Mile Bluff CEO Named to Becker's List of Women Presidents and CEOs to Know

Mile Bluff President/CEO Dara Bartels was, once again, named to the Becker's Hospital Review "Women Hospital and Health System Presidents and CEOs to Know" list. She was the only individual from a Wisconsin-based organization to be featured on the list in 2026.

The hospital and health system presidents and CEOs recognized on this year's list are driving growth, expanding access to care, and cultivating workplace cultures where providers and patients both thrive.

They bring fresh perspectives to the industry's most pressing challenges, a strong commitment to health equity, and a leadership style that consistently centers people. Becker's is proud to celebrate these exceptional women leaders.

The Becker's Hospital Review editorial team accepted nominations for this list and curated it to highlight the great work of women presidents and CEOs from hospitals across the nation. The following is an excerpt from Bartels’ nomination.

Ms. Bartels is the strategic and operational leader of Mile Bluff Medical Center, an independent rural health system serving more than 55,000 residents across eight counties in south-central Wisconsin while competing with large academic medical centers in Madison. She piloted and rolled out an AI-powered solution embedded directly in the EHR that saved clinicians more than seven minutes per patient encounter and reclaimed hundreds of administrative hours each month, with the technology reaching departments including health information management, obstetrics, outreach clinics, pharmacies, infusion centers, wound care and the emergency department. She oversees the medical center’s continuum of life mission, ensuring comprehensive care from birth to end-of-life across acute care, rehabilitation and specialized service lines. Ms. Bartels has driven capital improvements including facility expansions and enhanced service lines, transitioned the organization to a subscription-based software model to support financial sustainability, and updated ambulatory solutions to create a unified patient record across all care settings. She brings more than 20 years of healthcare finance and executive experience, including prior leadership roles at Mile Bluff as CFO and earlier positions at La Crosse, Wis.-based Gundersen Health System and UnityPoint Health in West Des Moines, Iowa. The medical center earned a 2024 “Performance Leadership Award” from the Chartis Center for Rural Health.

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