All rights reserved. Now, however, that tradition is under threat. As the relentless corporatization of health care services expands nationally, Wisconsin Attorney General James Doyle has called upon legislators to pass sensible regulations for hospital sales. The failure of the state Assembly to respond to that call means that Wisconsin's hospitals and clinics now face a growing threat of takeovers by for-profit firms that are more interested in the bottom line than the common good.
Time is of the essence.
As Jensen delays action on a bipartisan hospital-conversion bill that has already passed the state Senate, one of the most significant developments in Wisconsin health care is playing out in the far northeastern corner of the state. Within a few years, hospitals and clinics in Stoughton, Burlington, Dodgeville and, ultimately, bigger cities such as Milwaukee could be swept up in an acquisition frenzy. In Texas, for instance, a single firm has, over the past nine years, purchased 335 hospitals. The record from other states where for-profit chains have aggressively begun buying up hospitals and clinics, is not reassuring. As Jim Haney, an aide to the attorney general, points out, when profits fall, for-profit chains cut services in order to protect corporate returns.