(WLUK) — Health care is among the variety of services Newcap provides to low-income residents in our area with the millions of dollars it receives each year from the government.
FOX 11 Investigates has spent the last several weeks digging into allegations that some of that money is being misused.
FOX 11 Investigates: A look at Newcap’s medical clinics amid concerns of money misuse (WLUK)
As we’ve reported in our previous two stories, Newcap has been operating at $2 million deficit, according to its two most recent tax filings. An independent auditor claims there’s substantial doubt about the organization’s ability to exist, and the state has also taken the rare step of putting Newcap under “enhanced financial monitoring.”
FOX 11 Investigates:
“I don’t believe that the amount of money put into the clinic services adequately represented the financial burden on taxpayers,” said Sue Bornemann, a former nurse practitioner for Newcap.
In her 32 years in nursing, including the last 15 as a nurse practitioner, Bornemann says she’s never had an experience like working at Newcap.
“Newcap is inefficient,” said Bornemann. “They lack an understanding of continuing education. Very dirty, unprofessional, a general lack of caring for the clientele.”
“The clinics provide access and health care to patients who otherwise don’t have it,” said Dr. Herb Coussons, Newcap’s medical director. “They don’t have any insurance at all, or they have very, very poor coverage. Many don’t speak English and they don’t fit into the normal health care system.”
Coussons has been Newcap’s medical director the past 10 years. He says it’s largely an advisory role, but he provides onsite training for the personnel that works in Newcap’s clinics. He disagrees with Bornemann about the quality of care provided, pointing out the clinics recently passed state compliance checks.
“I personally have trained the current nurse practitioner, so I know what her skills are and that she’s a good provider,” said Coussons.
In its 10-county service area, Newcap has six health clinics. On its website, the locations in Green Bay, Shawano and Marinette are listed as being open five days a week, Eagle River two days a week and Oconto and Crandon by appointment only.
According to tax documents, Newcap’s community health services include low-cost and no-cost health coverage options, family practice and basic chronic health care for those ages one to adult, as well as reproductive services for males and females.
Overall, Newcap received $13.9 million in government money in 2024 to provide its services. Specifically for community health services, Newcap spent $2.9 million in 2024, according to tax documents.
“Are we even seeing any benefit out of the small number of services that are even being provided to the people who actually go there and stay there for care?” questions Bornemann. “Are we seeing any decline in pregnancies, any decline in STD acquisition and spread?”
Bornemann says one of the first things that surprised her in her seven months working at Newcap was the amount of people she treated each day.
“We wouldn’t see very many patients,” said Bornemann. “Maybe four or five were on my schedule in a day. I was told that if I don’t have people on my schedule at the end of the day, I could just leave. I didn’t find that was the appropriate thing to do, being it was a walk-in clinic.”
FOX 11 asked Bornemann why she thought the clinic didn’t see many walk-in patients.
“Advertising. We did not have any advertising going out that I personally saw,” said Bornemann. “I really don’t know how some people could have even found us.”
Less than a week after FOX 11 Investigates started reporting on concerns about Newcap, the agency’s executive committee put CEO Cheryl Detrick on administrative leave for the “foreseeable future.”
Weeks before she was put on leave, we wanted to ask Detrick about some of the concerns Bornemann and others were raising. She wouldn’t do an on-camera interview, but was willing to answer questions over email.
“Clinic volume varies by community and purpose,” wrote Detrick. “Newcap clinics are not urgent care facilities, so services are generally scheduled rather than walk-in. Some locations serve very small or rural communities, some are used periodically to meet specific needs and others are newer sites that are still building utilization in coordination with community partners and funders.”
We also asked Detrick how much Newcap advertises its services.
“Newcap’s advertising and marketing are limited and focused on informing communities about available services,” said Detrick. “Activities include both program-specific outreach governed by grant requirements and modest agency-wide marketing supported through the administrative budget and procurement policies.”
Coussons told us he believes more effort should be put into advertising if the utilization of the clinics is in decline.
“Making people in the community aware that these services are available just has not been a focus,” said Coussons.
At the northern clinics, like in Marinette, Borenann tells us only one or two clients are usually seen each day, leaving workers with little to do.
“I was told they would often do work for their other employers while they were working at Newcap,” said Bornemann, noting she was told one employee would spend her time at the clinic grading papers for her other employer.
For the medical clinic in Oconto, multiple former Newcap employees who had non-healthcare jobs in the same building said they rarely, if ever, saw anyone there for services.
A common story former employees shared with us was one time, a Newcap employee from Green Bay went to the Oconto clinic to make it look like patients were being treated there.
“When this person was asked what they are doing, she said, ‘I have to stage this because we’re going to be inspected and we bill people coming into Oconto,’” said Peggy, who asked we not show her face or use her last name at the request of her current employer. “When they said there are no patients in Oconto, she said, ‘Well, we have to stage it.’”
When we asked Detrick about the Oconto site, she told us there were 82 completed appointments in 2022, 72 the next year, then 27 in 2024 and 33 last year — which averages out to fewer than three residents treated per month in 2025.
“While the clinic has not had full-time staff on site in recent years, patients have continued to be seen there when appointments are scheduled,” wrote Detrick. “Documentation of services is maintained in our electronic medical record system.”
“There are patients being seen there,” said Coussons. “I specifically called the current nurse practitioner and nurse and said, ‘How often do you go? How many do you see?’ I trust them when they say we go one to two days a month and we see one to two patients each day.”
FOX 11 asked Coussons why he thought Newcap was keeping the Oconto clinic open, given there are also clinics in Marinette and Green Bay.
“I question the same thing,” said Coussons. “Some of those people have transportation problems.”
Coussons tells us his role doesn’t come with any access to how Newcap is spending its money for medical services. He says he’s asked administrators, without sufficient answers, especially when provider positions haven’t been filled when someone has left.
“What’s happening with the funding?” said Coussons. “Why can’t we pay to have more nurse practitioners? Because the need is there.”
“I personally think that a deep audit would be beneficial to assure that the amount of money going into Newcap is being adequately utilized to serve the most patients possible, while also providing the highest quality possible as well,” said Bornemann.
Of the millions of dollars Newcap receives from the government each year, the initial six employees we spoke with told us money is often shifted from its intended use. After our stories on Newcap started to air, other former employees and current ones have been messaging us saying the same thing. That’s the focus of our next story on how Newcap is using taxpayer money, which we plan to air on Wednesday’s FOX 11 News at Nine.