GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Wisconsin hospitals are asking state senators to ensure a bill aimed at relieving hospital capacity concerns passes before the end of the upcoming legislative session.
According to data from the Wisconsin Hospital Association (WHA), one of the most significant reasons hospital emergency departments face patient backlogs is due to delays in other patients being transferred to post-acute care facilities.
“Hundreds of patients across Wisconsin are unnecessarily waiting in a hospital — many in emergency departments — due to the inability to transfer patients out of the hospital when they no longer need our care,” said Bob Erickson, president and CEO of the HSHS Wisconsin Market, in a news release. “It’s a challenge for both those patients needing post-acute care and also for patients who are forced to wait for their own necessary acute care.”
Assembly Bill 598, often referred to as “next of kin” legislation, would make it easier for incapacitated patients to receive appropriate post-acute care.
Many families, including spouses, do not realize that without a pre-established medical power of attorney, they are unable to assist their incapacitated loved ones when they need to be transferred from an acute-care hospital to a post-acute care rehab facility.
Assembly Bill 598 would allow for family members, including spouses, to have limited authority to make necessary patient care decisions without waiting weeks or months, and spending thousands of dollars, for a court to determine guardianship.
In the next two weeks, the Wisconsin state Senate is set to have its final floor period before the legislature adjourns. The Assembly passed the legislation with overwhelming bipartisan support in mid-February, and Gov. Tony Evers has committed to signing the bill into law, if it passes the Senate.
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