Six Wisconsin hospitals among nation’s “Most Wired”

Six Wisconsin hospitals were named to the 2010 list of “Most Wired” hospitals in the nation in the July issue of Hospitals & Health Networks magazine.

Aurora Health Care in Milwaukee, Ministry Saint Clare’s Hospital in Weston, Sauk Prairie Memorial Hospital in Prairie du Sac, ThedaCare in Appleton, the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics in Madison and the UWHP Watertown Regional Medical Center in Watertown were all among the 100 honored.

Aspirus Wausau Hospital in Wausau was also named to the list of 25 “Most Improved” hospitals, Sauk Prairie Memorial was among the 25 “Most Wireless,” and Door County Memorial Hospital in Sturgeon Bay was one of the 25 “Most Wired” in the Small and Rural category.

“Making sure our state’s hospitals have access to the best technologies available is a key component in providing the best possible care to Wisconsin residents in an efficient and cost effective way,” says Thad Nation, Executive Director of Wired Wisconsin. “To have so many state facilities on this list means we’re on the right track towards ensuring quality health care is available for residents across the state.”

The “Most Wired” list was based on surveys completed by hospitals across the country.

Organizations were ranked based on their implementation and use of technology in four areas: Infrastructure, Business and Admin-istrative Management, Clinical Quality and Safety and CareContinuum.

Venture Best offers new online resource for entrepreneurs

Venture Best, the emerging technology focus group at Michael Best & Friedrich LLP, has launched a new online legal resource designed specifically for high-growth entrepreneurs in the upper Midwest. The new site, venturebest.com, offers information relative to launching and growing high-impact businesses. The site highlights a comprehensive start-up package of services for entrepreneurs that includes initial incorporation, organization and qualification and capitalization, as well as employment and intellectual property services for a fixed fee. In addition, the site will increasingly include emerging trends within the industry, real time social media conversations and information to assist high-growth companies.

“Offering 50 years of combined consultative experience, the Venture Best team is well positioned to advise entrepreneurs on the formation of new companies, capital structures, financing transactions and intellectual property matters,” explains Gregory Lynch, co-founder of Michael Best’s Venture Best practice and managing partner of the firm’s Madison office. “This experience has allowed us to develop efficiencies that we can pass on to our clients, such as minimizing time and costs.”

Phoenix Coaters opens Beaver Dam facility

Phoenix Coaters has opened its newest facility in Beaver Dam. An employee open house and ribbon cutting ceremony was recently held for this 303,000 square foot facility. The Beaver Dam location is the third facility and fifth coating line for Phoenix Coaters, the largest coating firm in the Midwest.

MAIL CALL

I just wanted to write and congratulate you on the great job you are doing with CRW. I especially liked your “From the Editor” in the May issue. It gave me a chuckle — because it is soooo true. We have lots of “talkers” (especially in an election year) and very few “doers” that are attempting to solve the economic problems of Wisconsin. You hit a number of home runs in your editorial and I hope that others were reading it the way I did.

It is ironic how the pendulum swings when politicians are involved. When I moved to the Valley in 1980, the interest rate on my “bridge loan” to build my house was at 17.5 percent, the economy was in the toilet and Jimmy Carter was president. I wrote an article back then on the cost effective use of consultants that stressed the need for businesses to NOT put their hands in their pockets and NOT put their corporate heads in the sand hoping this would all pass. Bad economic times can be the “window of opportunity” for businesses to be proactive in terms of doing the “little things” (things they can afford) to improve their internal operations, expand their marketing horizons (look for new customers, new markets, etc.) and build the business for future success. The companies that do this will have a “head start” on their competitors when the economy does rebound (and history says it will).

Larry Schmitz, CCP, CMC
President, Common Sense Solutions LLC, Menasha

MOVERS

>> Bob Cottingham has been selected to be the leader of the Southern Region for Wipfli LLP.  >> Kelli Trumble, Wisconsin’s secretary of tourism, has been named to the national board of directors of the Wisconsin Alumni Association.

BUSINESS BRIEFS

GREEN BAY: Terry Fulwiler, chief executive officer of WS Packaging Group Inc., is the 2010 recipient of the prestigious R. Stanton Avery Lifetime Achievement Award. Fulwiler joined the firm in 1972 when it had eight employees. Since that point, he has served in a variety of management positions and has led the growth of the firm to one of the top privately owned label and tag manufacturers in North America.