Overview & History
Aurora Health Care is an integrated, not-for-profit, and all-for-people health care provider serving communities throughout eastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. Our approach keeps people in our minds and at the heart of everything we do. We treat each person as a person, not as a patient, an illness or an appointment.
Aurora got its start in 1984 when two established Milwaukee hospitals, St. Luke's Medical Center and Good Samaritan Medical Center, came together to form Aurora Health Care. Over the years, our organization grew, allowing us to help more people and communities.
Today we serve communities throughout eastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, with 15 hospitals, more than 150 clinics and 70 pharmacies in 30 communities. We strive to offer services that are close to home, and help make the whole community healthier.
Well Community
The only thing better than a healthy you, is a bunch of healthy yous.
Aurora Health Care's Well Community programs address multiple health and wellness needs by providing free and low-cost medical services – especially for those that have nowhere else to turn.
Some of our community benefit programs include medical specialty clinics, advocacy services, and partnerships with free, community-based clinics. We make sure those in our community have access to quality health care – close to home.
We also believe in taking care of the people who work for us. As the largest private employer in Wisconsin, we strive to make Aurora the best place possible to come to work. That helps make our hospitals the best place for those who work here and those who visit us.
Because it’s all about our purpose: to help people live well.
Research & Innovation
We’re committed to supporting research that leads to new and improved ways to care for people and manage community health. Our focus is on conducting research that has proven benefits for our patients. We work with the Center for Urban Population Health (CUPH), which was established in 2001 as a partnership between Aurora Health Care, the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, and UW-Milwaukee. CUPH is located in the Aurora Sinai Medical Center, in the heart of Milwaukee. Its goal is to identify what will make people healthier, and to create partnerships with community health and academic experts to put those ideas into practice.
Currently, Aurora has more than 700 clinical research projects – including more than 400 clinical trials. That means you’ll be the first to benefit from new drugs, devices and procedures.
Visit the Aurora Research Institute to learn more.
Medical Education
Aurora Health Care has more than 300 teaching faculty. Tens of thousands of hours of our physicians’ time is devoted to education programs for health professions.
Undergraduates take part in student rotations every year, across the system. Students learn patient-focused care through working in our hospitals and in community-based health projects. At the graduate level, Aurora maintains residency and fellowship programs approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. We provide more than $30 million per year for these programs.
Medical students, residents and fellows work on community health projects and care for low-income and underserved patients at many community clinic sites, such as Bread of Healing Clinic, Aurora Walker’s Point Community Clinic and Aurora UW Medical Group.
Access & Coverage
Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) are part of a safety-net system that makes health care accessible and affordable for low-income residents. Together with government health agencies and other health systems in the Milwaukee Health Care Partnership (MHCP), Aurora Health Care has helped fund four FQHCs in Milwaukee. In 2013, Aurora’s financial contribution was $400,000.
We’ve partnered MHCP to answer the need for expanded health care coverage and care coordination in Milwaukee County, an investment of more than $250,000. Clinics include the Kenosha Community Health Center, Lakeshore Community Clinic in Sheboygan, and the Community Clinics of Manitowoc County.
We’ve also expanded our support services to help people enroll in Medicaid and other government programs. When the Affordable Care Act was rolled out in 2013, we hired 65 application counselors in Aurora’s service region and launched a toll-free enrollment helpline (877-732-6334). We held more than 100 enrollment events in eastern Wisconsin, and sent letters offering our enrollment assistance to people throughout our community. We worked with media, health departments and other providers to coordinate communication efforts from Kenosha to Green Bay so that people would know help was available.