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UW Health has officially started construction on University Row Medical Center, an expansion of the existing Digestive Health Center at 750 University Row. The center will be connected to the Digestive Health Center, about two miles west of University Hospital. This project marks a strategic step in the long-term plan to vacate the aging facility at 20 S. Park St. and improve access to care in Madison’s central Isthmus. The plans have been years in the making, according to Katrina Lambrecht, chief administrative officer, UW Health. “We provide remarkable care to more than 4 million patients per year through our outpatient clinics, so having facilities to meet growing demand is essential,” she said. University Row Medical Center is a significant step forward in the health system's plan to provide space for most of the clinics currently located at 20 S. Park St., according to Lambrecht. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2027, and the first patients are anticipated to have appointments in the new space at the beginning of 2028.
Medics from the Wisconsin Air National Guard’s 115th Fighter Wing in Madison are the first group from the unit to participate in continuing clinical training at UW Health. This collaboration provides medics with hands-on opportunities to refresh skills, validate competencies and stay current with clinical best practices. The agreement is years in the making and involves UW Health professionals from nursing, Trauma and Life Support Center, emergency department, Burn and Wound Center and allied health education and career pathways. It’s the largest training agreement between a branch of the military and a private employer in the state of Wisconsin, according to Bridgett Willey, director, allied health education and career pathways, UW Health.
A new virtual nursing program in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, or NICU, at American Family Children’s Hospital is effectively helping new nurses adjust to the challenging environment of bedside care for the tiniest patients. The NICU at the children’s hospital is a Level IV, which is the highest level, where the most seriously ill and medically complex patients are cared for. The turnover rate for new nurses is high nationwide, approximately 32% in the first year, according to a 2025 Nursing Solutions report. Before the program started, American Family Children’s Hospital NICU had a 38% new-to-practice nursing turnover rate from 2021 to 2023. Neonatal intensive care nursing is particularly demanding, and high turnover is caused by the medical complexities of the patient population as well as the emotionally difficult nature of the job, according to Morgan Kuhl, NICU nurse, UW Health Kids. To help address the turnover rate, UW Health Kids launched a virtual nursing program in July 2024, led by three UW Health Kids NICU bedside nurses: Kuhl, Grace Long and Hailey Madson, who together have nearly 20 years of NICU experience. Since implementing the virtual nursing program, no new-to-practice NICU nurses have left during their first year, Kuhl said.
The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD), Madison College, Workforce Development Board of South Central Wisconsin and UW Health have partnered to create a surgical technology associate’s degree registered apprenticeship, which launches today. This registered apprenticeship program is the first in the United States to offer all the coursework leading to an associate degree and credential eligibility to take a board examination for surgical technologists. This program combines academic credit with hands-on apprenticeship training to help address the health care workforce shortage, meet patient needs and reduce educational and professional barriers to attaining a career as a surgical technologist. The surgical technologist functions as a member of the surgical team, preparing the operating room before surgery, promoting the safety of the patient during surgery, assisting the surgeon and caring for the instruments and supplies used in surgery. The three-year program is currently open to UW Health staff, with six students in the first class. Graduates will earn an associate degree and can become licensed registered surgical technologists after passing board examinations. This program encompasses the entire associate degree from pre-requisites to degree completion and corresponding credentialing, according to Bridgett Willey, director, allied health education and career pathways, UW Health.
For the 14th consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report ranked University of Wisconsin Hospitals No. 1 in Wisconsin on its Best Hospitals list. This recognition reflects all the great work done every day at UW Health, according to Dr. Peter Newcomer, chief operating officer, UW Health. “It’s exciting,” he said. “From advanced clinical care to cutting-edge research, UW Health continues to lead the way.” U.S. News & World Report evaluated more than 4,000 hospitals as part of the Best Hospitals rankings. In addition to the No. 1 ranking in Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin Hospitals had eight medical and surgical specialties ranked among the top 50 in the nation: Diabetes and endocrinology, ear, nose and throat, gastroenterology and gastrointestinal surgery, geriatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, orthopedics, pulmonology and lung surgery, rehabilitation and urology. This year, diabetes and endocrinology and rehabilitation are newly ranked for UW Health. Four additional medical and surgical specialties were rated as high performing: Cancer, cardiology, heart and vascular surgery, neurology and neurosurgery and urology.
For the third consecutive year, UW Health earns national recognition for leading sustainability in healthcare. Practice Greenhealth awarded UW Health with the Emerald Award for its environmental leadership, along with five other sustainability awards. Practice Greenhealth is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to sustainability in health care. University Hospital, American Family Children’s Hospital and East Madison Hospital, stood out for their efforts to reduce the environmental footprint of the health system. Greener operating rooms East Madison Hospital received the Greening the Operating Room Award, which highlights institutions making significant strides in reducing the environmental toll of surgical procedures. With operating rooms contributing to nearly a third of a health system’s environmental impact, the UW Health Green Operating Room Council, a multidisciplinary team of clinicians and staff, is actively reshaping protocols to cut waste and reduce emissions. Culinary leadership with climate in mind In the food category, UW Health earned two Circle of Excellence awards, an elite recognition given to only 10 programs nationwide. The honors reflect years of work by culinary and nutrition teams to provide meals that are not only nourishing and flavorful, but also climate conscious. UW Health was also the first health system in the Midwest to join the Coolfood Pledge, committing to cut food-related greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2030.
Growing the nursing workforce. Last week, UW Health’s first Nursing Apprenticeship Program cohort began their third year of the program. As part of UW Health’s ongoing commitment to addressing the nursing workforce shortage, the health system has partnered with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development and Madison College to create one of the nation’s first registered nurse apprenticeships. The four-year program provides a no-cost pathway for current UW Health employees to pursue a degree in nursing while earning full-time pay and benefits. The program includes both formal classroom learning at Madison College and the UW Health Apprenticeship Program Building, as well as on-the-job training at UW Health. The apprentices will be taking advantage of opportunities to grow within the program like as a nurse extern next summer and the chance to sit for their LPN boards and transition into that role for their last year of schooling. After an apprentice completes the program and successfully passes the NCLEX exam, they will participate in the UW Health Nurse Residency Program and transition into their new roles at UW Health. A new group of apprentices will start later this year. In August, we will have a total of 48 students in various stages of the program.
UW Health is spotlighting a nurse in the Burn and Wound Center whose innovation has helped improve patient care, promote the profession on a global level and earned him the title “unofficial unit barber.” Nursing is a special calling for Luke Markus and his family. His mother was a nurse, his grandmother was a certified nursing assistant and he married a nurse, Jill Markus, who currently works at the Pediatric Specialty Clinic at the UW-Madison Waisman Center. Markus has been a burn unit nurse with UW Health since he graduated from college in 2004. For Markus, the burn unit has been a great fit because it is one of the few areas that cares for patients of all ages who need a wide range of care, he said. “You develop relationships with patients, especially those with a longer stay,” Markus said. “It is rewarding to see a patient get discharged because there is a noticeable improvement.” Markus’s passion for the burn unit and the patients there goes above and beyond to improve care provided by everyone at the center. Doctors and nurses often need to listen to patients’ hearts and lungs with stethoscopes through lots of layers of dressings. Markus noticed that it was difficult at times to hear with the current equipment, so he did research and worked with nursing leadership to get new, higher-quality stethoscopes for the unit.
For 36 years, the UW Health Heart Transplant Program has been a leader in heart transplantation and is among the 15% of programs nationwide to achieve the milestone of 1,000 heart transplants. The program has expanded to serve both adults and children, offering cutting-edge technology and advanced therapies while achieving one of the shortest wait times in the country. Patients benefit from a median wait time of just one month, which is far shorter than the national average of four months, according to Dr. Veli Topkara, medical director of the UW Health Heart Transplant Program and professor of medicine at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.
To meet the growing demand for care, American Family Children’s Hospital is expanding the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, or PICU, and adding a Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, or CICU. The plan is to build 24 pediatric and cardiac intensive care beds on the vacant sixth floor of the children’s hospital. There will be 14 rooms for medical surgical pediatric intensive care patients and 10 rooms for cardiac intensive care patients. When the children’s hospital opened in 2007, the sixth floor — which is 33,000 square feet — was left vacant for future growth to meet anticipated increasing demand.
