About WiCAL

The Wisconsin Center for Assisted Living (“WiCAL&rdquo) is the assisted living voice of the Wisconsin Health Care Association (“WHCA&rdquo), Wisconsin’s largest and oldest organization representing Wisconsin’s long-term care providers. WiCAL is a separate and distinct division of WHCA, with its own governing council and policy forum, and is a leading voice for Wisconsin’s assisted living community.

The founding vision, mission and value statements for WiCAL are as follows:

WiCAL Mission Statement

The WiCAL vision is that Wisconsin’s assisted living providers be national leaders in providing the highest quality assisted living services through provider-led efforts, rather than prescriptive regulatory dictates. Our mission is therefore to advocate for and assist members in ethically, effectively and efficiently providing the highest quality of services to the elderly and disabled citizens of Wisconsin.

Vision

The WiCAL vision is to have Wisconsin’s assisted living community to maintain a national leadership position in the provision of services to elders and disabled communities through provider-led ethical and quality efforts, financially strong and sustainable operations, and a robust and trained workforce.

Values

The values and principals of WiCAL are:

• Provider driven and collaborative efforts, rather than legislative or regulatory dictates, are the most effective method to achieve quality, success and operational strength;
• WiCAL and its members are committed to the highest ethical standards in marketing and providing services to Wisconsin’s elders and disabled population;
• WiCAL supports member efforts to measure, track and use service and clinical quality measures in meeting client and community services needs.
• Customer and employee satisfaction are the primary measures of quality that shall guide member efforts;
• WiCAL shall provide cost-effective educational training opportunities and valuable services to its members to assist in their successful operations.

Through our national affiliation with the National Center for Assisted Living (“NCAL&rdquo), we are able to provide both a strong state and federal voice on behalf of Wisconsin’s assisted living providers, as well as comprehensive training and educational information.

Our Commitment

Quality Improvement:

WiCAL is committed to assisting its members in providing the highest level of service to the clients that they serve. With the increasing acuity of the clients being served by Wisconsin’s assisted living providers, WiCAL is able to draw upon the strength and over fifty years of experience of WHCA, its staff and membership, in meeting the needs of Wisconsin’s frail and elderly population. As importantly, WiCAL staff and leaders will continue to advocate on behalf of the assisted living community maintain a functional, but not burdensome legislative and regulatory climate, in order to foster a robust and innovative assisted living community.

A central component of WiCAL services is to provide initiatives, programs, education and advocacy to allow its assisted living members to meet resident and family expectations and the increasing clinical needs of the clients.

Advocacy:

WiCAL actively represents its assisted living community’s interests in state legislative and regulatory issues. The fundamental principle guiding such advocacy efforts is the belief that consumer choice and satisfaction, transparency in the provision of services, provider lead quality initiatives, and market forces are the best means to accomplish the highest quality and most robust assisted living provider community. While a base level of statutory and regulatory oversight is necessary and important, prescriptive dictates and punitive enforcement merely stifle innovation and are counterproductive to the provision of quality services. In order to maintain an economically viable and affordable assisted living provider community, statutory and regulatory necessities should merely be a framework in which assisted living providers are to operate.

WiCAL has the benefit of the seasoned experience of staff which includes three registered lobbyists, two whom are attorneys, dedicated to advocating on behalf of the member.

Communications:

WiCAL staff include seasoned leaders in the long-term care field, including a Director of Communications responsible for internal and external communications, public and media relations on behalf of the WiCAL and WHCA membership. WiCAL is committed to proactive, rather than reactive public, media, and community relations on behalf of Wisconsin’s entire long-term care provider community.

Professional Development:

WiCAL is committed to providing education, training, and implementation products designed for the assisted living professional. WiCAL is selective in development and presentation of its educational offerings, insisting that all materials be authoritative, evidenced-based, and practical to service providers. In addition to training and resources aimed at the management level, WiCAL strives to provide professional materials aimed at all staff serving the long-term care provider community.

Recognizing that staff time and financial resources are precious, WiCAL has placed a premium on providing materials in a variety of formats and mediums, including teleconference, webcasts, in-person locally and regionally presented seminars, and has dedicated sections of the twice-annual statewide conventions held in the spring and the fall.