By David Murchland - Marshfield Now!
A year after the integration of Marshfield Clinic and Sanford Health, physician leaders say the organization is already seeing major progress in physician recruitment, patient access and new technology aimed at improving care across rural Wisconsin.
During a recent episode of Your Health Matters with Sanford Health Marshfield Clinic, Dr. Sam Klebe, chief physician for the Marshfield Clinic region, reflected on the first year of integration and outlined the health system’s vision for the future.
Klebe, an internal medicine hospitalist who still practices regularly at the Weston Hospital, said the past year has been “a whirlwind” as the organization restructured leadership, expanded recruitment efforts and focused heavily on patient experience.
“One of the things that we’ve heard from both our patients and our providers is, we need more people,” Klebe said during the interview.
According to Klebe, Sanford Health Marshfield Clinic recruited and onboarded more than 123 providers over the last year, including physicians and advanced practice clinicians. More than 30 primary care physicians were added — the largest primary care recruitment effort in the organization’s history.
Recruiting to rural Wisconsin remains challenging, Klebe noted, saying fewer than 3% of physicians nationally consider practicing in rural communities. Despite that, he said the organization has successfully attracted specialists from some of the nation’s top training programs, including Johns Hopkins and Cleveland Clinic.
The organization also expanded graduate medical education programs, including new fellowship opportunities in vascular surgery and cardiovascular medicine, in an effort to “grow its own” future physicians.
Alongside recruitment, Marshfield Clinic leadership has focused on improving the patient experience. New online scheduling tools now allow patients to make appointments digitally, particularly in primary care and behavioral health services. Leadership teams have also increased patient rounding in hospitals to gather feedback directly from patients and families.
Klebe said listening to patients has become a central part of the organization’s strategy.
“What is good experience for you versus me can be very different,” he said.
The program also highlighted how artificial intelligence is beginning to change healthcare delivery. Sanford Health Marshfield Clinic recently implemented AI-assisted documentation technology known as DAX, which records conversations between providers and patients to help automate clinical note-taking.
Klebe said the technology allows providers to spend more time making eye contact with patients instead of typing on computers, while also reducing the amount of “pajama time” physicians spend completing documentation after hours.
The organization plans to expand AI documentation technology to all 1,400 providers across the system in the coming months.
Another key focus has been improving patient access. Leadership teams now monitor appointment availability daily through the System Patient Access Council, or SPAC, which tracks scheduling trends and identifies areas where additional providers or expanded appointment slots are needed.
Behavioral health services, particularly virtual care, have also expanded significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic. Klebe said online behavioral health appointments are helping patients across Wisconsin — especially children and adolescents — access care more easily from home.
Throughout the interview, Klebe emphasized that the organization’s long-term goal is to provide top-level specialty care while maintaining the close-knit feel of rural healthcare.
“You have the best training right here at your back door,” he said.