Chippewa Valley Health Cooperative opens membership

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) - Membership opened today for the Chippewa Valley Health Cooperative, which is now accepting community and physician members.

According to a news release from the organization, community members 18 years and older in the 15-county Chippewa Valley region and physicians licensed to practice medicine in Wisconsin can join the cooperative.

There is a one-time fee of $25 for community members and $100 for physician members.

The organization advises that members should be people who plan to use the facilities and services of the cooperative when they become available. CVHC announced that it is moving forward in building an independent, nonprofit community hospital in the Chippewa Valley.

The nonprofit cooperative was formed on February 29, 2024, by seven Chippewa Valley and community leaders to address access to and the cost of healthcare in the region. According to the organization, the structure of the cooperative keeps governance and management in the Chippewa Valley and accountable to the immediate community rather than to outside management or business interests.

“Our members will be a powerful force for building the new non-profit independent hospital and providing other critical healthcare services for our Chippewa Valley region,” said Robert ‘Bob’ Krause, Chair of the Board of Organizers for the Chippewa Valley Health Cooperative. “Our friends, family and neighbors deserve to have a hospital and healthcare services accountable to them, not to management teams outside of our region, so that we can have access to high-quality healthcare for generations to come.”

A cooperative, or co-op, is a business that is owned and democratically governed by members who also use its services. The news release shares that “Wisconsin is a leading cooperative business state, with more than 850 cooperative businesses in many different business sectors that are owned by 2.9 million Wisconsin residents.”

Members will vote on a formal Board of Directors this fall.