource staffing of its critical care physicians to a private-equity-backed firm.
Ascension Wisconsin plans to switch from local physician groups to TeamHealth, a Tennessee-based physician staffing firm, to staff its hospitals’ ICUs, beginning Sept. 1.
“I am concerned that Ascension’s cost-cutting measures will once again come at the expense of patients and will leave Milwaukee hospitals’ intensive care units without enough physicians to care for some of the area’s sickest patients,” Baldwin, a Democrat, wrote in an Aug. 14 letter.
The letter, sent to Ascension Wisconsin CEO Daniel Jackson, cited reporting by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which found that TeamHealth plans to cut physician staffing at most hospital ICUs.
Ascension Wisconsin has more than a dozen hospitals in southeast Wisconsin and the Fox Valley.
That would mean fewer critical care providers on ICU floors, or no critical care provider at some smaller hospitals.
Some hospitals would move to what’s called an electronic ICU for part or all of the day, where no critical care physician would be physically present, but would be available virtually, the Journal Sentinel found.
Ascension Wisconsin said in an earlier statement it was still in the process of developing a final ICU staffing plan. It said its hospitals would have clinicians on site 24/7 and would have 24/7 access to critical care specialists. It did not clarify whether that access would be purely virtual at some sites.
“We welcome the opportunity to share how Ascension Wisconsin is improving care for the people of Wisconsin and how we are progressing in our shared goal of ensuring ongoing access to safe, quality healthcare,” the health system said in a statement in response to Baldwin’s letter.
In her letter, Baldwin echoed concerns she raised in 2023 when she wrote that Ascension, a national health system based in St. Louis, was “operating like a private equity fund.”
“Unfortunately, it seems my concerns continue to be justified,” she wrote.
Baldwin pointed to complaints about understaffing at a Detroit emergency room previously staffed by TeamHealth, and to lawsuits filed against TeamHealth alleging fraudulent billing practices.
Baldwin requested details of the staffing plan for Ascension Wisconsin’s ICUs, including which hospital ICUs would see staffing levels reduced.
She also asked for a copy of the health system’s contract with TeamHealth.
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