Sept. 5, 2026
By TIM HUNDT, VernonReporter
VIROQUA, Wis. – The recent decision by the Vernon Health Board of Directors to not pursue an affiliation with Emplify Health was either a bold move to protect local independence for a small rural hospital, or a choice that sets up difficult challenges and could result in direct competition from an outside healthcare organization. The results of that decision will likely play out over the coming months and years, but it will almost certainly mean changes to the local healthcare landscape. Exactly what that shift means for individual patients is still not completely clear, and predictions on what the future holds depends on who you talk to.
Most residents have seen the news stories that the two organizations were in “talks”, but then they ended those talks. So what does that mean? Here is what know as of right now.
The discussions began in late March 2026, when the two healthcare systems signed a letter of intent to explore a possible regional affiliation, which was initially presented as a collaborative effort to strengthen their longtime partnership. The evaluation process ended on July 30 when the organizations issued a joint press release stating that after several months of careful evaluation, they decided not to move forward with the merger.
The process of entering talks appears to have started after Emplify Health informed Vernon Health that it intended to discontinue Vernon Health’s access to its Epic electronic health record platform. Because the medical records system is deeply integrated into daily patient care and access for smaller hospitals is usually granted through a larger partner, Vernon Health signed the letter of intent to explore an affiliation. Vernon Health did get an extension for Epic access through August 1, 2027.
If the proposed deal had gone through, it would have resulted in a total system integration with Emplify. While the initial talks were publicly described as an affiliation, the actual proposal involved a complete change in ownership and governance. Under the terms of the potential deal, the board of directors would be completely restructured to consist of nine members, with five appointed by Emplify Health and four selected from the local Viroqua community. Vernon Health officials say, this structure represented a loss of independent local decision-making.
Following the board’s vote to reject the deal, several prominent healthcare practitioners and community leaders reached out to express deep concerns. Some of those individuals drafted a letter directed at the leadership of both Vernon Health and Emplify Health, urging them to reconsider and go back to the negotiating table. That effort appears to have failed. Dr. Paul Bergquist, a retired physician who worked at the Viroqua hospital for more than 30 years, was one of the primary authors of the letter, which was signed by several former medical staff and community leaders. The names of the other signers are not being published because we have not spoken to each of them directly.
The authors of the letter used direct and urgent language to explain why they believe the path of separation is not good for the community. Paraphrasing their written concerns, the authors argued that the independent path risks a loss of services, layoffs, and potentially significant financial hurdles.
“While we understand and support the desire to remain a small independent hospital, currently a dying breed in America, we are more concerned about the impact of this decision on the community of people in this region who rely on this medical facility for their healthcare,” said the letter. “The potential ramifications of the decision not to affiliate in the short-term are disruptions in multiple scheduled surgical procedures for hundreds of patients, and canceled office visits for hundreds of patients.”
The letter also emphasized the financial contributions that the partnership provided.
“Vernon Health has been able to remain profitable as an independent institution over the last 30 years primarily because of the specialty support that has been provided by Emplify Health and the collegial relationship we have enjoyed over that time,” wrote the authors. “Without that relationship we don’t see how the hospital can remain profitable.”
The letter urged the boards to seek a compromise.
“If there is the inevitable possibility of affiliation, it is far better to discuss how that might be accomplished now, rather than later, after we have lost multiple employees, patients, and the trust and confidence of the community,” wrote the authors.
A phone interview with Dr. Bergquist shed more light on the concerns outlined in the letter.
“It is very complicated,” said Bergquist. “There is inadequate information about what caused this rift between Emplify and Vernon Health, and how Vernon Health came to the decision to sever the relationship.”
Bergquist echoed the letter’s concerns about the potential for loss of services and direct competition, noting that the departure of specialists could result in significant financial hurdles and staff cuts. He pointed out that critical access hospitals operate on thin operating margins and depend heavily on surgical specialists for revenue, noting that orthopedic surgeon Jeffrey Lawrence alone generates a significant portion of the hospital’s income.
“So you take those specialists away that have all of that ability to create income, especially the surgeons,” said Bergquist.
Bergquist explained that losing these specialists is just one hurdle and added that Emplify could build its own competing facility.
“That kind of competition, face to face like that, would not be good for a small hospital,” said Bergquist.
Bergquist also noted replacing the Epic electronic record systems will potentially be costly and a difficult transition.
While they did not sign the letter submitted to the organizations, Dr. Jeffrey Lawrence and his wife Angie Lawrence reached out us to express similar deep concerns about the hospital’s independent path.
Jeffrey Lawrence is a highly accomplished, board-certified orthopedic surgeon who is a pioneer in robotic knee replacements. Lawrence is an employee of Emplify Health, but the operating room and highly specialized robotic surgery equipment he uses are owned by Vernon Health. Angie Lawrence has spent decades in local public service, serving as the secretary and fundraising coordinator for the Viroqua Area Foundation, the treasurer and former president of the Viroqua Area School Board, and serving 12 years on the Western Technical College board.
The Lawrence’s provided a written comment highlighting their concern about the future of the facility.
“The collaboration between Emplify Health and Vernon Health has been the cornerstone of our local rural hospital’s financial stability and success,” said the Lawrences. “Without this ongoing collaboration, Vernon Health simply cannot provide the level of care our community expects and deserves. Exceptional medicine requires total teamwork across clinics, hospitals, and surgical services—a collaborative healthcare network we risk losing without a formal merger between Vernon Health and Emplify.”
The Lawrences and Bergquist all expressed concern about the ability of a small rural hospital to recruit specialty practitioners, and especially surgeons.
“It is an incredibly difficult thing to do,” said Bergquist.
Emplify Health’s Written Response
We reached out to both Vernon Health and Emplify Health and asked them to address these issues. Their official written responses show very different points of view.
In its written statement, Emplify Health reluctantly accepted the split but also expressed concern, stating the potential financial impact is real.
“As a consequence of the decision not to affiliate, the community concerns for the hospital are real,” wrote Emplify Health in its statement. “I cannot argue against any of the potential consequences outlined below (in the letter from community members). We did not desire to travel this path.”
Emplify Health explained that it could no longer absorb the financial imbalance under the current independent model.
“Emplify Health could not continue with the status quo when an imbalance of our longstanding partnership had been growing and accelerating,” wrote Emplify Health. “As patients and local businesses must ultimately bear the costs of care, we cannot continue to absorb this imbalance because we owe it to them to be good stewards of our resources.”
The Emplify written response described what an “affiliation” would have looked from their perspective, and made it clear it would have been a “full integration into the Emplify Health system.”
“Affiliation” is a full integration into the Emplify Health system as a full member. It is exactly the successful model employed at St. Joseph’s in Hillsboro (and duplicated five other times in Boscobel, Whitehall, Adams-Friendship, West Union, IA, and most recently in Wabasha, MN). It does raise final decision-making to the Emplify Health system level and trades local independence for system support and stability. Any review of Emplify Health’s approach and behavior in the six other local affiliations will reveal our strategy and philosophy to robustly support local communities by increasing local care options and bringing our expertise and specialists to the patients rather than removing services. In full transparency, there have been rare instances where the volume of demand and ability to cover selected services had decreased to a point where it was no longer possible to provide safe, high-quality care, resulting in a withdrawal of services. We have a duty to our patients to ensure the care we provide is the best.
The input and influence for system-level decisions that affect communities are always obtained from the local boards in an attempt to get vital local support for decisions. We retain local boards in an advisory capacity to guide our understanding of local dynamics when making decisions together. These boards include engaged local leaders who advocate for the best interests of their communities, ensuring we retain the essential local perspective needed to make good care decisions. If in place at the time of affiliation, we encourage local foundations to continue to advocate for philanthropy directed to community needs and spent locally. I cannot think of a time in the past 11 years where any concern from a local board was not resolved to the reasonable satisfaction of all. I emphasize it is in the best interest of the system to have the support of local communities and their representatives to ensure everyone thrives. We take that relationship seriously.
Despite the split, Emplify Health asserted its determination to maintain its presence in Viroqua.
“We are staying in Viroqua,” Emplify wrote. “We have a solemn obligation to continue to serve the thousands who place their trust in us.”
Emplify also confirmed that it will continue to support the Epic records license for Vernon Health until August 1, 2027. Regarding speculations about building a new medical office building in Viroqua, the organization noted that all options are being looked at seriously.
“It is premature to speculate on a decision regarding building new facilities in Viroqua,” wrote Emplify Health. “We are focused on doing our best to serve our patients in the transition. There are many possible options to consider.”
Emplify also expressed they had no animosity about the Vernon Health decision, even if they disagreed with it stating “Although we disagree with the ultimate choice, we believe the Vernon Health Board members were honorable in their process to come to the best decision for the community. They are good people. We respect their decision and will now reluctantly pivot to another path as a result.”
Vernon Health Written Response
Vernon Health’s written fact sheet defended the board’s decision as a necessary step to preserve local control.
“After several months of careful evaluation, the Vernon Health Board of Directors determined that moving forward with a proposed acquisition by Emplify Health was not the right path for Vernon Health and the community we serve at this time,” wrote Vernon Health in its fact sheet. “Vernon Health will continue as a locally governed healthcare organization, with decisions about our patients, services, investments, employees, and future continuing to be made locally.”
The written response also made it clear that Vernon Health did not see the merging of the two organizations as an affiliation but as an “acquisition.”
“Was This an Affiliation or an Acquisition? Although the initial process was publicly described as exploring an “affiliation,” the
structure the Board ultimately evaluated involved Vernon Health becoming part of Emplify Health through a change in ownership and governance. For the Vernon Health Board, that distinction was significant. The Board sought to understand what local governance, local decision-making, organizational control, services, employees, providers, facilities, and community
investment would look like under the proposed structure. Ultimately, the Board determined that the proposed structure did not provide the level of clarity and local governance the Board believed was necessary to move forward and serve the best long-term interests of our communities.The Board therefore chose not to proceed with the proposed acquisition.”
Vernon Health administrators asserted that the hospital’s decision regarding the acquisition should not be interpreted as a decision to end clinical relationships, and that they remain open to collaborative partnerships. They insisted that the hospital’s financial position remains incredibly strong.
The written response also emphasized the decision does not mean Vernon Health will stand still.
The decision reflects confidence in Vernon Health’s people, financial position, recruitment progress, strategic direction, and ability to continue serving the region. The Board concluded that remaining locally governed provides Vernon Health with the flexibility to:
- Keep significant healthcare decisions close to the patients and communities they
affect. - Continue investing in local services, technology, facilities, and people.
- Recruit and retain providers based on the healthcare needs of the region.
- Develop partnerships with multiple healthcare organizations when they benefit
patients. - Adapt as rural healthcare continues to change.
Remaining local is not about standing still. It is a strategic decision about how Vernon Health believes it can best serve the region for the generations to come.
“The Board’s decision was not made because Vernon Health was unable to continue operating locally,” wrote Vernon Health. “Vernon Health has continued investing in providers, services, facilities, technology, and access to care.”
On what the transition might mean for patients:
Patients may experience changes to services provided by other healthcare organizations as those organizations make their own operational decisions. Even when you see a specialist outside Vernon Health, you may have the option to receive services such as lab work, imaging, therapy, pharmacy, infusion services and follow-up care locally at Vernon Health. Our team can help you understand what services are available locally and explore options that meet your healthcare needs and insurance coverage.
Vernon Health Leadership
We sat down to talk with Vernon Health CEO David Hartberg and Public Relations Manager Labecca Schott, and both leaders expressed complete confidence that the hospital can provide high quality care and remain viable on its own. They both felt that a partnership with a large system is not an absolute necessity to remain viable, and pointed to Reedsburg and Sauk Prairie as examples of thriving, successful community hospitals that do just fine without a larger corporate takeover. And both were adamant that they will continue to seek partnerships that fit the organizations mission and allow for local governance.
“Look at Reedsburg… Sauk Prairie… they have thriving, successful community hospitals,” said Hartberg. “It’s not an anomaly for community hospitals to do well, alone.”
Schott and Hartberg explained that Vernon Health has already filled gaps in services in the past when Emplify decided to withdraw them.
“Inpatient care and obstetrics are services that were already pulled,” said Hartberg. “Vernon Health stepped into that space, and we’ll provide that service for our community. It had been a shared service. They made the decision…we just got the ‘We’re just not going to do it as of this date.’ And so, since they stopped doing it, we’ll step into that space, and we’ll provide that service for our community. So 100% of the inpatient care is now done by a Vernon Health clinician, and 100% of the obstetrical care is done by a Vernon Health clinician.”
Hartberg and Schott emphasized that Vernon Health has never asked Emplify to remove its specialists, but if Emplify chooses to leave, Vernon Health is fully prepared to recruit and replace them. Over the last couple of weeks, Vernon Health has taken an aggressive approach, already hiring its own general surgeon and podiatrist, while expanding midwifery services and clinical outreach in neighboring Soldiers Grove.
On the issue of the electronic health record system, Schott and Hartberg insisted that finding a replacement partner is completely doable and they already have viable options on the table.
“From an electronic health record, we will continue to search and find..we will probably find another partner,” said Schott.
Hartberg acknowledged that the records transition will be challenging, but promised to minimize any impact on patients.
“Is it doable,” said David Hartberg. “It’s a big lift, but our job is to make sure that the patient sees minimal impact.”
On the concern that revenue streams could be lost with specialty services, Hartberg said they intend to keep providing those services if they are not provided by a partner.
“The surgical services provided by Emplify have been important to the organization,” said Hartberg “Vernon Health has a plan to maintain and grow all the services and others going forward. We will work to have all of the services currently provided and explore others that haven’t been provided to best serve our community.”
“Whether we’re notified or not notified, we will continue to seek care and access for our communities to fill whatever space needs to be filled,” said Schott
On the inaccurate information that Vernon Health was the one asking for the split, Schott emphasized they have never asked Emplify to remove services.
“That’s inaccurate,” said Schott. “We have never said we don’t want them here or asked them to remove their services.”
“We went up out of respect, face to face, and told Emplify leadership, ‘No, thank you. This is not the model that we can accept,’” said Hartberg. “[We’re] open to ongoing partnerships.”
On the possibility of Emplify building their own facility in Viroqua.
“It’s not been a part of any formal discussion at all,” said Hartberg. “Emplify is going to choose to do what it wants to choose to do for its own reasons.”
“It comes down to patient choice in care,” said Schott. “How that affects the businesses in the community, that’s kind of up to the community members to make that choice.”
Hartberg and Schott emphasized that where they can, they will provide services the community needs and there is some chance that patients will travel elsewhere for specialty care.
“Just like patients sometimes have to do at a La Crosse hospital,” said Hartberg. “Sometimes they have to travel to Rochester or somewhere to get specialty care.”
Hartberg urged patients and staff not to let the ongoing administrative transition cause unnecessary anxiety, stating that Vernon Health’s focus remains on high quality local care.
“In the midst of this transition, we’ll just keep doing what we’ve been doing,” said Hartberg. “We’re just going to keep taking care of people, giving five star quality, five star patient experience.”
Exactly what that means for patients will play out in the coming days, months, and years. Hartberg expressed confidence that Vernon Health can make a seamless transition, but acknowledged that changes are inevitable.
“We’ve been pretty upfront with our employees saying things are likely going to change,” said Hartberg. “We will do our part to make that as minimal as possible.”
“We want a healthy community,” said Hartberg. “We hope if somebody is not healthy, they would choose to come to Vernon Health for their care because they have trust and belief in who we have been, and who we will be going forward.”
“This organization genuinely really cares about this community,” said Schott. “And how do our jobs really well, so that people are taken care of… and they’re getting the highest quality of care that they need.”
Moving Forward
The final outcome of this transition remains to be seen, but the possibility of direct competition in Viroqua is moving forward quickly. We can confirm that Emplify staff did attend a Viroqua Development Association (VDA) meeting on September 3, where a representative from Emplify attended the open session, and several more representatives met with the mayor afterward. Following a closed session, the VDA board voted to proceed with items as discussed to pursue an agreement with Emplify Health in the business park. A look ahead to next week’s Viroqua Common Council agenda shows that Emplify is presenting plans for development and has a Memorandum of Understanding regarding potential development in the works. You can join that meeting on Tuesday Sept. 8 at 6:30 p.m. via ZOOM here.
This development means that Viroqua could soon have two competing medical institutions standing face to face in a town of 4,500 residents, and a county of 30,000 residents.
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