The Dean hospital is not trying to take ANY business from Mercy..none whatsoever!
On average, there are 25-50 patients at St. Mary's hospital in Madison from the Rock County area; Dean is only trying to give these patients the care THEY WANT TO RECEIVE closer to home! I'm sure there are GM employees that LOVE Mercy, but as a Dean employee, I also see many GM employees pay OUT OF POCKET for their health care at Dean because they strongly dislike Mercy. I also hear praise on a daily basis because we are building a hospital in Janesville. These are the people Dean is trying to service...the people that WANTED a different option than Mercy or driving to Madison. It can be argued 100 different ways over which health care organization is better, but BOTH companies are profitable, both are reputable and both are willing to service Janesville. I think instead of making arguments as to why Janesville doesn't "need" a second hospital, we should be grateful that in a recession some company still has hope and faith that Janesville is a worthy enough community for a new business.

WhosYourDaddy - good question. I am not sure what they were talking about, and it didn't even pertain to the post subject. As far as I know, I have always been a boy........

Hey localboysince1968 - I agree with you completely. Why would someone "out" you here about your gender reassignment surgery. That is just not right.

localboysinceSinceBeingWithMyMom - I have no idea what you are talking about with facebook. I don't have a profile on it, as I don't even know what it is. And as far as gender reassignment? What in the world are you talking about? I will ask the Gazette to remove both of your comments since they are not true.

I believe competition is good. Mercy is an outstanding facility with amazing physicians. Good friend of my needed a delicate heart procedure and Mercy's Heart Center saved his life. I am very impressed that we have access to these fine medical services right here in Janesville. If Dean is able to save lives like Mercy already does, then good for them!

As far as the care being a reflection of the area:

This is partially true, although my wife left Mercy to work at St. Mary's even given the extra commute. Her decision was motived somewhat by income (even with the transp. expense - she comes out significantly ahead) but just as much by being fed up with the admin. environment and what she felt was a lack of prefessionalism in the overall attitude. She has been very happy with all of these areas in the SSM systom.

“What will happen on this land will literally change lives,” she said. “This is a place where daughters will become moms, hearts will grow strong again and sick children will grow well.”
This is a beautiful thought and speaks to the heart. However, children have been recovering form illness and daughters and moms have been thankful for the care Mercy has been providing for over 100 years in the Janesville area.

In these difficult economic times it does not make sense to build a new hospital in Janesville when there are empty beds at Mercy.

Not interested in the politics. Delighted St. Mary's is coming here. Quality of care through Dean is top notch. I'm sure Janesville will be better off for the new hospital.

I would like to know how they are delegating the beds. I've searched and can't find this info out. Are day surgery patients going to be using some of the beds for recovery? What cardiology procedures will they be doing at the new hospital?

Does anyone know why the developers are being so quiet on these things? Do they even know yet? I work at the Monroe Clinic and they know exactly how their beds will be used, and their new facility won't be done until the middle of 2011.

Maybe it's just because I work in the healthcare field, but I have a lot of questions that I need answered before I make a decision on whether to support the new hospital or not.

And localboysince1968 - stop touting the gender reassignment thing on the other blogs please. Families do get on the internet you know!

Oh localboysince1968 - you are so silly with your comments. What reports do you have showing that your theory is correct? We all want to see. And with regards to the casinos and buffets, who are you to comment. Good Lord, I hope the readers of this post never see your personal page on Facebook. You seem to post really naughty things out there. Enjoy the buffet!!!!

The population is aging, but are they all retiring here? I don't think so. Many move to tax friendly states and warm weather states. I get a kick out of those who think Dean is going to somehow offer better service than Mercy. At the end of the day they all hire out of the same pool of doctors and medical staff in the area. If the service is better at Dean in Madison, it's probably more a reflection on the pool of people they are hiring from in that area. Maybe it's a reflection of the people in Janesville? If these blogs are any indication there is certainly a lack of compassion in the area. Granted, that may not be true for everyone, but as a whole I find Janesville residents to be unfriendly, rude, and self centered.

Amen Kaempe_Pik!

The best thing GM ever did was move over to MercyCare Insurance. The care at Mercy is much more superior to Dean and that comes from hundreds of my union friends. ............................................................................................................
http://www.mercycarehealthplans.com/

Again, for you experts out there that have already determined the market can't support another hospital, please post your research data. We all want to see it.

A hospital is not like a restaurant, where if you have the extra money, you spend it there. A hospital is a place you go when you need it. With the aging population (somebody already noted this in a previous post), and the numbers coming online to Medicaid and Medicare, the need obviously is there for another hospital.

If your post is accurate, when they raise your rates, then don't take them. You already know what they are before you go in.

Also, when in Vegas, use a little self control. If you can't, don't visit the cheap buffets.

What perplexes me is Dean Care (the insurance end of it) is running around town, low-balling all the other insurance plans, just to get business. Funny part is, I am in the insurance industry and I know the game they seem to be playing. They lure you in with low costs and once they have you "badda bing" your rates fly up in the ensuing years.

Similar to the casinos in Vegas. Come in for our really low buffet rates and they line slot machines up next to you as you wait in line.

Well, all is fair in love and insurance...I guess

I am somewhat skeptical about St. Mary's parent company who, from what I heard, abandoned their large health care facility in Chicago because of poor payer mix. How soon will they abandon us after GM and all the other companies who supported them are gone? At least Mercy has a history of over 100 years here. They never left.

I have a hard time understanding the build of a new hospital in a city that is shrinking. Makes no sense to me. I have gone to Mercy all my life with great service and great care. They offer everything I need.

www.mercyhealthsystem.org

I agree with many of you that competition is good. And I also agree that Dean and St. Marys is a respected company. However (in my opinion), given our wobbly economy, another hospital will only lessen Janesville's economic and financial growth. Mercy Health System is a great facility. They offer hundreds of great services for Rock County. Will a new hospital in Janesville be good for our community? Will a new hospital in Janesville be able to survive right now?

Hospital web site: www.stmarysjanesville.com

Only time will tell whether or not it's a good idea to build a new hospital during these challenging economic times. Mercy is a great hospital with top-notch doctors. Didn't they have doctors from Thailand and Japan visit their hospital last summer for tips on how Mercy became a healthcare leader? By the way, I loved the photo in today's paper. It must have been cold out yesterday at the groundbreaking ceremony, but the photo is very cute!

It's funny how the right wing demonizes "socialized medicine", but there doesn't seem to be a lot of support for capitalist medicine, either. (Judging by this thread, that is.) Duplication is obviously the exact opposite of a shortage, so what is happening is really concentration. It's the remote rural counties of Wisconsin that suffer, not the populated southeast.
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St. Mary's can read the demographics as well as anyone and the baby boom is going to provide more than enough growth in medical service needs to offset any stagnation in population from job losses.
http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/con...

My family has utilized Mercy for the past 30 years and our experience has always been a pleasant one. It was actually reassuring to see our local hospital won a national award! I feel better knowing that I’m making the best possible decision for my family.

There is already a shortage of doctors and RN's in Wisconsin. If services are duplicated, that simply means hospitals will pay more for staff, which results in higher cost. This isn't Walmart. There is no shortage of people to work retail jobs. That backlogs at BTC and other schools are years long for trained medical staff.

localboy - I couldn't agree with you more. I'm appalled at the incidents at Mercy, then turn around to hear they won some award for excellence! What crap! I personally drive to Dean Clinics in Madison (my choice) and am glad to make the drive versus doctoring at Mercy.

I believe that had Mercy been dedicated to 'lights out, top notch, first class care', Dean would not have needed to be in the position to build another hospital. I just waited 6 weeks (in pain) to see a neurologist at Dean in Madison. Then you have to drive there on top of it. It would have been a 3 month wait if I had waited to see the same doctor when he came to Riverview. The care in Madison is top notch, you just have to wait. I think this hospital in Janesville is an awesome idea.

Private rooms, and almost within walking distance to my house. Getting old will be a little bit easier.
Duplication of services is bad? I can name a dozen different businesses in Janesville that duplicate, like big box stores, gas stations, restaurants. Why do we have to be a one hospital town, and send people to Madison all the time? Hold your complaints until the insurance companies decide it's cheaper to ship you to New Delhi India for that complicated heart operation, or transplant. It's quite a bit cheaper, and I've read the hospitals are awesome.

It seems crazy to me to start building a new hospital in an area where employment is already an issue. Can Dean afford to enter Janesville knowing that the local economy is shrinking?

True posting Par18grif. My brother lives in DePere (Green Bay Area) and health insurance for his employees in skyrocketing. The duplication of services is hurting their community, and hurting the local businesses. It is hard enough to makes ends meet for some of these small business owners. Janesville has a great hospital already, we don't need another hospital. Besides, we have two other hospitals in Rock County, Dean's would be the 4th.

A postponed (or maybe never-to-be) groundbreaking could behoove Dean. Who knows how many people will need to leave the area over the next couple years to find jobs. Who wants 2 hospitals in Janeville with duplicated services and empty beds and unused services? A diservice to all. I would have liked to see Dean make a responsible business decision to see how Janesville evolves over the next couple years before moving forward with their hospital.

People post things like this because they can't get off the GM subject. By the way, good to see GM running Hummer ads during the football game. What are they thinking? Completely clueless. This Hospital will survive with or without them.

You 3 posters kill me. When did all of you become medical marketing experts? How many of you did a regional survey to collect the data that the area will not support this hospital? I can't think of nothing better, than to give Mercy competition. I have been to both Mercy and St. Mary's (due to different insurance plans)and Mercy has a long way to go before they are considered a first class hospital. St.Mary's (Dean) was an incredible experience and was first class. In Wisconsin, we just don't have the competition for health care. You need to realize now that your employer has two choices of health care (full)to negotiate a plan that is cost effective for them. Dean was only a option for basic care. There is a reason that Mercy is recognized and wins business awards for the money they bring in. They don't have any competition. I think this is great for the Rock County area.

This would be a better idea if there was the potential for large increases in Janesville's population. However, the city will likely see a retraction in population as GM workers and managers transplant. Moreover, as people have to drive further for work, they'll likely relocate. In addition, as the job market decorates people will rethink that second and third child. I don't see anything coming down the pipe in Janesville that is going to encourage a big increase in population. Mercy already has empty hospital beds.

Par18grif, people will never understand why this hospital is almost as bad for Janesville as the elimination of GM. Future duplication of services is already causing removal of services (and not just from Mercy) from our area. The hardest hit will be those services that have little or no profitibility. Mostly Medicare services, Medicaid services. What was planned and advertised for good, will eventually be bad for our economy. Nursing and pysican ratios will plummet as hospitals have to pay more for recriutment and salary. Nurses (bless their soul) will get paid more, and thus lead to higher cost (the highest cost in healthcare is staff cost). BOTH hospitals will then continue to cut low profitability services and BANG! we have 2 shell hosptials that are doing little different for the community. Our area is NOT big enough to support 2 hospitals. Ask nurses at Mercy, Beloit and Edgerton, how often they have to go home because there is no work. Days like this will INCREASE because there will be more beds in 'Hospital B'. It is not too late to get St. Misery to pull out!

There was a time when hospitals were regulated to hold down the costly duplication of facilities. Then we were bombarded by Reaganomics and Thompsonomics. Free market health care. I live in Green Bay where we had another hospital erected a few years ago. Where there used to be cooperation among other hospitals, now we have terribly expensive duplication. We have two MRIs within one hundred yards of each other at Bellin and St. Vincent. Two heliports. Two competing cardiac surigical units, etc. There is tremendous competition for doctors and nurses. Then there is the new hospital Aurora which caused the situation. Why do you think the cost of major health care is skyrocketing? There is no place for unfettered competition when it comes to government protecting the public from from those who would bleed us dry.