The Surgical Collaborative of Wisconsin is hosting its Spring Meeting for surgeons, quality leaders and hospital leaders on May 29th from 1:00 – 3:00 PM. The meeting will focus on rural surgical care in Wisconsin. SCW members have asked for an expanded focus on rural quality initiatives, and as a result SCW will be launching its SCW Rural Task Force as part of the meeting. Join us as we develop a plan that will enhance how we approach rural healthcare.

Wisconsin’s newly appointed Health Services Secretary, Andrea Palm, will discuss how the new state administration aims to focus on rural healthcare. Secretary Palm and Governor Evers recognize that there are gaps in access to healthcare in the more rural areas of the state and have a plan to address these needs. Secretary Palm’s executive career spans more than two decades with key leadership positions including for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) where she served as Senior Counselor to the Secretary of HHS under President Obama as well as Chief of Staff for HHS from 2013-2014.

Jill Ties, MD, a General Surgeon at St. Croix Regional Medical Center will introduce the new SCW Rural Task Force, with an emphasis on how the Surgical Collaborative can engage surgeons to reduce disparities in the state. Dr. Ties has worked in rural settings for eleven years and brings innovation and passion to this new initiative. 

Jessica Schumacher, PhD, Director of Data Management and Analytics for the Collaborative will share our plans to engage rural surgeons in developing a robust performance measurement infastructure that will better provide rural surgeons with the information they need to improve care. She recently served on the National Quality Forum technical expert panel to develop recommendations for addressing the low case-volume challenge in healthcare performance measurement of rural providers.