Sept. 26, 2026
by TIM HUNDT
VIROQUA, Wis. — A proposed healthcare expansion in Viroqua has moved to a key municipal committee, as local consumers continue to wonder what the shifting relationship between Vernon Health and Emplify Health will mean for their access to medical care.
The Viroqua Business Park Commission met Wednesday, September 23, to review a proposed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Emplify Health, which is seeking to purchase land to construct a new medical campus. The move comes after months of uncertainty following the collapse of affiliation talks between Emplify Health and Vernon Health, leaving local residents asking who will provide what services in the years ahead.
For two decades, the two healthcare organizations operated under a cooperative arrangement in the 143,000 square foot Viroqua Area Medical Office Building. Vernon Health owns 74 percent of the property, while Emplify Health owns 26 percent and leases additional clinic space. Under this shared roof, Emplify supplied general surgeons, orthopedic specialists, and other subspecialists while utilizing Vernon Health’s operating rooms and clinical staff. However, after Vernon Health’s Board of Directors voted in July to reject a full merger and maintain local independence, Emplify began preparing to build its own standalone facility.
Evidence of how serious Emplify was about pursuing their own facility first surfaced at the Viroqua City Council meeting in Sept. 8 where they gave a broad, big picture overview of their plans and expressed interest in purchasing multiple lots on the new Viroqua Business Park on Viroqua’s north side. Preliminary concepts shared with municipal officials at that meeting outlined a potential 80,000 square foot outpatient campus designed to accommodate approximately 50,000 patient visits annually. The city council then referred the matter to the Viroqua Business Park Commission for their review.
The Business Park Commission was formed when Vernon County sold the business park land to the City of Viroqua, with the county establishing the advisory body to ensure local input on future development. City Administrator Julie Emslie explained that the current step in the municipal process is to develop a Memorandum of Understanding. This agreement allows Emplify to feel comfortable undertaking preliminary research, site work, and cost estimates. The nonbinding agreement sets a land price and commits the city not to sell the property for a set period. Ultimately, if Emplify decides to move forward with the purchase, the Viroqua City Council would need to approve a formal development agreement.
Representatives from Emplify Health delivered a presentation detailing what the system is proposing and why a new campus is necessary. Rachel Albrecht, an operations leader with twenty years at Emplify Health, provided background on how the relationship reached this breaking point. She explained that in December 2025, Vernon Health posted positions for competing specialties, which Emplify viewed as a direct breach of their longstanding collaborative agreement.
“In December of 2025, Vernon Health announced it was going to, it posted positions for competing specialties, which we interpreted as a violation of our partnership agreement,” said Rachel Albrecht, an operations leader with Emplify. “Frankly, we’ve been working with them for decades.”
Albrecht explained that their current clinic footprint on the second floor of the Medical Office Building limits growth and prevents the organization from meeting expanding community needs. Emplify currently serves more than 5,000 unique patients and handles over 35,000 clinician visits annually in Viroqua, supporting 1,500 outpatient surgeries.
“We have really grown to optimize that space and get as many specialties into that space as we can,” said Albrecht. “And we believe we have room to grow again in how we best serve the community with continued great care.”
Albrecht noted that sharing space without clear corporate signage has created ongoing confusion for local patients over who is delivering their care.
“At times we have heard from the community and from our patients confusion about knowing Vernon Health and Gundersen in shared space,” said Albrecht. “That has created confusion from our patients over the years, and we take that feedback seriously.”
Dallas Wait, a real estate and planning official for Emplify Health, emphasized that the proposed 80,000 square foot campus aligns directly with Vernon County’s published economic development, health improvement, and comprehensive plans. He explained that thousands of area residents currently travel long distances to La Crosse for care, and the new facility aims to keep those medical services local.
“Early planning has already indicated doing some analysis that we’re already seeing thousands and thousands of patients already traveling from Vernon County to La Crosse for care,” said Wait. “And what we would like to do is keep that care close to home here, offering more options and opportunities for healthcare locally.”
Emplify representatives emphasized that more research is needed to determine exactly what a new facility would include, but they said it could include things like primary care, vision services, laboratory, and imaging, alongside potential additions such as urgent care, outpatient surgery, expanded sub-specialties, and a retail pharmacy. Wait stressed that Emplify respects Vernon Health’s choice to remain independent, but needs adequate space for patients who choose Emplify Health.
“We respect Vernon Health’s choice for independence, and we want them to do that,” said Dallas Waite. “And we also want to have a place for patients who choose Emplify to have space to go to.”
Waite added that maintaining continuity for existing patients is their highest priority.
“Ultimately, I think our ultimate goal here is continuity for patients,” said Wait. “We want to stay in the community, we want the care to continue, and if care plans change, we will be in contact with them.”
Following the presentation, commission members pressed Emplify representatives on how a new facility would operate alongside an independent local hospital. Commission member Alycann Taylor asked how Emplify’s model fits in Viroqua given that Vernon Health will remain independent, citing other communities with independent hospitals.
Albrecht responded that Emplify operates clinics in cities with independent hospitals, citing Winona Health in Minnesota and WinnMed in Decorah, Iowa. She emphasized that Emplify is not building a hospital and relies on regional critical access facilities, noting that when their main hospital in La Crosse is full, they rely heavily on rural partners.
“So, we’re not building a hospital, right?” said Albrecht. “And so we are fully supportive of regional critical access hospitals. Actually, we’re reliant on them and we recognize their value. It’s why we have six of them in our system. But there are times where we are at capacity in La Crosse and we’re on diversion because our hospital beds are full. And we rely on the regional critical access hospitals to support patient care locally. And so we would always honor the patient. And if Vernon Health can deliver the right care and that’s where the patient wants to go, we we honor that. And we honor that in other communities: in Winona, for instance, in Decorah, and and we rely on it, frankly. And it’s an important dynamic in our region where we have rural areas with where critical access hospitals serve a really critical need.”
Taylor also questioned Emplify’s past reduction of local services, pointing to the closure of its longstanding Viroqua midwifery practice. Albrecht explained that maintaining three clinicians across low birth volumes split between two organizations created staffing and recruitment hurdles.
“Vernon Health has their own OB service, and so the birth volumes were split across many providers,” said Rachel Albrecht. “That just made it tough. I was part of the leadership team that had to make that hard decision, so I was deeply involved in that. I will tell you that the decision to discontinue OB was a tough one. Still hurts my heart today, and I left a whole lot of sleep over it. We were down to one family medicine physician and two nurse midwives trying to cover 24/7 call, and nurse midwives require backup for support. And to do that with one physician 24/7 wasn’t sustainable. So we recruited for many months. We tried different things… and that decision was purely made based on that. Frankly, the volumes were going down, so our ability to recruit to that when we were only delivering a certain number of babies and splitting those across providers a year was difficult. And Vernon Health has their own OB service, and so then the volumes were split across many providers… So that just made it tough.”
When asked if midwifery or delivery care could return if Emplify builds a new facility, Albrecht noted that having a modern new space serves as a major recruiting tool. She pointed out that Emplify family medicine OB teams successfully deliver babies at independent local hospitals in other communities like Decorah (WinnMed) and Tomah, indicating that similar arrangements could be explored in the future if recruitment conditions allow.
In a previous interview with Vernon Health CEO David Hartberg he explained that when Emplify notified Vernon Health it would no longer participate in OB care, the hospital made a deliberate choice to step in. Vernon Health transitioned all inpatient and labor and delivery care to its own employed clinicians.
“Obstetrical care is a great example…,” said Hartberg. “When Emplify chose to say, ‘We’re not going to do obstetrical care anymore,’ we said, ‘Okay, that’s not going away because they chose to not be involved in that. We’ll step into that space and have that service proudly and successfully.'”
Recognizing strong demand among young families in Vernon County, board members and leadership prioritized recruitment to ensure local families could deliver close to home. Vernon Health brought on its own certified nurse-midwives and expanded its physician team. The expanded program was designed to offer personalized birth experiences ranging from high-risk pregnancy management to low-intervention options, including hydrotherapy suites, birthing balls, and trained nursing staff.
Rather than seeing a decline in deliveries, Hartberg noted that Vernon Health’s obstetrical program has experienced continuous volume growth since taking over. To further improve rural access across the county, Vernon Health secured new clinic space in neighboring Soldiers Grove to deliver local prenatal, primary care, and pharmacy services directly to surrounding rural residents.
Commission member and county board chair Lorn Goede voiced concern that a new clinic might simply become a transfer station to La Crosse. Albrecht responded that Emplify analyzes travel data to bring specialty care closer to home rather than steer patients away.
“Our intention is not to intentionally put things here to just treat the hangnail and steer to La Crosse,” said Rachel Albrecht. “And we have worked to bring specialists here to not do that where we can.”
Commission member Randy Skinner asked about potential service overlap between the two entities. Albrecht reiterated that while both systems run primary care clinics, Vernon Health’s decision to recruit competing specialists was the key turning point.
“Vernon Health announced it was going to, it posted positions for competing specialties, which we interpreted as a violation of our partnership agreement,” said Rachel Albrecht. “And that felt like a pivot point in our relationship.”
Commission member Paul Larsen asked whether similar setups exist in Wisconsin. Albrecht cited Sparta, Tomah, and Prairie du Chien as examples where Emplify operates clinic campuses near, or in conjunction with, independent hospitals.
Commission member Michael Corr inquired about property tax implications for a nonprofit organization. City officials noted that tax terms would be addressed as part of land negotiations.
Commission Chair Krista Browne raised questions about patient navigation and wayfinding when services split across locations. Waite stated that Emplify plans to build the facility all at once rather than in phases, with a team dedicated to clear signage and patient communication.
“I think the intention would definitely be to do it all at once and hopefully communicate to the community as that’s happening,” said Wait. “Because I think it’s exciting for both us and this community.”
Albrecht also shared that Emplify employs approximately 60 local staff members in Viroqua, supported by visiting specialists in audiology, cardiology, and ear, nose, and throat care. Wait noted that Emplify established an email address for residents to submit direct feedback.
“We welcome any feedback that we can to understand the voice from the community,” said Waite. “Please take advantage of that as well in the meantime.”
Vernon Health Chief Executive Officer David Hartberg delivered a statement during the public comment period of the meeting, reiterating the hospital’s desire to collaborate rather than compete.
“Our decision to not move forward with the proposed acquisition by another healthcare system was a decision about ownership and governance structure presented to us,” said Hartberg. “It was not a decision to close the door on collaboration.”
Hartberg emphasized that no single rural health system can meet every community need alone and urged city leaders to look at the broader picture.
“When other organizations can provide something our community partner needs, we want to talk together,” said Hartberg. “When Vernon Health has infrastructure, capacity, or expertise that can complement the services of another organization, we want to have those conversations as well.”
In a direct follow up with Vernon Health representatives regarding comments made at the meeting, Marketing Manager Labecca Schott and Director Clinic Operations Angie Dahl strongly disputed Emplify’s assertion that Vernon Health violated any service agreement by recruiting providers. Schott called that claim inaccurate, explaining that Vernon Health reached out for years regarding succession planning for retiring specialists, but was told to talk later.
“I would say that is an inaccurate statement,” said Labecca Schott. “We as an organization, in situations like orthopedics, when we know Dr. Lawrence isn’t going to practice forever, having those conversations up front to say how can we keep this really great thing going, we were kind of met with ‘we’ll talk about it later’.”
Schott and Dahl also dismissed Emplify’s claim that a new building is necessary due to space limitations in the shared medical office building. They explained that Emplify never approached Vernon Health about needing extra space or wanting to add new services, noting that space restrictions were never the underlying issue.
“I would say I don’t know that they have ever come to us with a conversation of what they would like to add and the availability of what they would like to bring,” said Labecca Schott. “Space restrictions aren’t really the issue.”
Addressing another major community concern regarding technology, Schott confirmed that Vernon Health has secured a new partner for its electronic health record platform. That is a critical hurdle for Vernon Health to remain independent because small facilities generally need a partner to access Emplify services. While Emplify holds the current license for Epic software through August 2027, Vernon Health will transition to another Epic provider, ensuring that patient portals, records, and MyChart access will remain seamless for local families.
“We have made an internal announcement that we have secured a new Epic provider,” said Schott. “So we will continue to stay on Epic.”
Following open testimony, the Business Park Commission voted to enter closed session to deliberate the terms of the land offer. Details of those negotiations and the recommended Memorandum of Understanding will go before the Viroqua City Council next week, where more specifics regarding the property price and timeline will become public.
As both healthcare organizations chart separate paths, local consumers are left watching a rapidly shifting medical landscape. Whether this competition leads to expanded local options or duplicated services in a county of 30,000 residents will depend entirely on how these two institutions navigate the coming months.
Add comment