The metropolitan Milwaukee area has been a leader in developing managed care programs to control health care costs while providing quality care. Forty percent of residents belong to a health maintenance organization or point of service plan, more than double the national average. One of the city's largest facilities is the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center, a sprawling campus of hospitals, outpatient clinics, health-related educational facilities, and research centers. The center is home to Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, a 222-bed pediatric facility; the Curative Rehabilitation Center, with 40 specialty clinics; Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital, which operates a Level One Trauma Center; the Blood Center of Southeastern Wisconsin; and the Medical College of Wisconsin. Almost 1,400 students are enrolled at the school, including 800 medical students and 554 graduate students, and physicians enrolled in the masters of public health degree program. Medical College faculty supervise 700 physicians in residency training and provide continuing medical education to more than 12,000 health professionals annually.
Milwaukee residents also have access to three multi-hospital healthcare delivery systems in a four-county area: Aurora Health Care, Covenant Healthcare, and Horizon Healthcare. Aurora Health Care operates 13 hospitals, 140 pharmacies, and more than 100 clinics. The organization employs 620 physicians; its Milwaukee hospitals are St. Luke's and Aurora Sinai Medical Center. Covenant Healthcare operates four major acute-care hospitals and a joint venture affiliation with the Wisconsin Hearth Hospital. It also oversees three extended care facilities, a hospice agency, and a full-service medical laboratory. The network is affiliated with more than 1,500 physicians in the metropolitan area. Horizon Health-care operates 8 hospitals and nearly 30 clinics.