Growth The Business of Health

Southeastern Wisconsin residents benefit from a health care market that is nationally known for quality, competition, efficiency and collaboration, and a business community committed to employee wellness. State agencies, trade organizations, health care systems and purchasers work collaboratively to develop innovative solutions that deliver high quality, cost-efficient health care services. The state is a leader in integrated health care, which brings physicians, hospitals and ancillary services together to provide more efficient care and minimize the duplication of services. It is also home to several provider-owned health plans, which offer employers an integrated solution that provides both health care delivery and health insurance.

The health care community seeks to continually improve efficiency and quality by working on several statewide projects, including the Wisconsin Health Information Organization (WHIO), which manages an all-payer claims database to help identify variations in the way health care services are delivered; and the Wisconsin Collaborative on Healthcare Quality (WCHQ), which gathers clinical data from health systems and hospitals to improve the quality of care. As a result of these initiatives, Wisconsin consistently ranks among the top states in the nation for the quality of health care services delivered to patients.

A Leader in Research & Education

The Milwaukee Region is a leader in medical research and education. The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), which has locations in the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center, Green Bay and Central Wisconsin, is a private medical school and major national research center that offers graduate degrees in medical, pharmacy and biomedical sciences. More than 1,600 physicians provide care in virtually every specialty of medicine for more than 2.8 million patients annually.

With a history dating back to 1893, MCW is the largest research institution in the Milwaukee metro area and second largest in Wisconsin. MCW faculty direct or collaborate on more than 3,100 research studies annually, including clinical trials. In the last ten years, faculty received more than $1.5 billion in external support for research, teaching, training and related purposes. Its Office of Technology Development oversees patenting, marketing and licensing of new medical technologies, and its Clinical and